Arlington Schools Updating Remote Learning, Senior Plans

ARLINGTON, MA — The final few weeks of school in Arlington will look radically different from previous years. On Tuesday, Gov. Charlie Baker announced what many assumed to be the inevitable – public and private schools will be closed through the end of the school year.

This means sports, after-school activities and special events like prom and graduation have all been canceled, or will be radically different as the district works to cope with the unprecedented state of emergency and stay-at-home advisory.

The updated order has the Arlington Public Schools re-examining how to implement its Remote Learning Plan in the long run, as well as adjust its activities for high school seniors. The district said it will update its Remote Learning Plan by next week, based on new guidelines from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

"We realize that this unprecedented disruption to all of our lives has been very difficult and that it has been challenging for families to support children with remote learning assignments," Superintendent Kathleen Bodie wrote in a letter to families.

Since schools closed in March, the district has emphasized asynchronous activities, which allows students and families to use educational resources at times that work best for them.

"We understand that many families face competing needs for electronic devices from multiple users, high demands on bandwidth, and time demands on both parents/guardians and older students for work, child-care, and elder support," Bodie wrote.

Accommodating senior events may prove to be a tougher challenge, as administrators had been waiting to decide to change or reschedule end-of-year activities until they received official word about the end of the school year.

Representatives from the Arlington High School administration and student groups like the yearbook staff, class officers, graduation planners and the Last Blast met this week to brainstorm new plans, Bodie said. The team will seek input from Arlington High School seniors in the coming days.

"AHS is committed to creating senior events that will be both festive and in keeping with social distancing," Bodie wrote. "We will plan events during the spring to honor traditional events in socially distant ways as well as planning [sic] events in the future to celebrate when we can come together again."