MARBLEHEAD — Once again, concerns about the coronavirus pandemic have brought a temporary halt to in-person learning for most students in Marblehead’s public schools beginning Monday. Remote learning will resume Jan. 4-8 after the holiday vacation.
Superintendent of Schools John Buckey made the announcement in a Dec. 15 letter sent to families with school children, which also outlined the district’s policy going forward regarding snow days.
The letter stated the decision was prompted by “the climbing virus count in town.” Teachers will have the option to either teach from a remote location or teach from their classrooms, while special education will “continue in-person on a case-by-case and program-by-program decision.
“This decision anticipates that numbers in town will likely continue to rise, as they have been, and in the idea that we wanted to give teachers adequate time to plan lessons for early January,” Buckey said. “While the likelihood is high that the numbers will continue to rise, if they are lower we reserve the right to revisit this decision and to possibly return to in-person learning sooner.”
Buckey said the decision was made after meeting with the Reopening Committee three times in the span of just one week. Following the meeting, Buckey and Marblehead principals shared the news with staff to give staff members an opportunity for feedback before announcing the news to the public.
School Committee member Daniel Harris expressed optimism during Thursday’s School Committee meeting that “when we come back in January, hopefully things will be moving in the right direction.”
This isn’t the first time Marblehead has had to pivot to remote learning. In late October, the district halted in-person learning at Marblehead High after discovery of a large house party in which “young people were gathered together without social distancing or face coverings, sharing drinks and generally ignoring the standards our community has set to manage COVID-19,” Buckey wrote in a letter to the school community.
As far as snow days are concerned, Buckey said that, after consulting with the Reopening Committee, snow days will be traditional snow days with no school — either remote or in-person — taking place. On non-snow days, parents always have discretion as to whether or not to send their children to school.
“My experience is that snow days are often accompanied by power outages which would disrupt remote teaching and learning,” Buckey wrote. “I also believe that with the stress we are all experiencing, a snow day would be beneficial for students and staff alike. It’s a simple joy that we can still have, even mid-pandemic. If the reactions from the first graders I visited with at Coffin (Monday) are any bellwether, a snow day is still a childhood joy!”
Buckey said case data will provide a threshold to guide the decision on when to return to hybrid learning in January.
“By making the decision based on information now, we give teachers and families time to plan that making the call three days prior to return (for Jan. 4) will have eliminated,” he said. “We felt it is easier — while appreciating that nothing is easy — to move from remote to in-person than families preparing for in-person and having students move to remote.”
Anne Marie Tobin can be reached at [email protected].
