LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow School Committee discussed how the COVID-19 omicron variant is impacting Longmeadow Public Schools (LPS) in recent weeks during their Jan. 11 meeting.

According to Superintendent M. Martin O’Shea, since returning from holiday break much of the administrative, clerical and nursing staff’s work has been geared toward responding to the surge.

“Over the last couple of weeks we have completely reinvented the processes that we’ve used to respond to COVID-19 events and the way we manage COVID-19 cases,” he said.

O’Shea said that LPS has developed new electronic forms and databases for staff and families to report COVID-19 cases. He said that administration has had to be more focused in the way that they investigate COVID-19 cases and notify families.

Staff have also spent a lot of time reviewing and thinking about implementation of isolation and quarantine protocols, according to O’Shea.

“It’s been a really ambitious undertaking over the last couple of weeks. I’d say it has, frankly, crowded out most other work for us as administrators. Our clerical staff and nursing staff have been incredibly busy with this,” he said.

Since the introduction of the new forms on Jan. 5, O’Shea said that there have been 315 COVID-19 cases reported.

“Each of which needs response from clerical staff, nursing staff or administrative staff, so it’s been a heavy lift over the last couple of weeks,” said O’Shea.

He recognized how hard staff have been working to keep everyone at LPS safe during this time. He also noted that schools are now fully staffed with nurses to help support families and staff.

“I’d really like to acknowledge the incredible efforts of the staff to respond to these protocols and to keep our eyes on the ball,” said O’Shea.

The committee also discussed the mask policy within schools. Commissioner of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Jeffrey Riley, recently announced the extension of the mask requirement for public schools through Feb. 28.

The 80 percent threshold policy does still remain in effect.
Before the holiday break, Longmeadow High School was able to have a mask-optional trial period with the threshold policy.

“At this stage, it wouldn’t be my recommendation to reinstate that mask-optional policy, but that is something we’ll continue to evaluate and keep the committee updated on,” said O’Shea.
However, O’Shea did take the time to share feedback gathered from students and staff on this trial period.

Approximately 253 Longmeadow High School students were surveyed. In response, 57.7 percent said that unmasking did not affect their learning and 34.4 percent said it improved their learning. In regard to their high school experience, 45.5 percent said unmasking did not affect their overall experience and 41.1 percent said it improved their experience.

Many students commented that they enjoyed seeing their friends’ faces and that unmasking made it easier to focus and remain comfortable, but others reported that not a lot had changed for them during this time.

Seventy-eight Longmeadow High School staff were also surveyed on this trial period. Approximately 41 percent reported that they were able to unmask but rarely or never did and 32.1 percent said they were able to unmask and did. Of the respondents, 43.4 percent said that unmasking improved their teaching experience and just over 36 percent said that it didn’t change. Approximately 50 percent said that unmasking improved student experience and 40.5 percent said it remained unchanged.

According to the survey, 50 percent of staff said that they had some reservations about unmasking. They said that Longmeadow High School should reinstate the mask optional policy, but only when the district is seeing less COVID-19 activity than at present.
O’Shea and the School Committee noted that they would continue to monitor cases and look back at the mask optional policy once it is safe to do so.

O’Shea also gave a report on how COVID-19 is affecting student and staff absences.

He said that, at the time of the meeting, there were 67 active cases in LPS and over 300 students were absent in the district on Jan. 11 alone.

“The reality is, with home testing, it’s likely that the active number of cases among Longmeadow Public School students is higher,” said O’Shea.

However, O’Shea still thinks that in-person learning is safe and necessary at this time.

“I would still maintain that schools are a safe place for children. They’re stable environments, they’re controlled environments where we have layers of mitigation in place. So, despite the numbers, I still feel confident that we should remain in person,” he said.

One of his main concerns is making sure the schools remain fully staffed.

“We’ve gotten through what I hope is maybe the peak of the COVID-19 cases, but I have no way of knowing. If we are through the peak, then that would be great, but I do worry that staffing challenges could disrupt school schedules and cause us to have to take essentially what would be a snow day,” said O’Shea.

At this time, schools are not able to make closures up remotely due to DESE Commissioner Riley’s order. Therefore, if staff absences caused a closure, LPS would be required to make it up in June. This is something that O’Shea said he would continue to monitor and keep the committee updated on.

Those interested in viewing the School Committee Meeting in its entirety are encouraged to visit the LongmeadowTV YouTube page.