Melrose Schools Going With Hybrid Model: Here's What That Means

MELROSE, MA — Melrose Public Schools families will decide whether their children will alternate weeks learning from home and school or completely remotely under the district's return to instruction plan released Saturday.

Among the unprecedented measures to contend with COVID-19, in-person school days will be condensed, starting at 8 for elementary school students and 8:10 for middle and high school students with all schools ending at 12:45.

Students in PK-6 and incoming freshmen will be reintroduced to the classroom and their teachers starting Sept. 8. All other students will do so virtually during that time.

The hybrid learning model schedule will fully begin Sept. 14, with an emphasis on continuing to build connections and establishing a learning routine. For the students who return to the buildings, it will have been about six months since they abruptly were shut out due to the pandemic.

The students whose families opt for alternating in-person and remote learning will be in Group A. Those students will be split into two cohorts — one cohort will be in class while the other has asynchronous instruction at home. Remote synchronous instruction opportunities will depend on available staffing.

Students who have exclusively remote learning will be in Group B and received asynchronous instruction from home. Depending on staffing, opportunities for synchronous instruction may be available. Opportunities will also be available for students to participate in other virtual school community events.

Group C will consist of those identified as high-priority students, who will have the possibility of exclusively in-person learning. Group C eligibility could expand depending on how many families choose for the full remote option.

All elementary students, in-person and remote, will begin and end the school day with community circle time for social-emotional development. Middle and high school students will finish each week with a social-emotional learning block hour.

In-person schedules will feature handwashing and mask breaks. Elementary students will wash their hands upon arrival and twice more again during 15-minute mask breaks. They'll have a snack time.

Middle and high school students will also have two 15-minute mask breaks.

For students learning from home, the two 15-minute mask breaks will be screentime breaks.

There will be no lunchtime at school, but grab-and-go lunches will be provided for all in-school students.

The hybrid model was chosen over a complete in-person return to class and an exclusively remote approach. The district said it wouldn't be able to accommodate a full in-person return and still follow health and safety guidelines because it will be keeping 6 feet between each seat, severely limiting each building's capacity.

Educators have had to balance the need of getting children back into the class — for social-emotional reasons as much as educational ones — with the danger of a deadly pandemic that has turned life upside down.

The plan will be publicly presented at Tuesday night's School Committee meeting. It must be submitted to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education by July 31.

A second draft of the plan will be shared with parents Aug. 7, with the finalized plan being posted online by Aug. 10. It will be presented to the public during the Aug. 12 School Committee meeting. Any adjustments to the plan will be shared at the Aug. 26 School Committee meeting.

Superintendent Julie Kukenberger said the details of the return plan will evolve in response to the pandemic's course and community conversation.

"We understand that our MPS Return to Instruction Plan must be flexible and responsive to our local context and the changing conditions of the global pandemic," she wrote in a letter to families.

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