Danvers, Swampscott Students Protesting Remote Learning

DANVERS, MA — A group of high school students and parents from Danvers and Swampscott plan to hold a demonstration at noon Friday at Danvers Town Hall to protest the remote learning model to start the school year, as well as the delay of fall sports until late winter.

Swampscott students will begin the school year with remote learning on Sept. 16 and move to a model that combines remote and limited in-person learning on Oct. 26 if health data supports the switch under a plan recommended by Superintendent Pamela Angelakis and approved by the school committee on Aug. 5.

Danvers students return to school Sept. 16. Under the plan approved by the school committee Aug. 6, most Danvers students will go to school two days per week and attend classes remotely three days per week. A group of parents and students protested Monday's Danvers school committee meeting at the same time teachers held a protest calling for a fully-remote start to the school year.

On Monday, principals of schools in the Northeastern Conference voted 9-0, with three abstentions, to move all fall sports to the "Fall 2" season currently scheduled to run from Feb. 22 to April 25. Under a plan approved last week by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Board of Directors, only football and competitive cheer would have been played in the "wedge" season in late winter. Danvers and Swampscott High School are among the 12 member schools of the conference.

Other details about the protest were not immediately available Thursday afternoon. Patch will update this story if new details become available.

Dave Copeland covers the North Shore for Patch. He can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).