Reading Superintendent Says District Faces In-Person Challenges

READING, MA — Getting Reading students back to in-person learning comes with "several logistical and scheduling challenges," Superintendent John Doherty said Sunday. The statement came after Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Jeffrey Riley announced his intent to bring students back to full in-person learning this spring.

Riley's plan is expected to be released sometime this month. He will ask the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to give him the authority to determine when hybrid and remote learning models no longer count for learning hours.

Riley's initial goal is to bring all elementary school students back by April 5. If approved, districts will be required to follow this schedule unless they get a waiver.

Doherty said he is in "full agreement that getting our students back in person more is the right thing to do," but the Reading Public Schools faces several challenges. This includes no widespread vaccination plan for staff, which Doherty said he hopes will change with the addition of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that was approved over the weekend by the CDC.

Additionally, the district will have to go below the CDC-recommended physical distancing of six feet in classrooms and may need to arrange desks as little as three feet apart to accommodate a typical classroom of 22-25 students. Six feet of physical distancing will still be implemented at lunch because masks will not be worn while eating, Doherty said.

Teacher and student schedules will need to be changed because they will no longer be in a cohort model. The district will also have to alter its cleaning and disinfecting plan because it will no longer have Fridays to conduct a deep clean.