MARBLEHEAD — High school principal Dan Bauer is happy that despite an increase in COVID-19 numbers elsewhere in the country, and in the state, the town’s schools are open for business.
“We are in full hybrid,” said Bauer, who worked hard over the summer to get the school ready for students to return for the first time since March, which they did last month.
“We are working to stay in school and to do it safely,” said Bauer.
“We know things can change very quickly, and we have to be ready for that if necessary.”
One of those changes happened late in October when, after a group of students held a party, the school went 100 percent virtual for two weeks.
“That was disappointing,” said Bauer. “We’re not the only school that had to go through it. And hopefully, as we move forward, we have made it clear that everybody follows the guidelines for holidays so that we can keep going forward with in-person learning.”
Bauer said it’s important to have in-person contact with teachers.
“There are things that just can’t be replicated in a remote world,” he said. “We have students, of course, in remote learning because of family situations, or personal situations, and we try very hard to make them a part of the community.
“We’re trying to balance everything, and make everybody safe — both physically and emotionally. But it’s a strain on the kids, and a strain on the families.”
Bauer said he worries about the upcoming holidays and how a laxness in adhering to previously-established guidelines might affect learning.
“Yes, this situation is highlighted even more with holidays coming up,” he said. “People are changing their habits. We hope they follow the safeguards so that we can stay with in-person learning as long as we can.”
Currently, there are two clusters, and they attend school twice a week and revert to virtual the other three. On Wednesdays, everyone is virtual.
Even with the disruption caused by the party, Bauer is not sure where the school is in terms of general clusters and numbers.
“I think we’re OK,” he said. “The numbers everywhere are going up, but we’ve been able to dodge it as much as we can.”
But, he said, “everybody is suffering from pandemic fatigue. We’re lucky as a state with what’s going on here, as opposed to everywhere else in the country.”
Superintendent John Buckey said in a letter to the community last week that the town needs to stick together to make this work.
“Collaboration as a community will be required to make this work,” Buckey wrote. “We are only as good as our weakest point.”
He also said even in Marblehead there was a jump last week to 36 active cases.
According to the town, four of the 57 cases reported in the town over the last two weeks were among those 19 years old or younger.
Buckey said in order to maintain in-person learning, all staff and students must follow Massachusetts Department of Health orders that include avoiding travel, discouraging those visiting from out of state, avoiding gatherings with people outside of the household and following school safety protocols.
