Acton-Boxborough Schools To Use Hybrid Reopening, Teachers React

ACTON, MA — Acton-Boxborough students will be returning to the classroom, but not full time. The district approved a hybrid model for reopening. Dozens of districts across the Commonwealth have opted for the hybrid model after laying out three potential scenarios including fully in-person and fully remote options, at the request of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Under the ABSD hybrid model, students time will be split evenly between in-person learning and remote learning. Cohorts will be implemented so that students keep their classes to smaller groups of the same kids. Elementary students will be in cohorts of 8-11 students while in-person learning and secondary students will be in cohorts of 11-14 students.

On the remote days, students will engage in what is typically called asynchronous learning. Asynchronous learning is posted for students on a learning management system, such as GoogleClassroom, to access within the time constraints provided by the teacher, however, students can access the learning at different times, and work through it at their own pace. Asynchronous days are used to continue engagement with the curriculum and to maximize the in-person class meetings with the teacher.

The Acton Boxborough Education Association issued a statement on Tuesday, reacting to the approved hybrid plans. The statement is neither a complete endorsement or rejection of the hybrid plan. In the statement, union leaders said they worked closely with district officials from the beginning to craft a plan that would keep educators and students safe.

"But as the school district rolled out the hybrid instructional plan in July, and as COVID-19 cases continued to rise at alarming rates across the country, it became clear to us that many of our members did not feel safe returning to school buildings with so much uncertainty nationally and regionally," the statement reads.

The union sent out a survey at the end of July and found that 55 percent of members did not want to return to school buildings in the planned hybrid instructional model and the average comfort level returning to school in a hybrid model was only 4.1 on a scale of 0-10.

The union voted and brought their decision to support a fully remote start to the School Committee, but union leaders said, "With no way to bridge the gap between a hybrid and remote start, those talks did not progress." The union rescinded its support for a fully remote start, to try to continue to work with district leadership on a new plan.

"The truth is, our educators are divided. Many of our teachers are supportive of the hybrid instructional model. Many are not. Many of our teachers feel safe returning to school buildings later this month. Many do not," the statement reads.

The statement ends with the union asking parents and the school community to be patient with teachers and staff. "If there was ever a year to let small things go in your child’s school experience, this is the one," it reads, "The burden that many of our educators will carry into school with them each day will be tremendous."

The full statement is available on Acton Wicked Local.