Agawam School Committee reorganizes COVID-19 response plans

Nov. 17, 2020 | Ryan Feyre
rfeyre@thewestfieldnewsgroup.com

The Agawam School Committee unanimously voted on updated COVID-19 protocol for Agawam Public Schools.
Screen capture by Ryan Feyre

AGAWAM – At its Nov. 5 meeting, the Agawam School Committee unanimously agreed to update the language for their COVID-19 response plan.

The guidelines presented throughout the session were partially in response to the sudden announcement on Oct. 29 that Agawam Public School students would be required to move to remote learning for a two-week period.

Interim Superintendent Sheila Hoffman listed the future guidelines during the meeting so the school committee and teachers’ union could be more prepared when approached with possible transition decisions – whether it be a transition to remote learning, or vice versa – in the future. With a tally of 266 to 90, the teachers union also voted in favor of this new protocol.

The new language includes a rule in which the district and the union will negotiate all changes from one model to another, and the staff will be given at least 48 hours of notice of any transition from remote to in-person. If feasible, the district will give 48-hours of notice to the community if there’s a pivot to remote learning.

“If there’s an emergency situation, 48 hours might not be feasible, but if we can do it safely, then it will be given,” said Hoffman, regarding a pivot to remote learning.

The updated protocol now states that the superintendent, in consultation with the Board of Health and union president, can postpone school at any moment if necessary. During the meeting, Hoffman listed off certain factors that would lead to a postponement of school.

Schools will pivot to remote learning if the town’s average positivity rate reported in the state’s weekly COVID-19 Public Health Report passes the threshold of 5 percent; if the number of positive cases within the school community is at 30 cases or more, and mitigating strategies such as closing a classroom, building or cohort hasn’t stopped the spread; a rating of red on the for the city of Agawam on the state’s COVID-19 Public Health Report for three consecutive weeks; and if testing results are delayed.

Hoffman presented additional information for public consumption with regard to COVID-19 in schools.

“The district website will keep a running count of positive COVID cases in the school system, updated daily, visible to all,” said Hoffman.

The union president and Hoffman will also share a running document of COVID-19 cases within the school district, and a bi-weekly meeting will occur with the town’s health agent, the mayor, the superintendent, and the union president. Lastly, the school committee will be updated with positive cases in the school district on a bi-weekly basis.

Carmino Mineo, a member of the School Committee, was the first to speak up about the importance of guidelines such as these.

“I do in fact agree with this,” said Mineo. “I think the cases in the school are relatively low … I have full faith in Sheila, our health administrator to make the right call.”

After raising a few clarifying questions involving the language of the proposal, the majority of the committee members voiced their appreciation of this new protocol. Committee member Anthony Bonavita, for example, said he admired how the draft emphasized the fact that all factors listed above could be used in unison or separate to warrant a pivot.

“[The updated protocol] protects the student body … Obviously, parents have concerns; it meets their concerns,” said Bonavita. “At the same time, it protects the teachers. The way it’s drafted, any one of these factors could kick in, and cause a change and a pivot, so I think [the new language] was well done.”

One of the main questions raised by Mineo and committee member Wendy Rua was how Hoffman and company arrived at the number 30, for positive cases to warrant a pivot to remote learning.

“The teachers union presented some of these in discussion with us,” said Hoffman. “If we have a lot of cases, and we’ve tried to slow the numbers down, and it’s not happening, then we really should look at that a little more carefully. So that’s where that 30 came in.”

Another aspect of the community that Hoffman and the union took into consideration, she said, was the fact that Agawam doesn’t have a college or university that hands out frequently mandated testing to students across the city. With that in mind, Hoffman and the union believes that most students who do get tested in the city, are doing so because they have symptoms.

“If we had a college who was having all these tests regularly, our percentage might be lower,” said Hoffman.

Pre-K students and grades 2-12 returned to their hybrid model on Nov. 16, due to the fact that Agawam reverted back to a yellow coding, and cases have stayed low. Kindergartners and first graders returned to an in-person model. This decision was based on newly revised state metrics, according to Hoffman.

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