SOUTHWICK – Parents and students will have the opportunity to choose the manner in which they return to learning in the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District (STGRSD).

After a series of presentations, the School Committee approved the final reopening plans for the 2020-21 school year at its Aug. 5 meeting. STGRSD’s plans offer remote and hybrid options for students in grades 5-12, however parents of students in Pre-K-4 will be required to choose between full in-person and remote learning.

The approved proposals were submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for review, which will punctuate a process that formally began on June 25 when Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Riley released the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s reopening guidance requiring the formulation of plans for in-person, hybrid and remote learning.

Superintendent Jennifer Willard applauded her principals, stating, “This has been a lot of work in a very short amount of time. I appreciate all your attention to detail and getting the community as much information as you possibly can.”

Additionally, the committee approved a new school calendar for the 2020-21 school year. In July, DESE and the Massachusetts Teachers Association reached an agreement that reduced the required number of school days temporarily from 180 to 170. That accord allowed districts to delay the start of school for 10 days, allowing additional time for educator professional development and training. As a result, the new school year will begin on Sept. 15.

Remote Learning

Addressing the full remote learning plan, Willard indicated the district deviated from the original draft plan that had been presented on June 30. That draft proposed the use of the statewide Massachusetts Virtual Academy, but after receiving community feedback, the district would utilize STGRSD teachers and resources to educate remote learners.

“As I told you at the beginning, we really do respond to feedback and we do appreciate everybody who reached out to us,” she said. “The word we’re learning this year is ‘pivot’ and we’re pivoting quite a bit as we get more and more information.”

In what she called a “significant change,” Willard indicated students in grades 5-12 would be taught “synchronously” with teachers and there may be teachers assigned as remote teachers at the K-4 levels with no in-person students.

Enrollment forms for remote learning were released on Aug. 6 and are due Aug. 15. The online form can be found at https://www.stgrsd.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=914292&pageId=27528396.

“We’re really going to need families to commit to one of our two plans,” she said, adding the district would be calling families who do not respond.

This information, Willard said, will inform decisions on issues such as the potential for additional grades participating in in-person instruction and potential shifts to hybrid models in K-4 in the event of transportation issues. She also addressed the prospect of a COVID-19 spike forcing schools to go to an all-remote model, but stated the Board of Health has reported recently just three active cases in Southwick. Tolland and Granville combined have had less than 20.

Woodlawn Elementary School

The district’s proposal requires students in Pre-K-2 at Woodland Elementary School to attend in-person classes daily with half days on Wednesdays or participate in remote lessons. The plan does not include a remote option at these grade levels.

As part of a phased reopening in the first week of classes, students’ introduction to the building will be staggered. Principal Kimberley Saso said this “soft opening” is required to “facilitate the training for the students that will be necessary.”

On Sept. 15 and 16, students in Pre-K and kindergarten with last names beginning with A to J will report for half days of school while the remainder will have a half day of remote learning. On Sept. 17 and 18, Pre-K and kindergarten students with names beginning with K to Z will have half-day in-person classes while the rest participate in half-day remote learning. All students in grades 1-2 will participate in remote learning on these days.

On Sept. 21 and 22, grade 1 students with last names beginning with A to J will report for half days of school while the remainder will have a half day of remote learning. On Sept. 23, all grade 1 students will participate in a half day of remote learning. On Sept. 24 and 25, grade 1 students with names beginning with K to Z will have half-day in-person classes while the rest participate in half-day remote learning. Pre-K and kindergarten students will report to school on these days and grade 2 students will participate in remote learning this week with a half day on Wednesday.

On Sept. 28 and 29, grade 2 students with last names beginning with A to J will report for half days of school while the remainder will have a half day of remote learning. On Sept. 30, all grade 2 students will participate in a half day of remote learning. On Oct. 1 and 2, grade 2 students with names beginning with K to Z will have half-day in-person classes while the rest participate in half-day remote learning. During this week, Pre-K-1 students will report to the school.

“By the end of this week, we’ll be done phasing in students and everyone on week four will be present all day long,” Saso said.

Specials classes such as physical education, health and wellbeing, art, music and digital literacy will take place on a rotating basis. Students will have one 55-minute specials class for a five- to six-week period with a different subject assigned for each cycle.

Saso said students would receive regular mask breaks with each classroom receiving an assigned space outdoors.

Breakfast and lunch will be delivered to classrooms and students will eat at their desks or outside if weather permits. Students bringing lunches from home are advised to use disposable paper bags. Students will also have a 45-minute recess period. No more than four classes will be outside for recess at one time, using assigned areas that will be rotated weekly.

For remote instruction, Saso said in building a daily schedule for students, the administration was “trying to keep it very similar to what would happen during the school day.”

To accommodate social distancing and safety guidelines, Woodlawn needs three additional teachers in first grade and is reassigning two reading specialists and bringing back a non-renewed reading specialist. Additionally, in grade 2, two additional positions are being filled by a math specialist and a previously non-renewed teacher. Willard said these interventionists were not tied to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEP).

Powder Mill School

In order to accommodate additional classroom space required to meet safety and distancing protocols, Powder Mill school is utilizing at various grade levels the music and art rooms, the gymnasium, the “Journey Room,” the digital literacy room, the library, coaches’ office and the auditorium. Some of these spaces are also being used out of necessity because of the school’s policy that prevents students from being on the building’s second floor with masks due to heat concerns.

“People who have been on the second floor of Powder Mill know that in the first weeks of September, it can be rather warm up there and while it’s not a huge issue during a normal year, we know that with students wearing a mask, it would be very uncomfortable for them,” Principal Erin Carrier said, adding the second floor will be repurposed for remote instruction, allowing teachers from across the district to access a separate space to conduct online lessons.

Powder Mill will also be utilizing a phased three-week reopening.

On Sept. 15 and 16, students in grades 3-4 with last names beginning with A to J will report for half days of school while the remainder will have a half day of remote learning. On Sept. 17 and 18, students in grades 3-4 with names beginning with K to Z will have half-day in-person classes while the rest participate in half-day remote learning. All students in grades 5-6 will participate in remote learning on these days.

On Sept. 21 and 22, grade 5 Cohort A would report to school while Cohort B would participate in online learning. On Sept. 23, all grade 5 students will participate in a half day of remote learning. On Sept. 24 and 25, grade 5 Cohort B would report to school while Cohort A would participate in online learning. During this week, grades 3-4 would report to school and grade 6 would participate in remote learning, with a half day on Wednesday for those grades.

On Sept. 28 and 29, Cohort A for grades 5-6 would report to school while Cohort B for both grades will participate in remote learning. On Sept. 30, all grade 5-6 students will participate in a half day of remote learning. On Oct. 1 and 2, Cohort B for grades 5-6 would report to school while Cohort A would participate in online learning. During this week, grades 3-4 would report to school with a half day on Wednesday.

Carrier said when in-person, the schedule would look essentially the same as it would in a normal school week. The remote schedule pulls in all content areas, she added. Powder Mill School’s curriculum will include specials classes of physical education, health, art and digital literacy. Band will not be offered. Students will participate in the same 55-minute specials class for half of a term on a rotating basis.

Students will have a 45-minute lunch and recess block in which lunches will be delivered to classrooms and eaten at desks. Students bringing lunches from home are advised to use disposable paper bags. Each classroom will have assigned outdoor space that can also be used for lunch and recess. There are also scheduled mask breaks throughout the day.

Like Woodlawn, Powder Mill will have a staggered schedule and soft opening, however, that process will be determined by bus routes and announced once those routes have been created. Earlier in the year, the School Committee voted to outsource its transportation to the Lower Pioneer Valley Education Collaborative. Carrier said the school is also looking at a soft closing model on a staggered schedule, which is less common. This method would allow parents to use a smart device to signal the school that they were ready to pick up their child.

Southwick Regional School

Principal Joseph Turmel told the School Committee no classroom at Southwick Regional School would have more than 14 students and in-person science and physical education classes would have no more than 20 students. Special education teachers would have their own classrooms and there would be no shared spaces other than the gymnasium.

Turmel added additional efforts had been made to ensure middle school and high school-aged students remain separated.

“The front two hallways traditionally have been the middle school part of the school and the back two hallways have traditionally been the 9-12 part of the building,” he said. “There have been teachers in classrooms in the high school part that have housed a middle school teacher for the past couple of years, but with some rearranging and flexibility this year, all middle school teachers and courses will be held in the front two hallways and all 9-12 will be held in the back two hallways this school year. The only time the middle school will need to leave the front two hallways would be to go to the middle school gymnasium.

In its three-week phased reopening plan, Turmel explained the school opted to group grades 7 and 9 in the scheduling and bringing them in first, identifying them as transition grades.

On Sept. 15 and 16, grades 7 and 9 Cohort A will report to school while the Cohort B in those grades will participate in remote learning. On Sept. 17 and 18, Cohort B for grades 7 and 9 will report to school while Cohort A participates in remote learning. All other grades will participate in full-time remote learning that week.

On Sept. 21 and 22, Cohort A for grades 7-10 would report to school while Cohort B participates in remote learning. All grades would participate in a half day of remote learning on Sept. 23. On Sept. 24 and 25, Cohort B for grades 7-10 would report to school while Cohort A participates in remote learning. Grades 11 and 12 will participate exclusively in remote learning this week.

On Sept. 28 and 29, Cohort A for all grade levels would report to school while Cohort B participates in remote learning. All grade levels will participate in a half day of remote learning on Sept. 30. On Oct. 1 and 2, Cohort B for all grade levels would report to school while Cohort A participates in remote learning.

Addressing in-person learning, Turmel said the schedules for both middle and high school students would be kept similar to those of years past. Instructional time for grades 7-8 would be approximately 54 minutes per block with scheduled 15-minute mask breaks included in the school day. There will not be a middle school homeroom and students will report directly to their first class.

“They are on teams in the middle school, so they will stay in a cohort of four classrooms clustered together for their core classes and then go off-team for their out-of-core classes,” he said.

The high school will maintain its 4x4 block schedule for in-person learning with students taking four classes each semester. The schedule calls for 81-minute instructional blocks and also includes scheduled mask breaks.

Lunch breaks will be 20 minutes long with food delivered to classrooms and eaten at desks or outside.

The remote portion of hybrid learning would include six periods a day with periodic screen breaks for grade 7-8 and four periods a day with screen breaks for the high school.

“We’ve created a little more extended time between classes for a break but they would still be logged on taking all of their classes,” Turmel said. “We are not eliminating any classes at the regional school at the middle school or the high school level. All core classes and all elective classes will be offered at this time for our students in grades 7-12.”

This includes band, chorus and physical education. Due to additional risks associated with band and chorus, classes can take place outdoors with distancing restrictions of at least 10 feet in place, but the curriculum will also shift to music technology software, utilizing programs that are free to the district and students. Physical education curriculum have also been altered to emphasize social distancing.

High school students who participate in Lower Pioneer Valley Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) program on Brush Hill Avenue in West Springfield will have a staggered in-person schedule where freshmen and juniors will participate in the morning and sophomores and seniors in the afternoons. Transportation will be needed and it was not yet determined how that would be provided. All students attending CTEC would take their Southwick Regional School classes remotely. Because freshmen and sophomores take exploratory courses at CTEC, they would rejoin the school population in January and participate in classes according to their cohort in either the hybrid or remote model.