More Melrose Students Can Begin School In-Person In September

MELROSE, MA — Some kindergarten and first-grade students will be allowed to start in-person learning in September, a step toward answering the call of parents who want to get the district's youngest students back in class as soon as possible.

Superintendent Julie Kukenberger said at Tuesday night's School Committee meeting her hope was to bring back all kindergarten and first-grade students whose families wanted full in-person instruction, but the demand was too high.

Instead, kindergarten and first-grade students who are part of the hybrid model will be able to start Sept. 16, with one cohort beginning in class and another at home until switching the following week. Most of the rest of the district who plan to return won't be back until at least a month later.

The only students who will receive full-time in-person instruction are preschool students enrolled in the tuition-based program and high-needs students.

The inability to bring students back on a wider scale has played into a wave of withdrawals from Melrose Public Schools. Kukenberger said 87 students have pulled out of the district — 65 elementary schoolers, 15 middle schooler and 7 high schoolers — in favor of charter and private schools or homeschooling.

"This worries me for a variety of reasons," Kukenberger said, noting some families have indicated they hoped it would just be for a year.

The superintendent said she is counting on the more detailed return-to-instruction plan to help bring students back.

State aid is directly related to student enrollment. The numbers for such purposes are counted Oct. 1.

>>>See Kukenberger's presentation here.

Kukenberger also laid out some important dates in the coming weeks.

Opening Day is Aug. 31, when teachers are scheduled to come back to the building in a day that typically acts as a tone-setter for the upcoming school year and a celebration of summer successes. It kicks off 10 days of professional development.

This year "is going to be quite different," Kukenberger said.

The superintendent will welcome educators back with three key points: The importance of relationships, new routines — "Nothing is the same," Kukenberger said — and cultivating resilience.

Students will begin seeing the inside of a classroom by mid-September. Sept. 14 is in-person freshman orientation.

Sept. 16 is the day that could most appropriately be deemed the first day of school for many students. It's the first day of in-person learning for Group C students and the beginning of hybrid learning for kindergarten and first-grade students. Sixth-grade students will have an in-person tour.

For the rest, it's when remote learning — or the introduction to it — kicks off.

Sept. 21 is the first day for tuition-based preschool.

Oct. 19 is the earliest students in Grade 2 and higher in the hybrid model will be able to begin filtering back into schools.

Roughly 1,000 students won't be heading back to class even then. That's how many are enrolled in the Melrose Distance Learning Academy — 18 for the Franklin, 97 for the kindergarten, 562 for the elementary schools, 205 for the middle school and 130 for the high school. The other three-fourths of the student population has requested some form of in-person learning.