AMHERST – The school board and administrators spent late spring and all summer creating a hybrid reopening plan of mostly remote learning because of COVID-19 – that they said would protect public health, but following union concerns, things have changed.
The plan, approved early August, had included only the kindergarten and grade 1 students returning to class Sept. 18 -- at the option of parents.
But the returning of students at that time went up in smoke last week after the teacher’s union lobbied strenuously against it. The union opposes in-class instruction until February at the earliest.
The district has promised parents and caregivers there will be an update to what the new plan might look like later this week.
As a result, when in-person learning for youngest children of Amherst-Pelham regional school district might begin is not known at this time; the school board says more information will be coming during or shortly after the next meeting scheduled on Aug. 25.
Superintendent Michael Morris has repeatedly said that remote learning is not a good substitute for in-person learning, and that the younger children are impacted most negatively.
“No students will begin in-person learning prior to October 1,” Morris wrote in an email to parents, caregivers and students Saturday morning.
“I am reaching out today to let you know that we will be sharing more information next week about the change in plans for Phase 1 students and plans for remote learning. We appreciate your patience as we plan for a safe and successful opening of the 2020-2021 school year,” he said on Saturday.
As things stand now, the district plans to begin the school year Sept. 16 with all-remote learning, he said.
The school board and the union representing teachers, paraprofessionals and clerical staff, the Amherst-Pelham Education Association, released a joint statement Friday night on the issue.
“Together, we are devoted to developing robust, student-centered remote learning,” the statement says.
The statement said delaying when in-person instruction might begin for kindergarten and grade 1 students would “allow us to jointly consider the ever-evolving public health context” related to COVID-19 pandemic.
Amherst-Pelham Regional School Committee Chair, in an email, said the parties will be discussing this during the Aug. 25 meeting -- that is scheduled as an executive session, and thus will not be open to the public.
The board’s backing away from the planned Sept. 18 beginning of in-person instruction for kindergarten and grade 1 occurred during a closed door meeting with the school board and union on Aug. 20.
The Republican has requested those executive session meeting minutes.
Two days prior, following a school board meeting on Aug. 18, the committee issued a statement, approved unanimously, reiterating that kindergarten and grade 1 would begin classes -- in school and not remotely, on Sept. 18, which had already been decided in early August.
The board’s Aug. 18 statement was in response to union demands, published online Aug. 15.
The district’s heretofore reopening plan, now undergoing change, included the Caminates dual language program at Fort River Elementary School -- that began last year in kindergarten and is expanding this year to include first grade.
Caminantes was to begin the school year with in-person instruction on Sept. 18. It is a fully integrated Spanish/English immersion learning model.
The board’s Aug. 18 statement also had said the union proposals related to COVID-19 concerns “is more extreme than the most conservative recommendations from any reputable public health or healthcare organization.”
The union’s plan says: “Full In-Person occurs only once a safe and effective vaccine is administered to 100% of students and staff.” It also states, “Full Hybrid Phased-In by grade level groups cannot begin until February 1, 2021 at the earliest and can only occur if public health benchmarks and bargaining conditions are continuously met.”
The school board’s Aug. 18 statement, in response, said 90% of the parents of kindergarten and first grade students responded to a survey with more than two-thirds -- 323 of the 474 responses --saying they want their children in school, instead of using computers at home for remote instruction.
The survey data said 32% are planning for remote-only learning for kindergarten and first grade students.
The school board “plan enables parents to choose remote learning for their students for any reason,” the board’s Aug. 18 statement said.
The board said: “the union that represents our teachers, clerical employees, and paraprofessionals (the APEA) has submitted proposals that would all but require the Districts to force all students into all-remote learning for the foreseeable future.”
Friday’s joint school committee and union statement says the parties share the goal of “meaningful, safe learning.”
The Aug. 25 school board meeting is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. with executive session to include negotiations with the committee and union.
The meeting is scheduled to open to the public starting at 7 p.m. with public comment at 7:05 p.m.
Amherst Media will live stream and broadcast the meeting.
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