The following is the first of the three The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) plans reopening schools in the fall:

In-person learning with new safety requirements: Our goal to get as many students as possible back into schools for in-person learning safely. In this model, all students return in person to school settings that are appropriately modified to accommodate the health and safety requirements outlined (in previous Y3K Tutor In Your Home posts). Examples of modifications could include altered classroom configurations, setting up additional learning spaces, and schedule changes.

 

Come back next time as we will reveal to you how their hybrid learning plan would work if the in-person learning plan is not possible.

There are 3 possible ways the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) will be reopening schools in the fall.  They are as follows:

Components of district/school fall reopening plans: Each district and school will need to plan for three possibilities on the continuum of reopening:

1) In-person learning with new safety requirements (see previous Y3K Tutor In Your Home posts for the safety requirements).

2) A hybrid of in-person and remote learning.

3) Remote learning.

 

In our next installment, we will examine their in-person school reopening plan.

Traditionally in the pre-COVID world, elementary school students would mix with students from other classrooms at recess. Middle and high school students would have different classrooms for each subject and different students in each class. To address the issue of student groups, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) issued the following guidance for reopening schools:

 

To minimize the number of students who would potentially be exposed in the event of a COVID-19 event, to the extent feasible, elementary schools should aim to keep students in the same group throughout the day and middle and high schools are encouraged to minimize mixing student groups to the extent feasible. Our initial requirements and related guidance are as follows:

•Cohorts: Schools should divide students into small groups that remain with each other throughout the day, with smaller cohort sizes preferred. Schools should look for ways to isolate cohorts of students and prevent inter-group contact to the extent feasible.

•Capacity: There are no required maximums on cohort or group sizes, so long as schools adhere to the physical distancing requirements.

 

Reducing the mixing of student groups: When in classrooms, all students should have assigned seating. At the elementary school level, students should be restricted to their grade level class to the greatest extent possible. At the middle school level, students should remain with their cohort throughout the day to the extent feasible. High schools could also consider ways to cohort or cluster students, though we recognize this is more challenging at the high school level:

•Placing students in cohorts. When grouping students into cohorts, a school should consider ways to keep families/siblings together (e.g., grouping students alphabetically, while recognizing that some siblings may have different last names).

•Limiting travel within a school. High schools may try to group students into clusters in the school (a “school within a school”) to try to reduce interactions with other groups when students move to their next class.

 

Check back here soon for the 3 possible scenarios they are considering for schools this coming September.