MARBLEHEAD — Marblehead Public Schools has taken some necessary steps to expand its in-person learning time in the coming weeks after February vacation.
The School Committee voted last week to support a proposal from Superintendent Dr. John Buckey and the district’s principals that would create a plan to bring students back to schools for full in-person learning at lower distancing levels.
Those plans, which are currently being developed in collaboration with the Marblehead Education Association, were made possible after the Board of Health voted last week to recommend that the school district adhere to a reduced distancing of six feet in its classrooms.
“With that (distancing) piece now more flexible, I felt that we should begin an earnest process to return learners to more time in classrooms,” Buckey said.
That process will start with the community’s youngest learners in prekindergarten through first grade. The goal is a five-day model that will also allow a choice for families not comfortable with students returning to instead be fully remote.
“We will focus first on getting our youngest learners back to five days of four-hour in-person instruction,” Buckey said. “This initially means kindergarten and first grade, which were conversations already undertaken with MEA.
“Some classrooms will be able to maintain close to six feet in distancing whereas others might not. Once we have a clear definition of what school will look like for these learners, we will communicate the plan to families and ask for their learning model choice.”
Buckey said there is no scheduled start date for the new learning plans, but told the School Committee that those details would be decided during meetings planned for this week
“The administration team is meeting over February vacation,” Buckey said. “I’m hoping that the rollout (of the plan) will be soon thereafter. We’re not going to take six weeks to figure this out and we’re not going to phase in in three week periods (like the fall process). I’m wanting to get the distancing down and be able to (tell) families what that’s going to be, so they can make educated decisions.”
Once grade school students are returned to classrooms, the district will then shift its attention to the middle and high school in a process that Buckey said would be much more complex.
“I know people question, why do you always start with the youngest students?” Buckey said. “It’s a lot harder at middle school and high school levels.
“I have a lot of faith in (Principals) Matthew Fox (middle school) and Daniel Bauer (high school), but it is more complicated at the high school with children moving, going to different classrooms with different cohorts, and those teachers also have needs that need to be met. It’s not that we can’t do that, it’s just a little easier pre-K to six to get this off the ground and moving.”
Daniel Kane can be reached at [email protected].
