PEABODY — With exactly three weeks to go until the first day of school on Aug. 30, it’s all systems go for Peabody’s public schools.
“Believe it or not we are in August and the start of the new school year is just around the corner,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Josh Vadala said. “We had an entry plan last year that focused on building relationships with the School Committee and internal and external stakeholders. It was all about listening and learning. Our next step this year is to take everything we learned last year and focus on continued improvement going forward into this year.”
Vadala told the School Committee at its most recent meeting that the district will follow all Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and Department of Public Health guidance, which currently “strongly recommends” masks for students from K-6 when indoors and for unvaccinated students in grades 7-12. Students who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear masks. DESE “strongly recommends” that students who nonetheless choose to wear masks should be supported in all cases. Masks are mandatory for students and staff in school health officers. Per federal public health guidelines, masks are mandatory to students and staff on buses.
“We know that things may change over the next few weeks,” Vadala said. “We have to be flexible and need to be adaptive as we were last year. But I was very encouraged with the commissioner (of Education Jeffrey Riley) and the governor’s (Charlie Baker) recommendations.”
According to Vadala, while the district will be meeting with Health Director Sharon Cameron in the upcoming weeks, the district is not looking to make any major policy changes.
“This summer worked very well with optional masks, but we may need more guidance as we work into larger classroom settings, so we will work with Sharon to get further guidance,” Vadala said. “Right now, I feel confident following the DESE and DPH recommendations. We can make more recommendations but we are not forcing anyone to make those new decisions at this time. I don’t think we should have stronger or lesser guidelines that we have now.”
Committee member Jarrod Hochman said that while he feels he isn’t sure he fully understands DESE’s recommendations, he doesn’t see any need to strongly recommend students in K-6 wear masks.
“Unless things change dramatically between now and when school starts, I really don’t see any need to strongly recommend students in K-6 when they’re indoors to be wearing masks,” he said. “I just don’t understand the need for K-6 students to get vaccinated and it’s the same with the students in grades 7-plus.
“I think we should be mask optional and support people who choose to wear masks.”
Hochman said he also doesn’t understand why there is a federal mandate requiring masks on buses and asked Vadala to seek out additional information on that issue from the commissioner.”
Committee member Joe Amico, presiding in the absence of Chair Edward A. Bettencourt, Jr., suggested the committee convene again on Aug. 24 “in hopes of having more concrete data.”
Vadala said the district will continue to offer COVID-19 testing in partnership with the city’s health department using the department’s mobile vaccination clinic. He said he is also expecting an updated version of DESE’s Protocols for Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios guide. Currently, the guide exempts vaccinated people from any quarantine situations.
New Assistant Superintendent of Curricula, Instruction and Assessment Dr. Kelly Chase said she has been busy talking with district principals and senses there is a great sense of optimism about the upcoming school year.
“You can see there is a great deal of pride in the work that has been to date,” she said. “We have a real opportunity to get back to basics and engage in communication to give us a real understanding about our students and their needs.
“We are putting the worst behind us and building upon the strengths of the collaboration that’s happened this past year.”
