The Rochester School Committee unanimously voted to reopen the school on a full-time basis to Grades K-2 during the committee’s January 21 Zoom meeting. The pivot will be effective on Tuesday, February 2.
“I’m pleased for everyone, especially our children,” said Committee Chairman Sharon Hartley. “We do the best we can in our schools, and I’m so proud, I am truly proud. I’ve been in a lot of schools. I’m truly proud to be a part of this school where we do better all the time. We are committed to our children. Thank you very much, everybody.”
The decision aligns Rochester with Mattapoisett in getting what administrators call the youngest learners back in school on a full-time basis. Marion School Committee had discussed the matter but had yet to vote on a K-2 re-entry plan.
In presenting the plan, Old Rochester Regional Superintendent of Schools Mike Nelson referenced the special School Committee meeting on December 17 when the ORR administration presented a logistical action plan for the re-entry of Grades K-2 back to full, in-person attendance at Rochester Memorial School. Nelson said feedback from parents and guardians has helped shape the plan.
The K-2 action plan for RMS calls for three kindergarten classrooms, one with 17 students and two with 16 if the two cohorts are combined. The plan calls for three first-grade classrooms, one with 18 students and two with 17, and the second-grade classrooms would have 18, 14, and 21 students, respectively, if the two cohorts are combined.
ORR has reviewed technology for the plan, said Nelson, and is confident the plan can be implemented “with full fidelity from a technology standpoint.”
Moreover, the logistics, the redesign of class space, and rearranging of furniture, hygiene stations, etc., will be managed by the school administration facilities team as soon as a pivot date is set. That date was established less than an hour into the meeting.
Food personnel is ready, and so is Amaral Bus Co., said Nelson. Any K-2 student currently using the hybrid learning model would be accommodated five days per week; any new requests would be offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.
RMS Principal Derek Medeiros tweaked the details of the December 17 re-entry presentation based on feedback. Portable sinks will be added to the media center and the gymnasium, allowing students to wash their hands on-site. Kindergarteners will be allowed to stay in their familiar classrooms because the present space can accommodate six more desks without compromising a minimum of 6 feet of social distance.
The story is different for first graders, with all three classes scheduled to move into different spaces. One class will move to the music room, a second will move to the art room, and the third to the band room.
Second graders will utilize a moving wall to open up space in one room, while another class will move into the gymnasium. The gym also has a movable wall, and there is a hand-washing station just outside the room. The other second-grade group will move into the current remote-teachers room.
“The nice piece about the movement here is the students will not be moving to an unfamiliar adult … and actually staying in their current room,” said Medeiros. “We’re moving to some communal spaces, so we’re utilizing some of our special spaces [and] our specialist teachers will be moving to special locations.”
Medeiros said only four students would need to change teachers to make the plan work.
Grades 3-6 will remain in the hybrid model.
Arrival, lunch, and dismissal adjustments would include using the current K-3 arrival and dismissal locations only for K-2. Third graders will move to the area being used by Grades 4-6. Due to the number of students in the same area, recess would be tweaked so that students remain with their homeroom group, simplifying any need for contact tracing.
Nelson reported seven RMS students and one staffer in isolation, 16 individuals in quarantine, and, to his knowledge, Rochester still has not experienced in-school transmission of COVID-19 to date.
“[A full return] is really important to [the children], from a mental health standpoint and from a learning standpoint,” said Rochester Health Nurse Connie Dolan. “I’m so impressed with the collaboration and planning.”
Nelson asked the School Committee to deliberate and consider taking action to a start date for an official action plan. According to Nelson, based on guidance from the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, preschool, special education students with high needs, English language learners, and children in foster care or dealing with homelessness have been primary focuses for ORR administration.
Medeiros displayed two calendar options. Option 1 starts K-2 full in-person on Monday, February 8; Option 2: starts K-2 full in-person on Monday, February 1. Medeiros said he favored beginning February 1 but cautioned the committee that Mondays are half-days to accommodate professional development for the faculty. With that explanation, the committee asked that Option 2 be amended to a Tuesday, February 2, start, and that was the option that was unanimously voted in.
Committee member Tina Rood asked about the contact-tracing process and about personal protective equipment. Dolan outlined the process, and Nelson said he is very confident in PPE supplies.
Rood also asked about absenteeism since the Christmas break. Medeiros said anywhere between five to 11 students needed to be out of school either due to close contact or a positive test.
Once the K-2 return to school was settled, Nelson shifted the topic to a reintroduction of the Student Opportunity Act (SOA), a three-year, evidence-based plan to increase school funding.
The SOA is meant to close achievement gaps, monitor success in reducing achievement gaps, and engage families in the process. The pandemic put the SOA on the back burner, but DESE has recently asked school districts to re-engage in producing their own SOAs.
Calling the program an unfunded mandate, Nelson said that Medeiros collaborated with other district principals and started drafting an SOA. Medeiros summarized the progress on developing an SOA for RMS, including assessment tools. Medeiros said that Marion and Mattapoisett are using the same tools and that teacher training is part of the three-year program.
The committee voted to approve the work with the understanding that it will be presented again when the schools are in a better position to enact it.
ORR’s Director of Student Services Craig Davidson discussed regulations that came about from the state in 1997-98, quantifying the school year at 900 total hours (990 for secondary students). In the pandemic, the state now requires 35 hours of live instruction over a 10-day school period. Medeiros followed up with specific examples of implementation.
Hartley said that she had hoped to have an FY22 budget completed and ready for the meeting but said it would take another meeting for completion.
Nelson publicly offered condolences to Facilities Director Gene Jones, who recently lost his beloved wife, Peggy.
Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations Howie Barber shared his monthly report. Of the $6.3 million budget, Barber said just under $200,000 remains unencumbered.
The committee voted to approve Barber’s $5,000 budget transfer request from the Transportation Preschool account to address legal litigation fees.
Reports from the Nelson and Assistant Superintendent of Teaching and Learning Janell Pearson-Campbell were approved.
Davidson told the committee that kindergarten report cards would be distributed across all three towns on February 4 and 5. A parent session for kindergarten registration will be held via Zoom on February 3 at 6:00 pm with a March 1 deadline. Preschool screenings were scheduled for January 27 at Sippican Elementary and on March 10 at RMS. Project Grow applications are open.
In place of his traditional Principal’s Report, Medeiros thanked the committee for its support of the school amidst its current transitions.
In her ORR District School Committee report, Rood told the committee that Portuguese is being added as an elective.
In her Tri-Town Education Foundation report, Robin Rounseville said the subcommittee met on January 12, and that grant applications are being finalized; $6,500 is available in grants.
The Anti-Racism Subcommittee has met frequently, according to Kate Duggan, who noted plans to join some committee members at a YWCA event focused on race.
The committee broke into an executive session and only returned to adjourn the open session. The Rochester School Committee’s next meeting will be at 6:30 pm on March 4 unless a compelling reason to meet sooner emerges.
Rochester School Committee
By Mick Colageo