LYNN — St. Mary’s is pulling out all the stops to ensure that its students will return to school next month in a safe environment.
That they’re returning for in-person learning stands in stark contrast to other schools throughout the city that have opted to start remotely due to COVID-19 fears.
St. Mary’s High administrators have prepared all summer for a traditional return to in-person instruction this school year, and Dr. John F. Dolan, head of school, said he thinks the school can serve as a role model for the citizens of Lynn.
“We believe we see a path forward if you follow the rules — wear a mask, keep your distance and wash your hands,” said Dolan. “If you do it right, we don’t have to shut down our city.”
Students will return to the Catholic school gradually during the first week of classes. Grades 6-8 will return on Sept. 1, grades 6-10 will be in school on Sept. 2 and all students will be back by Sept. 3.
But students will not be in school on Sept. 4, which has been designated an administrative assessment day. On that date, Dolan said administrators and staff will assess how well the first week of classes has gone and whether students adhered to safety restrictions such as keeping their masks on.
Then, it will be, as Dolan put it, “full steam ahead,” on Sept. 8, the Tuesday after Labor Day, with all staff and students back in school.
St. Mary’s reopening plan, dubbed “Care for All,” is an outlier among other schools in the city, which have opted to start with remote learning as the coronavirus pandemic continues to hit Lynn particularly hard.
While Dolan is supportive of his friend, Lynn Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Patrick Tutwiler’s decision to start the year remotely, given the district’s enrollment and space challenges, he said the situation at St. Mary’s is vastly different.
Dolan said the school has enough space to accommodate its 560-plus students, even as he expects enrollment to climb to around 580 for the upcoming school year given the increase in families that have been applying.
In-person learning is a decision largely supported by St. Mary’s families. Dolan said only about 19 students from the 560 that are currently enrolled have opted to start the school year remotely, which amounts to more than 96 percent of students that have chosen in-person instruction.
“(Families) just want their kids back in school,” he said. “The best form of education is in-person. Remote is a form of education, but it’s not the best form.”
Dolan said the preparations made for in-person learning have been extensive, while pointing out various modifications and upgrades that have been made throughout the afternoon tour.
All of those upgrades have amounted to St. Mary’s investing more than $500,000 into preparing the building for in-person instruction, which has included new furniture, such as smaller desks that have been spaced four feet apart in classrooms; upgrades to technology; and the purchase of personal protective and sanitary equipment, such as masks for all students, he said.
During a tour of one of those classrooms, Dolan showed the numbers that have been placed on each desk, while explaining that each student will be assigned a numbered desk to make contact tracing easier if a student becomes infected.
Students will also benefit from the school’s $16 million STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) building that is expected to be open by October. The 30,000 square-foot space will feature large laboratory spaces and classrooms, and will serve as the entrance to the school.
Artie Gribbins, assistant principal of technology integration, displayed one of the new interactive whiteboards that he anticipates will be instrumental to instruction this school year.
Every classroom at St. Mary’s will feature one of those interactive whiteboards, which can also accommodate students who have opted to learn remotely to start the school year.
Teachers can zoom into certain parts of their lesson to provide a more interactive experience for students who are watching from home, Gribbins explained.
Helping matters is the school has already established a 1:1 digital learning model, which means that every student will have a device.
“It has helped that we’ve been in that realm of 1:1, that students are familiar with that technology,” said Gribbins. “We don’t want any students to leave this campus and be intimidated by the technology they encounter on a college campus.”
Other notable upgrades include an updated dining commons, which can accommodate 400 people, and a new student health center, which will also function as an isolation room for students who are showing coronavirus symptoms.
Parents will have 30 minutes to pick up their sick child from the isolation space before the school transports the student to a local hospital.
“We’re not messing around,” said Dolan, citing rising case numbers in Lynn.
Still, for all the school’s preparation, Dolan found himself rethinking the school’s reopening plan last week following new health data released by the state that showed Lynn was designated a “higher risk community,” as the city has a daily case rate of more than 8 per 100,000 residents.
The state has recommended that schools located in “higher risk communities,” or that are shaded “red” on the new coronavirus map start remotely, which led several public school superintendents to alter their reopening plans.
“That was devastating,” said Dolan. “The benefit of being head of campus at a Catholic school is you get to walk the campus and say the Rosary. I’ve never said the Rosary as much as last week.”
But Dolan said he found solace in the feedback he’s received from parents who have been in support of in-person learning, data that shows the majority of St. Mary’s families don’t live in neighborhoods that are spiking in Lynn, and success that the school has had with events such as its graduation ceremonies last month.
“I think Patrick (Tutwiler) made the best decision for his organization,” said Dolan, while contrasting the approximately 16,000 student public school system to St. Mary’s 560-plus student enrollment. “We’re just doing what’s right for us, not comparing it to anyone else.”
