Medford Releases Draft Plans For Fall Reopening

MEDFORD, MA — The task forces on reopening school released their draft plans for in-person, hybrid and remote learning over the weekend. The hybrid plan calls for splitting students up into two cohorts, with one cohort meeting Monday and Tuesday and the second meeting Thursday and Friday, broken up by a day of remote instruction. The in-person plan would have all students meet Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with remote instruction on Wednesdays.

The school year will be reduced from 180 days to 170 days to give staff 10 additional training days at the start of the year.

While the MPS was mandated to come up with a plan for in-person learning, a feasibility review of the district's facilities indicates a full reopening is unlikely. The study found that maintaining six feet of social distancing for all students and teachers would require additional space and staff, which the district cannot afford.

See below the draft plans below:

In-Person Learning

Given space and staff constraints, the MPS will offer full-time in-person learning to its high needs students first.

Students already identified as "high needs" through the Individualized Education Planning (IEP) process on the IEP form entitled "Primary Disability/Level of Need-PL3." Such students must meet at least two of these criteria:

• Services provided outside of the general education classroom;
• Service providers are special education teachers and related service providers;
• Special education services constitute more than 75% of the student’s school day;
• Students who cannot engage in remote learning due to their disability-related needs;
• Students who primarily use aided and augmentative communication;
• Students who are homeless;
• Students in foster care or congregate care;
• Students whose parents/ caregivers report that they do not have access to a suitable learning space at home; and/or
• Students who are dually identified as English Learners.

Note: Students meeting the criteria above may opt-out to engage in the learning model provided by the district with parent/guardian approval.

Safety

• Increased opportunities for small group instruction
• Following all social distancing guidelines listed throughout this document
• Students can eat lunch in the classrooms
• Mask Breaks are built into the schedule
• Morning meeting and SEL is built into the schedule

Equity

• High needs students will be provided with more in-school instruction time as is consistent with DESE guidelines
• Assistive Technology has been ordered for students with disabilities to ensure equitable access to remote learning
• Accommodations and modifications to access remote learning will be followed and implemented

Consistency

• Students have a consistent schedule every week
• Students have the opportunity to have four days of in-person instruction
• Students have remote instruction one day each week ( Wednesdays)
• Students have the opportunity to connect with their entire class on “Virtual Wednesdays”
• Students have access to meaningful asynchronous instruction that relates to and builds upon the in-person instruction
• Students have all specials/exploratory/unified arts
• Students with disabilities will continue to receive their related services (Speech, OT, PT) and counseling as identified on their individualized education plan (IEPs)

Hybrid Model

This type of model involves alternating between in-person and remote teaching and learning. To develop the plan, the district assembled a hybrid committee composed of parents, teachers, administrators, and school committee members first to review a variety of models presented by other districts across the country before embarking on the adoption of its own model. The decision to adopt this hybrid model takes into account feedback from the school community via the round tables and MPS surveys. After analyzing the merits of twelve different hybrid models, the team developed the following hybrid model to best support student learning.

Safety

• 50% of students are in the building at any given time
• Students can eat lunch in the classrooms
• Mask Breaks are built into the schedule
• Morning meeting and SEL is built into the schedule
• Music is remote to adhere to DESE guidelines

Equity

• Students are being exposed to the breadth of the curricular offerings including electives; in other words they are being taught the subjects they are typically taught in a regular school year
• High needs students will be provided with more in-school instruction time as is consistent with DESE guidelines
• Cohorts will be taught in a parallel manner so that all students receive the same quality experience; cohorts will come together online on Wednesdays to meet with the teacher and each other
• Assistive Technology has been ordered for students with disabilities to ensure equitable access to remote learning
• Students requiring accommodations and modifications to access remote learning will be followed and implemented

Consistency

• Students have a consistent schedule every week
• Students have live instruction three days each week (two days in-person; one day virtual)
• Students have access to meaningful asynchronous instruction that relates to and builds upon the in-person instruction
• Students have all specials/exploratory/unified arts
• Students with disabilities will continue to receive their related services (Speech, OT, PT) and counseling as identified on their individualized education plan (IEPs)
• Students have the opportunity to connect with their entire class on “Virtual Wednesdays”

Remote Learning

Medford Public Schools Remote Learning Academy is an option available to students in grades PK-12. This platform is designed to meet students’ needs, families, and staff who are immunocompromised, as well as those who wish to remain in a remote learning environment. The Remote Learning Academy is a 100 percent virtual teaching and learning experience. Medford Public Schools Remote Academy will strive to maximize academic growth and social-emotional learning for students. Approved staff will offer both synchronous (live) and asynchronous (recorded) lessons throughout the school week. The schedule will mirror a typical school day with either a homeroom block or a Morning Meeting to take attendance and begin the school day. The Remote Learning Academy will adhere to district curriculum initiatives and provide students with a robust and engaging academic experience. This model is significantly different from the spring distance learning plan.

The Remote Academy will operate in a streamlined fashion to ensure accessibility for students:

• Teachers will use Google Classroom as the learning management platform for all grades PreK-12. This will organize content in one place for easy access.
• All students grades K-12 have a Medford email account to access district platforms.
• We will use the Clever system for all educational platforms and applications. This is a single sign-on program that streamlines the log on process for students. To learn about the Clever system, click this link (https://clever.com/)
• A decision will be made shortly regarding the virtual platform that Medford will utilize for our Remote Academy (Zoom or Google Meet). Once this decision is made, we will inform the community.

When building this plan, we carefully considered our core values. This model provides:

Safety

• Students are learning remotely from their homes
• Community building is a central component of the remote schedule and starts the day
• Social-Emotional time is woven throughout the remote schedule each week

Equity

• The district is presently awaiting delivery of approximately 2,000 devices and 50 hotspots to ensure students are equipped with needed materials for remote learning
• Assistive Technology has been ordered for students with disabilities to ensure equitable access to remote learning
• Students requiring accommodations and modifications to access remote learning will be followed and implemented
• Students are being exposed to the curricular offerings’ breadth, including electives; in other words, they are being taught the subjects they are typically taught in a regular school year
• Family outreach and planning blocks are included in weekly schedules to ensure student participation and engagement with remote learning.
• Accountability language for remote learning is in the process of being created in partnership with the Medford Teachers’ Association (see sample below)

Consistency

• Students have a consistent schedule every week that mimics a typical school day with attendance taken daily
• Students have live instruction 4.5 days each week (half-day virtual on Wednesdays to account for the family outreach and planning block; as well as for staff collaboration and planning)
• Students will be exposed to the same district curriculum as they would if the instruction were live in school

Click here to read the full reopening plan.