HOLYOKE — The city’s public schools have settled on a tentative schedule for bringing students back into classrooms starting next month as part of a hybrid model.
In a message to families Thursday, Holyoke Public Schools laid out its plan to increase in-person learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposal would see preschool and kindergarten students attend school four days a week, with grades 1 through 12 returning for two days of in-person instruction per week.
Students in preschool through grade 2 would start in-person learning on Jan. 21. Next would be grades 3 through 5 and grade 9, which would start on Feb. 4. The remaining grade levels would return on Feb. 25.
“Target start dates are not finalized, they are dates that we are planning for with the understanding that they might have to shift based on current health data,” district superintendent-receiver Alberto Vázquez Matos said in the message.
The hybrid model would see around half of students in school at any time. They would be separated into four cohorts: one in person on Mondays and Tuesdays, another on Thursdays and Fridays, a third for high-need students whose specialized instruction already has them inside school buildings four days a week.
A fourth cohort is for students who chose to continue fully remote learning.
Holyoke has already had some students learning in-person during the fall semester. English language learners, students in the district’s Transitions Academy for older students with disabilities, some special education students and those at the high school’s vocational Dean campus have been in school buildings in some capacity since the semester began.
The district is asking families to fill out a survey whether they want their children in full remote learning or hybrid learning. Officials expect to share more details on the hybrid model in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the district is holding an online forum on Tuesday at 5 p.m. to answer questions, which can also be sent to returntoschool@hps.holyoke.ma.us.
School leaders are also reminding students that the state is now requiring the influenza vaccine for students.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.