Parents received their first glimpse at what school will look like in September when Lynn and Swampscott school committees were briefed Wednesday by their respective superintendents with parents listening in with virtual technology.
The good news: There will be school in September. The not-so-good news: Remote learning will be the way school is conducted deep into the fall.
At-home education will be the rule of thumb in Lynn, said School Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler, except for special education, English Language Learners and alternative school students, including Fecteau-Leary Junior/Senior High School. “Hybrid” education in Lynn combining in-school and remote learning will start, at the earliest, on Dec.1, said Tutwiler.
Swampscott will launch a remote return to school on Sept. 16. A hybrid plan with students attending either morning or afternoon school sessions will begin on Oct. 26.
The announcements by Swampscott Superintendent Pamela Angelakis and Tutwiler provide a thumbnail glance at what a new school year will look like across Massachusetts and maybe the nation.
Lynn is an urban school system in a city that has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases in late July into August. Swampscott is a suburban community where Angelakis is prepared to launch remote learning while keeping an eye on how in-school education unfolds in other school districts.
In another time distant from the one we live in now, superintendents and fellow educators ramped up for a new school year in August with a sense of purpose but not with the near-manic urgency that now captivates top educators.
“We’ve sweated the details, turned every stone,” is the way Tutwiler succinctly put it.
It’s not an understatement to suggest Tutwiler, Angelakis and their peers across the country are working around the clock to prepare school reopening plans for submission to the state in the middle of this month.
At-home learning means questions and complications for parents, especially ones who have returned to offices and job sites. If there is any bright side to education during coronavirus, then it is the opportunity it affords parents, teachers and school administrators to work closely together to look to the needs of children during this complicated time.
