SOUTHAMPTON — The William E. Norris School Committee is expected to decide Wednesday whether to have students return to full, in-person schooling, or to adopt a different course.
“This is the toughest thing we’ve ever had to address,” School Committee member Greg Bennett said.
Most students at the Norris School are currently being educated under a hybrid model, where they’re in school two days a week and educated remotely the other three. Students can also choose to be educated fully remotely.
This plan, approved by the committee in July, calls for students to return to full, in-person learning on Monday.
“If we fail to take a vote, it’s an automatic full return,” School Committee Chair Jon Lumbra said.
Wednesday’s meeting will take place at 5:30 p.m.
The Southampton Teachers’ Association has expressed a desire for students to be continued to be educated under the hybrid model, and members read a statement out loud to that effect at the committee’s Oct. 14 meeting, as part of the public comment period.
“Despite teachers’ best efforts to manage distance between children, coupled with classes being assigned to specific locations at recess, the thought of twice as many kids in the building and on the playground is, honestly, troubling,” reads part of the statement.
Extensive public comment on the educational models question also occurred at the committee’s Oct. 21 meeting.
Bennett said that there’s been a lot of parental dissatisfaction with the hybrid model. However, he noted that 6 feet of social distance cannot be maintained between students at the Norris School if full in-person learning resumes. As such, he said that he thinks the committee will vote to extend the hybrid model.
Bennett also expressed concern with rising COVID-19 cases in the region.
“If we can’t guarantee that safe distance … then it’s going to have to spread like wildfire,” he said.
Lumbra said that at the Oct. 21 meeting, Superintendent Michael Sullivan expressed the desire to maintain the 6-foot rule.
“It was good that he said that on the record,” Lumbra said. “It gave us something to go with.”
Lumbra said that, if possible, he would like to see the return to full in-person learning for the lower grades at the school, specifically kindergarten and first grade.
“I believe we can only bring kindergarten and first back and still maintain 6 feet of separation,” he said.
Lumbra has also written to Town Manager Ed Gibson asking for $186,591 in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds, the majority of which would be used to outfit classrooms to allow teachers to teach both the students physically present in the classrooms and those learning remotely at the same time.
“Parents are struggling at the period of time that the children are at home,” said Lumbra, basing this on feedback the committee has received.
He said that doing this simultaneously will allow children to receive the same level of attention they would have in the classroom, to the best of the district’s abilities.
Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.