Andover Superintendent: No Full Return Until Herd Immunity

ANDOVER, MA — Full return to in-person learning will not happen until the district reaches "herd immunity via vaccinations," interim Superintendent Claudia Bach said in a letter to parents Monday.

Bach's letter lays out three stages of in-person learning, with "small increases for in-student learning in schools, according to each school’s capacity" when the "surge begins to ebb" and then "full return to pre-COVID in-student learning" when the district reaches herd immunity.

Any advance to the next stage could be reverted if conditions change, according to the chart laying out the three stages.

"Precise calendar dates [are] unknown at this time, unknown because COVID will determine our calendar, not I," Bach wrote. "In some cases, even a small increase in student in-person time, might require that the Department of Elementary Education (DESE) or the CDC relax COVID-19 mitigation guidelines."

The timeline prompted a coordinated letter campaign to district officials from a group of parents who want a specific target date for in-person return. Dozens of parents sent an email calling for two measures:

1. "The district must send a survey out to all APS families to gather data on the number of students that would be interested in a full-time, in-person option when it is available. This data has not been collected since the summer, and any estimation of staffing costs and spacing needs must be updated based on current interest and guidelines.
2. The district must set target dates for phased in return to full-time, in-person learning. Many other districts across the state, of all sizes and populations, have set target return dates for various grades. Of course, these are “target” dates and nothing is finalized, but it is a first step in moving a process forward; no such attempt at any dates has been announced in Andover."

Lauren Anderson, a parent of a second-grade student, sent one of the emails. She said her family is paying nearly $1,000 per month for their daughter to spend three remote days each week at the SHED Children's Campus, because she and her husband do not have the flexibility to stay home with her.

"We just want a plan," she said. "We don't expect everyone to get into school tomorrow, right away, full time."

Anderson argued that with the survey, the district might find out that enough families would turn down in-person learning that a switch would be possible, even without the state assistance with staffing, space and transportation that district officials have asked for.

"Maybe people don't want to send their kids back for this year," Anderson said. "If we have enough kids that don't come in full time, a lot of the barriers can be overcome."

The parents organized their campaign in a Facebook group, Anderson said. Beth Humberd, a Bancroft Elementary parent, drafted the letter.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.