Four In-Person Days For Andover K-1 Students To Begin March 8

ANDOVER, MA — Andover's youngest students will attend school in person four days per week beginning March 8, after the administration's plan was approved by the School Committee Thursday.

Kindergarten and first grade students will attend every day but Wednesdays, which will remain at-home learning days, under the approved plan.

Hybrid students will be brought in four days per week first. Remote and hybrid families will both be able to request a model change that week, after which the district will grant requests where possible, officials said at the meeting.

The School Committee approved the change unanimously after extensive discussion and hearing public comments both for and against the proposed plan.

The approval comes days after state officials said Tuesday that they wanted to see elementary students in classrooms full time as soon as April.

"This was a lot of planning, a lot of time, for a very small step," interim Superintendent Claudia Bach said. "This is just the K-1 students."

The five elementary school principals presented the plan to the School Committee. West Elementary principal Jennifer Hunt explained that the youngest students were prioritized because of the importance of social-emotional learning at that age and the difficulty younger students have with remote instruction.

The new plan will use three-foot distancing for affected students, versus the six-foot state guideline district officials had previously followed. Both distances are allowed by the state. Six-foot distancing will still be needed for mealtimes.

"We hope that with lessening of restrictions we'll be able to bring more students back," Sanborn Elementary principal Jason DiCarlo.

A survey about parent preferences was set to go out Friday, Bach said.

"More embracing of the 3-foot rule seems to be the lynchpin for me. That's not where we were in the fall," School Committee member Paul Murphy said. "It seems like schools are not a major cause of transmission."

School Committee member Tracy Spruce said that the committee had not heard any negative feedback from kindergarten and first grade teachers.

The full meeting is available here from AndoverTV.

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