SOUTH HADLEY – The South Hadley School Committee met to discuss a variety of agenda items including an update on the status of the high school and COVID-19 testing on Oct. 7.

According to Superintendent Dr. Jahmal Mosley, students are now back to in-person learning at South Hadley High School after issues with mold.

“We’re one day away from having what I would call a normal school year in a sense that our high school is coming on one complete week of full school, in-person, so that’s exciting,” said Mosley.

Mosley said that, despite this, there are still challenges to be faced. He said that they are still taking inventory on items that need to be replaced in the school, working on finalizing billing from the mold removal and trying to take proactive steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again in any building.

“There’s still some challenges there. I’m not going to ignore that,” he said.

Mosley mentioned they now have to keep climate change in mind when it comes to hot, humid and damp conditions within schools.

“We have to start thinking about how our buildings are going to be constructed and how, operationally, they’re going to function as our traditionally colder weather months start to feel more like summer months,” said Mosley.

School Committee Student Representative Kaily Godek asked Mosley how the in-person days missed at the beginning of the school year would be made up. He said that they are still discussing this and that he will bring it forward to a future School Committee meeting once tentative plans are finalized.

The meeting also gave an update on COVID-19 testing in schools. Mosley said they hope to implement the “test and stay” program soon. This allows individual students to be tested if they were identified as a close contact to someone positive for COVID-19.

He said that they have to be slow, deliberate and prudent moving forward with this program. He recognized that they are further behind on testing than other schools in the area, but that they are having trouble hiring employees to help run it.

“We’re building and continuing to grow our capacity to serve the public and our students and we are understaffed in a way where there is one person doing multiple responsibilities and that just takes time for us to do that,” said Mosley.

According to Mosley, they have recently hired a floating nurse who will help with COVID-19 testing and monitoring while also providing nursing coverage. They are in the process of hiring nurse assistants as well.

Mosley said having this testing program is essential to keeping kids in school and out of quarantine.

“The goal is to keep as many kids in school and if we can provide an opportunity for testing so that we can get clear and really quick answers to whether kids have COVID-19 or not is going to help that mission in keeping kids in-person in school,” he said. “Our priority right now is the safety and well-being of our students. That is what we’re really focused on and making sure our district is up and running safely and also with the proper supports.”

Mosley also spoke on Mosier Elementary School and its failed handicap inspection. He said that this is on his radar and is an important problem to fix. They are working to repair handicap ramps, according to Mosley.

“This is on our radar and it’s on our radar because we do think it’s important and believe it’s important that these items be addressed for our students,” he said.

Those interested in viewing the South Hadley School Committee Meeting in its entirety are encouraged to visit the South Hadley Community Television Vimeo page.