Split Beverly School Commitee OKs Reopening Plan

BEVERLY, MA — A divided Beverly School Committee approved a school reopening plan during a meeting that lasted nearly six hours Thursday night and into Friday morning.

"There’s no best option here," said School Committee member Kelley Ferretti, who supported a fully remote model for all students. "It’s really just the least detrimental."

Under the plans approved early Friday morning:

• Kindergarten and students in grades 1-4 will attend school in a hybrid model. Students in those grades will attend school five days per week, but some of their lessons will be remote.
• Students in fifth and sixth grade will also attend school in a hybrid model, with in-person instruction limited to two days per week.
• Students in grades 7-12 will start the school year with fully remote instruction.

All students have the option of a fully remote option if they do not feel safe returning to the classroom. Students are scheduled to start the school year Sept. 16.

"The goal for all of us is to safely return as many students as possible to in-person learning," superintendent Sue Charochak said.

The elementary school plan passed by a 4-3 vote, with Lorinda Visnick, Rachael Abell, Kimberley Coelho and Mayor Michael Cahill voting in favor of the plan and Ferretti, Kaarin Robinson and John Mullady voting no. The plan for older students passed 5-2, with Cahill and Coelho voting no.

What School Will Look Like This Fall

While curriculum is still being developed, Charochak gave a glimpse of what a "typical" school day will look like this fall:

• Students in grades K-4 will go to school from 8 a.m. to noon, five days a week, and then go home for lunch. There will be a 75-minute, remote "expressive arts" session in the afternoon. There will be staggered arrivals and dismissals and teachers will enforce 4.5 feet of social distancing. The school system expects to need more staff to make the plan work.
• Students in fifth and sixth grades will be divided into cohorts and attend school two days per week, with dismissal at 1 p.m. Teachers will be in buildings five days per week, even though Wednesdays will be fully remote for all students. There will be 6-foot social distancing rules and more staff will be required.
• Students in grades 7-12 will learn in a remote model that will be more regimented than the model used for all students when schools had to abruptly stop in-person learning in March.

The union that represents Beverly teachers joined more than 30 other greater Boston unions this week in signing a letter calling for a complete remote start to the school year across Massachusetts. "The safe return to learning in September must be guided by science — not by a school calendar," the Beverly Teachers Association and the other unions said. "We are calling upon all public schools to begin the school year with a comprehensive distance-learning plan that has the potential to graduate to a hybrid learning model."

Monday is the last day school districts can submit their plans to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. DESE charged school systems in June with developing three possible reopening plans: one that would involve full-time, in-person learning; one that would involve full-time, remote learning; and a third, hybrid model combining remote and in-person learning.

Dave Copeland covers Beverly and other North Shore communities for Patch. He can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).