SOUTH HADLEY — In a split vote this week, the School Committee put a halt on phasing more students back into school buildings, citing the rising number of coronavirus cases in town and throughout the state.
In an emergency meeting Tuesday night, the committee voted 3-2 to postpone phasing more students in, a move that was originally slated to occur Monday.
Currently, only the highest-need students are learning in-person, including preschoolers and those with individualized education plans. Students in kindergarten and those whose families have critical child care needs were set to return to in-person learning Monday, with the general student population returning on a hybrid basis in January.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the committee tentatively pushed the return date for the Nov. 30 cohort to Dec. 14. Members will meet again on Dec. 8 to decide whether this return date is still appropriate.
About 150 students were signed up to return to the buildings Monday, according to interim Superintendent Diana Bonneville.
With COVID-19 cases surging across the state and the town at its highest daily incident rate that it has recorded throughout the pandemic, most School Committee members and other district officials agreed that students cannot safely return to in-person learning at the originally scheduled time.
“This seems like such a foolish time to bring people back into the building,” said School Committee Vice Chairwoman Allison Schlachter, and the addition “flies in the face of what we’re being told.”
She noted, “I think it is irresponsible for our community, for our Health Department, for our hospitals,” and “will add to the problem we are about to get in after Thanksgiving.”
Additionally, Schlachter said, moving forward with the next phase of students on Monday could jeopardize the district’s plans for January if COVID-19 were to spread at a high rate.
Not all agreed with the decision to postpone the Nov. 30 cohort’s return. School Committee member Christine Phillips, who alongside member Charles Miles was one of the two dissenting votes, proposed keeping a careful eye on the number of cases in the buildings and possibly phasing in a smaller number of students at a time. Phillips expressed concerns for students’ mental health and questioned what the district would consider an appropriate level of risk.
District Nurse Leader Eileen Garvey also painted a grim picture for the return.
“You can’t pretend it isn’t happening anymore,” Garvey said. “It is, we’re in it, and this is the thick of it.”
As of Monday, the town has recorded 300 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 64 of which have occurred since Nov. 2. As of last Thursday, its 11.9 daily incidence rate is the highest the town has recorded throughout the pandemic.
Last week, families were alerted of a positive case among a student learning in-person at Mosier Elementary School, which temporarily sent all students in the building back to remote learning last week. But more students have also been infected, according to Garvey, or are symptomatic after a known exposure and are awaiting test results. Most but not all of these students are remote learners, she said, She declined to share details, citing confidentiality concerns.
The nurse’s disclosure surprised other district officials, who were only aware of the one positive case at Mosier and urged Garvey to provide immediate alerts of new cases.
Garvey said that results are not always “cut and dry” because of waits for test results.
Hank Skala, principal of Plains Elementary School, said staffing difficulties have already complicated in-person learning for the highest-need cohort, and that “many of the children still have to do much of their learning remotely.”
With just 49 students currently in the building, Skala said, “It has been pure torture trying to manage this.”
Families have also been feeling increased anxiety about returning their children to school, said interim High School Principal Elizabeth Wood, noting that 28% of those originally set to return in the Nov. 30 cohort rescinded their plans, with families citing virus fears.
The School Committee will next convene Monday at 6 p.m. for a regularly scheduled meeting.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.