EAST LONGMEADOW – The East Longmeadow School Committee met on Aug. 24, upon which time they provided an update for residents with school-aged children on how the school year will unfold over the coming weeks.

The East Longmeadow Public Schools (ELPS) district voted on Aug. 6 that students will return to school this year with a fully remote model. Since that vote, the district has been working on implementing supports through various planning groups.

“Based on some of the discussions we’ve had, not only during school committee meetings but also discussions we’ve had during our ELEA and ELPS planning meetings and negotiations, one of the areas that we were looking to put in place is to follow the regular school day,” Superintendent Gordon Smith explained. “This is different than what we were putting in place in the spring when all of a sudden schools shut down.”

Smith continued to explain that each school in the ELPS district will have designated “start times” and “end times” for the remote school day. Meadowbrook Elementary School will start at 9 a.m. and end at 3:15 p.m. Mapleshade Elementary School will start their academic day at 8:10 a.m. and will go until 2:25 p.m. Mountain View Elementary School is going to run their day from 8:15 to 2:30 p.m. Students who would normally attend Birchland Park Middle School will start their school day at 7:35 a.m. and end it at 2 p.m. High school level students will begin their day at 7:25 a.m. and end at 1:45 p.m.

“Our focus as we worked with these groups is not only building a robust remote learning program, but also starting to think about how in this environment we recultivate and reconnect with our students and build the relationships that we know we’re able to do when we’re fully in–person in more normal operations,” Smith said.

A solution to this that was discussed by both the school committee in previous meetings, as well as the ELEA and instructional planning groups, Smith explained, was creating “meet and greets” for both students and families. Smith noted that they are currently working on scheduling times when teachers can meet with small groups of students to keep everyone safe, but so “we can get that in-person connection.”

On Sept. 16, 17 and 18 different grade levels will be hosting orientations for students. There will be virtual meetings, as well as in person meetings.

If the small group meetings work well, Smith said, they’ve discussed the possibility to replicate the meetings a month or two after the school year starts to “keep that personal connection” while using all safety protocols necessary.

For students with special needs and IEPs, Dr. Joanne Welch explained that they’ve been “communicating with families throughout this process,” and that communication is something that they “will continue to do for all students with IEPs.” She noted that special education liaisons will be reaching out to families, and that contract will be maintained throughout the whole period of remote learning. Smith noted that the district will be providing some in person and some remote learning for students with special needs.

Also in the works, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Heather Brown explained, are information sessions and family workshops for parents to get them acquainted to the remote learning systems.

“We hope that will be something that’s useful and parents will engage in walking through how we use Google Suite, how we log on in a single sign on with Clever, and make sure they understand everything we’re utilizing for student learning,” Smith said of the parent meetings.

Toward the end of the school update, Smith noted that kindergarten students are on a different schedule from grades 1-12, and they are roughly three days behind starting times of all of the other ELPS grades as they need to schedule screenings.

 In closing out the schools update discussion, School Committee Chair Gregory Thompson noted that he and Smith have taped a few informational meetings through ELCAT on the start of the school year, which can be found on ELCAT’s YouTube page.