Back To School: Portsmouth's First Few Weeks

PORTSMOUTH, RI — It's back to school season in Portsmouth, and although the district is still facing challenges from COVID-19, students and staff are excited to be back in the classrooms, full-time, for the first time since the pandemic hit.

Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy said that just a few weeks into the new school year, coronavirus cases are "trending higher" than expected, with more cases so far than the post-holiday-break peak the district saw last year. In the first two weeks of school, Portsmouth schools have had 20 positive coronavirus cases, out of about 2,300 students in the district.

"We're contending with more on the COVID-19 side than we initially expected," Kenworthy told Patch.

Although the district has not collected numbers about the number of vaccinated teachers and staff, Kenworthy said he anecdotally believes the numbers to be high, following the statewide average of greater than 90 percent.

Portsmouth schools are following the statewide mask mandate, and have a district-level policy that will go into effect should the governor's executive order expire. While a percent of the town's residents voiced their opposition to mask-wearing before the school year began, an internal poll showed that the "overwhelming majority" of staff and families support mask-wearing in schools, Kenworthy said.

Like man other school districts in Rhode Island and around the country, Portsmouth is contending with transportation issues in the new school year. First Student, the district's bus company, is feeling the nationwide shortage of bus drivers, Kenworthy said.

Fortunately, Portsmouth started the year with "just enough" drivers to cover routes, Kenworthy said, though without any backups or substitutes, there's no room for error.

"We're stringing it along so far," Kenworthy said. "It's definitely a concern."

Back to school in Portsmouth: Read more

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• Back To School: Portsmouth 2021-22 School Calendar
• Football Schedule 2021: See Who Portsmouth High Faces This Fall