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Saugus set for distant learning
By Elyse Carmosino | March 28, 2020
SAUGUS — Superintendent of Schools David DeRuosi expects Saugus to launch its online learning program — also referred to as distant learning — by early April.
The information was announced during a school committee meeting broadcast online Thursday, and comes in the wake of Governor Baker’s Wednesday announcement that schools will remain closed until May 4, rather than late April as initially planned, due to the COVID-19 virus outbreak.
“This is definitely an ongoing situation,” DeRuosi said. “This idea of distant learning is new to a lot of people, and most (other) districts are right where we are.”
DeRuosi said additional meetings among him, the Commissioner, and others are planned to further discuss what the move to an extended closure and online learning model will look like.
“(The Commissioner) is’t looking for districts to become brilliant overnight, but what he’s saying is that … we need to keep students as much as we can in a stable learning environment,” he said.
To make distant learning feasible will require a good deal of logistical planning, and the superintendent outlined measures currently being taken to bring the entire district up to speed.
Students who don’t have access to an online learning device are now being identified by the administration, and DeRuosi said the district is working on a plan to get equipment, including both new and used chromebooks, to those in need.
Parents will also be given additional support to help them structure their children’s learning time, and DeRuosi said curriculum guides will be available for access on the district’s website by Monday.
“The major goal right now is equity,” he said. “We’re trying to make it equitable for all.”
School Committee chair Thomas Whittredge praised the administration and other local groups, including meal-provider non-profit, Healthy Students-Healthy Saugus, for their quick response to building closures.
“It’s been crazy, and to be as prepared as we are right now is pretty impressive,” Whittredge said.
Vice chair Ryan Fisher later agreed.
“What I think the superintendent and his team are doing well is that they’re handling this methodically,” he said. “The first step was making sure students who rely on school nutrition have the food they need during the closure.
“Whitsons, Healthy Students-Healthy Saugus, and (HSHS members) Julie Ciccolini, and Dennis Gould deserve enormous credit, along with the school department and community donors, for getting that done.”
Going forward, DeRuosi said it will be key for students and teachers to think in terms of entire grades, rather than individual school buildings.
“The tricky part for us right now is, for the first time, public educators need to stop thinking like an individual building,” he said. “No longer are we the Oaklandvale, Lynnhurst, the Vets, the middle school, the high school. We now have to look at ourselves as grades … That is the only way parents are going to be able to make sense of this.”
DeRuosi later added: “I have to use the term ‘uncharted waters.’ I don’t think any superintendent, principal, parent, teacher, could prepare for a virus that literally shuts down public education.”
Once this ordeal is over, Fisher said he expects big changes in the way all districts operate.
“There’s nothing about this that isn’t challenging,” he said. “When this is all in the rearview mirror, I think we’ll all be accustomed to a new reality. Any contract we ever sign for a service will have a provision for extended closures, and school districts will have a practiced closure plan in place.
“This is new for everyone, and the whole world is going through it at the same time.”