Brookline School Committee To Finalize Reopening Plan

BROOKLINE, MA — Even amid uncertainty about what the school year will look like, Brookline school officials are working to finalize a reopening plan and send their recommendation to the state Thursday.

"This is a decision that is not cast in stone forever," said Interim Superintendent Jim Marini during a school committee meeting Tuesday night. "As conditions on the ground change, so, too, should what we will be doing in schools."

Schools have been closed since March 15 in an effort to help stop the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. The town has had groups discussing reopening of the schools since the beginning of June, according to the district. But for months they were hampered with uncertainty of not having state guidelines.

Then, in late June updates and guidelines came. And with those, the state asked districts to plan for three scenarios: remote and in-person learning as well as a hybrid model and include in those models requirements for new safety measures — including face coverings, hand-washing and more — when classes resume in the fall.

All districts have to send their plans and their top choice to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on Aug. 10. Brookline sent its preliminary plan July 31 and is set to vote on final plans Thursday afternoon.

"Each week our plan gets more detailed and moves closer to what we want to see in the fall," said School Committee chair Suzanne Federspiel during the meeting Tuesday night.

Earlier this summer, the district surveyed families and teachers to get a sense of which model they might prefer. More than 7,000 people responded, including 77 percent of families responded and 74 percent of staff.

Some 40 percent of the families who responded said they preferred a hybrid model with some time, either a couple days in person, and a couple days remote each week, or a week on and a week off model. It's unclear whether the remaining 45 percent of families who responded indicated they preferred a fully online return. On the heels of that, 39 percent indicated they would feel comfortable returning to school, according to the survey.

When it came to staff, of those surveyed, 41 percent preferred remote learning and 40 percent preferred a hybrid learning model about 19 percent indicated they would prefer a fully remote model. Only 15 percent of staff members felt comfortable with returning to school.

Marini acknowledged the process has been a rough one and no decision would make everyone happy. He also said once a decision is made, the district will work with the educators union on drawing up a memorandum of understanding.

"Everybody knows this has been a hard process, no kidding, this has been a horrific process," he said. "There is a lot of anxiety, let's roll up our sleeves and see if we can get this done."

Although the majority of teachers indicated they preferred a fully remote school experience, that did not mesh with what families seemed to want. The district seems to be focused on the hybrid model, which is

"We believe it's really important for students to be come in see their teachers and be with their teachers to the extent possible," Marini said Tuesday night.

Marini said the team working on the proposed plans went into the schools to see what it would look like for all students to physically return for in person learning and keep the state's recommendation of keeping 3 feet apart. They set up desks, put up plexiglass and got a general feel for it.

Marini called it uncomfortable and crowded and said he would not recommend that model.

The plan to hold classes completely online hasn't been fully developed, said Marini.

"We still have more work to do on that quite frankly," he told the committee.

To Catch up, watch the August 4 School Committee Meeting here:

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