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School News
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Dighton-Rehoboth Reopening Plans
By Joe Siegel
The 2020-2021 school year will begin on September 18 with remote learning. The Dighton-Rehoboth Regional School District plans to transition to hybrid learning and ultimately in-person instruction depending on the rate of Covid-19 infections in Massachusetts.
Teachers will return on September 2 for 10 days of professional development in accordance with the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary (DESE) guidance.
Superintendent Anthony Azar sent parents and families a full summary of the district’s return to school plans last Friday.
The document reads, in part:
In addition to classroom time where both teachers and students are present, structured learning time may include directed study, independent study, technology-assisted learning, presentations by persons other than teachers, school-to-work programs, and statewide student performance assessments.
Direct instruction will happen daily, but without time minimum or maximums. DRRSD recommends 15 minute mini lessons with the opportunity for additional discussion using Google Meet as a platform.
Hybrid learning will be a combination of in person learning and remote learning as defined in this document. In a hybrid model, grades 1-12 students will report to school 2 days per week and will work remotely from home 3 days per week. Staff will report 5 days per week. Staff will work a half day on Wednesdays to give custodians an opportunity to clean the building.
All students are required to wear a mask/face covering that covers their nose and mouth.
Face shields may be an option for those students with medical, behavioral, or other challenges who are unable to wear masks/ face coverings.
Vaccination Reminders for Families
Dear Dighton-Rehoboth Families,
We hope you are well and have enjoyed your summer as best as possible. Our staff is preparing for the opening of the 2020-2021 school year. We have been working extremely hard to prepare students and staff for a year of learning regardless of a remote model or a hybrid model. To support whichever model we are in, we have planned a comprehensive professional development schedule for staff beginning on 9/2 and continuing until 9/17.
As a reminder the first day for students is 9/18/2020. We will be starting the year in a remote learning model with a goal to transition to hybrid learning beginning on 10/13/2020. Building principals will be providing information regarding specific student schedules as well as additional information regarding the start of the school year. A distance learning website will be used to provide students access to teacher webpages, programs and applications, as well as student and parent technical support resources. High priority students, as identified by the DESE guidance, will also be starting on 9/18/2020 with direct in person instruction and services. For students, who meet this criteria, families and guardians will be receiving additional correspondence from the District Special Education office.
This year, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health is requiring an influenza immunization for all children 6 months of age or older who are attending Massachusetts child care, pre-school, kindergarten, K-12, and colleges and universities. Students will be expected to have received a flu vaccine by 12/31/2020 unless either a medical or religious exemption is provided.
It is becoming very clear that during the 2020-2021 school year we will again be presented with many questions and few answers. We will continue to work with all stakeholders to answer these difficult questions with the health and safety of our students and staff foremost in mind. Our goal is to provide the best education for our students regardless of the model so as to prepare them to be productive, successful citizens in an ever changing world.
Please continue to monitor email for updates from district and building administration. We are looking forward to working together to provide the best possible education for our students during this difficult time. Sincerely, Dr. Anthony Azar
Please see ReporterToday.com for more information on the Massachusetts guidelines for vaccinations.
Seekonk Schools Begin with
Hybrid Model on September 15th By Joe Siegel
Seekonk Schools will begin the school year with a hybrid learning model. A preliminary reopening plan was submitted to the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) last month. A comprehensive plan is due to DESE on Friday.
“We need to have a positive attitude and a growth mindset that we can do this working together,” Superintendent Rich Drolet said at Monday’s school committee meeting. “Starting the year in a hybrid model is I firmly believe in the best interest of students.”
School officials acknowledge sticking to a hybrid learning model will be challenging due to the continual fluctuation in infection rates in Massachusetts.
“I think we’re at the mercy of the virus,” Drolet said. “One thing we’ve learned is that things change if not weekly, daily. If not daily, hourly, so if the rates were to spike in the matter of a day or two, things could change.” “If rates continue to drop then yes, I believe full classroom instruction is possible as long as it is safe for students and staff,” Drolet told the Reporter. “Per DESE guidance, adults (and students) are not required to undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing. If they are symptomatic, then our school-based COVID-19 point-of-contacts (school nurses) would recommend for staff or families to work with and consult with their doctors/pediatricians to determine if COVID-19 testing was recommended/needed.”
Drolet said the district is looking into adopting mask-wearing policies (with increased mask-wearing expectations), that the school committee may adopt.
“Under these policies, students would typically be excluded from school if they decline or refuse to wear a mask and parents/ guardians would be called to pick their students up if they refused to wear a mask,” Drolet noted.
Drolet added that the majority of teachers that were surveyed preferred a hybrid or full in-person return-to-school as opposed to a full remote model.
On July 27, Education Commissioner Jeff Riley announced the start of school in Massachusetts will be delayed by 10 days to allow for more educator training.
Students in kindergarten through 12th grade will start in the middle of September, and the school year will be reduced to 170 days.
The 75 page Comprehensive Return to School Plan is on the school department’s website: http://www.seekonk.k12.ma.us/
Some highlights: • The PK-12 student population will be divided into two cohorts:
Cohort A and Cohort B; • Cohort A (last names A-K) will include about 50 percent of the
PK-12 student population who will attend school in-person 2 continued on next page...
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days per week (usually Tuesday/Wednesday); Cohort B will include the other 50% of students (last names L- ) who will attend school in-person 2 other days per week (usually Thursday/Friday); In this hybrid learning environment and remote learning, each group will learn remotely the other three days per week. Some synchronous learning with Cohorts A & B combined may be able to take place on the district-wide remote learning day (usually Monday) “Virtual Learning Academy” as a Choice: In a survey to our families, 10-15% indicated they would choose a 100% virtual learning option for their student if offered this choice. Parents/guardians
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have the option to choose a Virtual Learning Academy (VLA) if they prefer - with the understanding that the Virtual Learning Academy may not provide as robust offerings as, or replace the full benefits of, learning in-person Social distancing will be implemented as much as possible; under the hybrid model below, in-class social distancing will be possible
Industriousness & Creative Sustainability:
How Bristol Aggie is facing reopening challenges
Dighton, MA: As the school re-opening guidance from MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) trickles down, schools across the commonwealth are employing unique and creative methods to develop the three required plans for the start of school. All schools are submitting three distinct learning plans to the DESE for approval: in school learning, hybrid (in and out of school), and entirely remote learning.
Bristol County Agricultural High School is faced with the unique challenge of being in the midst of a $1.3 million Massachusetts School Building Authority construction and renovation project. “As you can imagine, this is a challenging time for all schools, but compounding the pandemic restrictions with a new campus layout that includes new structures and the renovation of established buildings, magnifies these challenges immensely,” said Bristol Aggie Superintendent, Adele Sands, “ However, where there is challenge, there is opportunity.”
The school’s new Student Commons building, which will house the new cafeteria, media center, offices and public meeting space, is post and beam structure. When Gilbane Inc., the construction company executing the build, had spare pieces of large beam, they approached Facility Director, Ryan Miranda, to see if there was a use anywhere else on campus. Immediately, Miranda and the school’s dedicated foremen and custodians took action. Miranda said that with the new spacing guidance, a major challenge was in the food service area. “We just don’t have enough room in the existing building.” Pre-pandemic, Bristol Aggie students could be seen enjoying lunch outdoors, even in weather that might seem questionable to some. “Our kids love to be outside and these extra beam sections seemed like an incredible opportunity to build additional outdoor seating for our students”. The facilities team installed short sections of telephone poles into the ground to serve as the post supports for the long pieces of beam. The finished product is a wide, long, family style table for students to enjoy their meals, socially distanced.
Superintendent Sands said, “Today, creativity in schools is not stopping at schedules, curricula, classroom setups and technology. Today’s educators have to think way outside of the box. Bristol Aggie is so fortunate to have the most industrious, resourceful, and creative faculty and staff and that’s critical in order for this school year to be a success.”
Tri-County Regional Return to School Plan September 2020-Executive Summary
There were two key factors from our feasibility study that played a part in our planning and decision making for the re-opening. Through our parent survey comments, we realized the first key factor was the primary emphasis for in–person learning needed to be on our vocational program. Our parents felt that the reason their student attended our school was because of the technical education we offer. It is what differentiates us from their local school district. Our practice of alternating weeks for vocational and academic instruction, with underclassmen and upperclassmen assigned to each, provides a natural cohort model for our vocational and academic programs.
The second key factor was transportation. The district has a large geographical footprint that measures 25 plus miles from the towns of Seekonk to Millis and east to Walpole.
Considering these two key factors, we feel that the best plan for us would be a Hybrid phased reopening with one grade level of students attending their vocational program each day and all academic instruction remote. Each grade level is about 250 students. We would provide in-person vocational instruction two and one half days for underclassmen and two days for upperclassmen each week. On the other two days for underclassmen and two and one half days for upperclassmen students would receive remote vocational instruction. Under Phase I we would run this schedule for one A week (grades 9 & 11) and one B week (grades 10 & 12) cycle in their vocational program. This would provide live instruction to 25% of our total student enrollment. If the logistics and safety protocols work out, we would expand this to Phase II with both grades in a particular vocational program attending together or 50% of our total enrollment. Under Phase I and II, vocational in-person instruction only, there would be no passing in the corridors and students would eat lunch in their shops, eliminating the need for students to pass in the corridors.
In order for us to consider in person academic instruction under the Hybrid Phased Reopening Plan, we felt we needed to develop a six-foot (Phase III) and a three-foot (Phase IV) model to have flexible options in dealing with passing between classes and lunch in the cafeteria. To ensure minimal class sizes, under the six-foot model, students would be grouped into cohorts according to last name. On B week, Mondays and Thursdays 9/11th graders with last names A – N will be in the building for instruction, while last names O – work remotely. On Tuesdays and Fridays, they will switch modes of instruction. On A week the same pattern holds true for 10/12th graders in academics. On Wednesdays, all students work remotely, while staff is in the building.
In the three-foot model, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays 9th graders will receive in-person instruction while 11th graders are working remotely. On Tuesdays and Thursdays 11th graders will receive in-person instruction while 9th graders are working remotely. On A weeks the same pattern will hold true for 10/12th graders in academics. Wednesdays will follow the one-half day in-person schedule.
During remote learning, economically disadvantaged students are ensured nutritional assistance through their sending district. We will provide all students with Chromebooks and are actively working on providing hotspots to ensure that every Tri-County student has reliable internet access.
While the first two phases of reopening call for remote learning for academics, a small cohort of sub-separate students will attend school in-person along with designated vocational students with all safety protocols followed. In order to establish the cohort, we reviewed the IEPs of all students, and determined their need for significant intervention during both in-person instruction and remote learning.
Our goal is to safely get to Phase V, a 100% in-person model, that will require students to receive instruction full time in the school setting according to the three-feet distancing guidelines and will follow the traditional school schedule of week on/week off. All students will be issued their own Chromebook. We have built a half-day at mid-week for students to allow for the implementation of extensive cleaning protocols, as well as professional development opportunities and collaboration time for faculty and staff. We have removed excess furniture from the academic classrooms to accommodate a 24-student maximum. On-site remote learning labs will be utilized for classes that exceed the 24-student maximum and to address students who are unable to attend school. Counseling needs will be addressed by counselors remotely or in person as appropriate to phasing for existing caseload students as well as new wellness referrals. Students with 504 plans will have accommodations ensured by guidance counselors.
Incoming and existing EL and FEL students will have their progress and proficiency levels assessed at the start of the school year to determine appropriate direct services and monitoring with our EL specialist. Important family outreach will be translated for language needs.
We have increased passing times between classes as well as during lunch to facilitate one-way traffic in the hallways and appropriate sanitation protocols. The start and end of the day have been adjusted to stagger arrivals and dismissals.
We believe that our Hybrid Phased Reopening Plan will provide the confidence and knowledge of the required protocols to safely allow 100% in-person instruction at some point in time this school year.
Hornbine School Museum Open in September
The Hornbine School Museum will be open between 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. on September 13 th & 27 th. (2 nd & 4 th Sundays) The Hornbine School Museum is LOCATED at 144 Hornbine Road in Rehoboth. Frances Megan, a past Hornbine School student, will be in attendance when possible. Visitors always find her to be very interesting and informative. Go to our Facebook page at “Hornbine School Museum” to check before you visit and to FOLLOW us. You and your family will have limited access to the building. We ask: 1. Please do not visit if you have symptoms of Covid 19. 2. Wear a mask and maintain a distance of 6 feet. 3. Groups of 4 or less will have restricted access to the Museum.
