SOUTH HADLEY — School Committee members continued to deliberate a fall reopening plan at Monday night’s meeting, in addition to considering changes to its school resource officer staffing and the high school’s graduation ceremony.
The committee is pursuing a fall reopening plan that would involve most students rotating through a schedule of one week of in-person learning followed by one week of remote learning. This plan would also involve some students opting for all-remote learning, while students who have greater need for in-person learning could return to the building every day.
School officials plan to reassess this approach 45 days after the schools reopen.
At the meeting, interim Superintendent Diana Bonneville shared results of a recent survey sent out to families, which garnered 675 responses. In the results, 55% of respondents said they would prefer a one week on, one week off model, while 25% preferred all-remote learning.
Bonneville reminded families that they are not committing to a full year of whichever option they choose.
“You’re not signing your life away,” Bonneville said. “This is really just for the first 45 days and what works and doesn’t work for your family.”
For instance, if a family opts for all-remote learning and decides that’s not ideal, “day 45, you can have your student return to school,” she said.
While Bonneville would “like to prevent constant motion on a daily basis … if a student is not happy or it’s not working (with) the hybrid, the anxiety is too high, anyone can switch to remote at any time,” she said.
School Committee Vice Chairwoman Allison Schlachter also said officials and families should prepare for a backup plan where only students who require in-person learning will be allowed in the building, depending on the course of the pandemic in the fall.
Committee member Charles Miles agreed.
“I think we need to really be guided by the science that’s out there right now that tells us that we can’t be safely crowding in classrooms,” he said.
Students with a high need for in-person learning include those in special education programs, students with insecure or unsafe living situations, and those whose parents must work and cannot access child care options.
Per state requirements, the School Committee is creating plans for a fully in-person, all remote, or hybrid model for the fall, though South Hadley officials have already decided that a fully in-person plan will not work for the district.
School Committee members were particularly troubled by the state’s requirement that students must be spaced at least three feet apart when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended six feet of physical spacing. Furthermore, assessments at district schools have shown that all students would not be able to fit into the buildings even under the state’s three-feet minimum of distancing.
School Committee members also discussed possible changes to the district’s school resource officer (SRO) staffing. The district currently has two SRO positions, though one of these officers recently retired and has not yet been replaced. Schlachter questioned whether two SROs are necessary, while School Committee Chairman Kyle Belanger agreed that it feels like “a very natural time” to consider the idea, noting that not everyone will be in school buildings next year and that the staffing change would save the school money.
SRO programs nationwide have been criticized for worsening the school-to-prison pipeline, particularly among students of color. This issue has received increased attention amid protests against racism and police violence.
School Committee member Allyson Garcia said South Hadley’s records do not indicate a large number of students of color being targeted by SROs, though she noted that most students are white.
Miles said he is “really reluctant to believe that there’s a need for a five-day-a-week, all-hours law enforcement presence in schools.”
While there are also security component to the Job, Miles said, much of the work done by SROs would be more appropriately handled by a social worker. Committee members did not reach any decisions on the matter at the Monday night meeting.
During the meeting, school officials also confirmed that the school will hold a drive-thru graduation on Aug. 7. School Committee members had previously discussed an in-person outdoor ceremony in August, but the current plan is for a drive-up event where students exit their cars, walk across the stage, receive a diploma, then have a photo opportunity afterward. Under this plan, students would then return to their cars and exit the parking lot.
Students will only see the people scheduled to walk across the stage immediately before and after their own time slots, but South Hadley Community Television plans to film the ceremony, which could take a total of nine hours, and arrange the footage so students and families can view all participants walking across the stage.
During the public comment period of the meeting, members read several letters from South Hadley High School seniors asking for an in-person graduation ceremony. However, Board of Health recommendations and liability concerns led committee members to vote for the drive-thru event.
Jacquelyn Voghel can be reached at jvoghel@gazettenet.com.