LYNNFIELD — The Lynnfield school district is moving ahead with plans to add more in-person learning to its current hybrid model.
During her COVID-19 update at Tuesday’s School Committee meeting, School Superintendent Kristen Vogel said the district hopes to begin offering in-person learning on Wednesdays, which are currently remote.
“We still don’t know when teachers will be vaccinated,” she said. “Now that teachers have been bumped back in priority, I wish I could say when it will be, but DESE (Department of Secondary and Elementary Education) and the state haven’t given us any new information.”
The district also received good news in the form of the results of benchmark assessment data compiled from the results of recent testing in the elementary schools.
“I am very pleased in seeing students’ performances this fall, not only meeting achievement, but maintaining it,” said the district’s Director of Language, Arts and Social Studies Maureen Fennessey. “We are finding that other districts are also seeing the same phenomena, and that the gaps in achievement some thought we would see are not there. The data tells you we are doing right by our students and parents. We are still at the very beginning of this process, but what we have is very encouraging.”
Committee member Phil McQueen said the data indicates that the “partnership between educators and parents is working. Parents are helping out at home to make sure their children are reading.”
Vogel said the district will be sending out a survey to families to determine how many families intend to stay fully remote through the end of the year once school administrators know when teachers will be vaccinated.
“It would be wonderful if we could give families a date when teachers will be vaccinated, but it would be disingenuous to give what might be false hope,” Vogel said. “We all want something to hold onto. Once we know, the wheels will start very quickly. As we know how to do full in-person learning, we know what to do.”
COVID-19 liaison Toni Rebelo confirmed that the district has 11 active cases, but there is nothing to indicate any concerns about in-school spread.
“It’s pretty stable, case-wise. We are just waiting for teachers to know when they get their vaccines,” she said. “We may be holding the date, as Kristen said, but we’re waiting and ready to go.”
Committee Chair Jamie Hayman suggested parents need to be actively involved in writing letters and talking to elected officials to prioritize teachers, adding that having teachers vaccinated is “what it will take to get back to full in-person learning.
“We’re close. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We are hoping we can give seniors a normal spring, as much as it (is) possible, but we are close,” Hayman said. “What we are doing is working.”
Committee member Stacy Dalstedt said she has heard from families who are asking why other districts have more in-person learning than Lynnfield.
“Every district is different in terms of facilities and schools,” Vogel said. “Some schools have much more flexible space. Bob (Cleary, high school principal) doesn’t have flexible spaces like that. The elementary schools are busting at the seams. It comes down to what we have in terms of facilities and doing what we feel is best.”
Committee member Rich Sjoberg said families need to know that the committee is working “continuously to do what it can to get more in-person learning.”
During public participation, a handful of parents raised questions, concerns, and in some cases, criticism, regarding Lynnfield’s status as a hybrid district. Several more chose to post comments on Facebook, most of which were highly critical and negative.
Resident Brian Charville expressed his appreciation for the “wonderful work of our teachers” but said that while it was good to hear the assessments data, he is concerned that his children “seem to have really large chunks of downtime. He also questioned why Lynnfield doesn’t have a much larger amount of in-person learning, such as what is offered in the towns of Duxbury and Barnstable.
Christina Itzkowitz said she has concerns about students’ social and emotional welfare.
“Socially, our kids need to be in school,” she said, adding that while the test assessment data indicates “that everything is fine and dandy, they are not. I don’t know why so many other schools are figuring it out. Why can’t we figure it out?”
“Hanover has a date for (a) full-time return to school. Why can’t we?” said resident Beth Tashjian in a Facebook post.
