EASTHAMPTON – After a three and a half hour meeting on Aug. 7, the Easthampton School Committee voted to begin the 2020-21 school year with remote learning as part of a phased approach.

Speaking to the School Committee, Superintendent Dr. Allison LeClair indicated the phased hybrid approach she proposed was similar to that being instituted by other area districts.

LeClair said the plan would allow the district the time to assess and make improvements to buildings, create a successful transportation plan and establish routines within the remote learning model. Additionally, it would provide the opportunity to monitor health data, especially with students returning to the area.

Phase 1 begins with training for all staff from now through Sept. 11.

 “We need to do training no matter what model we put forward,” LeClair said. “But in a remote model, we think it’s valuable to have a lot of training opportunities in place for our staff. For those of you who have been part of trainings, you know we can’t necessarily sit on a Zoom session for six hours and take it all in, so we need to have breaks and we need to do this in a methodical way. We need to have recorded sessions, we need to have live sessions, we need to do all those things.”

In Phase 2, students will begin instruction via the internet on Sept. 14 and continue until Oct. 9. The School Committee previously approved the shift of the school calendar to this new start date, a move made possible by an agreement between the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Massachusetts Teachers Association to reduce the number of required school days by 10 to allow for additional educator training.

The start of remote learning would include all students.  

From there, classes would move to a “remote plus” model on Oct. 13 in Phase 3, followed by hybrid learning in Phase 4, tentatively scheduled for Nov. 4.

Remote plus programming would ease “special populations” into the building while the rest of the school population would remain remote. LeClair explained special populations included “substantially separate programs” such as the SOAR?program for students with autism and developmental disabilities, preschool students, English language learners, and students in foster care or experiencing homelessness.

A move to Phases 3 and 4 would be dependent on state and regional health metrics meriting a return to classrooms with assessments taking place in 30-day intervals. The first of the health assessments to gauge the possibility of moving from one phase to another will be Sept. 22.

“We would mirror a phased-in approach as the governor has exemplified for the state and if at any time we need to stop a phase or if we need to roll back a phase, we can do that,” LeClair said.

LeClair also noted that return to classrooms for individual students were also at the discretion of families.

“If families need or desire to keep their students home, they may absolutely do that,” she said.

In remote learning, LeClair said the district was regarding the school populations in four different groups, or cohorts. Cohorts A and B would begin remote and would move through the phases to a hybrid model as appropriate. The special populations were identified as Cohort C and, when able, those students would be in-person four days a week with remote instruction on Wednesdays. Cohort D is reserved for students whose families opted to remain exclusively remote.

When hybrid learning begins on Nov. 4, Cohort A would attend school in person on Monday and Tuesday and participate in remote learning Wednesday to Friday. Cohort B would participate in in-person lessons on Thursday and Friday with remote classes taking place Monday to Wednesday.

In a letter to the community distributed on Aug. 8, LeClair said, “Working groups, including our Facilities and Operations, Wellness, Special Populations, Staffing, Instructional Planning, Technology, and Communications and Governance continue to meet and work on several tasks. Appreciation goes out to the administrators, faculty, and community members working on those groups.”

LeClair also noted the planned graduation ceremony for high school seniors planned for this week was canceled due to Gov. Charlie Bakers’ new restrictions on gatherings in response to a rise in coronavirus cases in the state.