Salem Schools Will Reopen Classrooms For Younger Students, Keep Older Students Remote
SALEM (CBS) -- The Salem School Committee voted late Monday to reopen the schools. The school committee's decision calls for kids in third grade and younger to return to school for in-person learning while all older students will learn remotely.
School committee member Kristen Pangallo said they would love to have all their students back in the classroom, but feel they can't live up to the safety requirement. "And Grade 3 was thought through because it's really that foundational learning where you have students really learning how to read. After that students are using their reading skills," Pangallo explained.
Long-time school committee member Jim Fleming voted against in-person learning. "My decision was based primarily on the fear of either having the kids contract it or teachers or staff contract it," he said.
The decision allows for parents who have children in Pre-k through 3 to opt out and learn remotely. Parents with students grades four and up can also come to school in a learning lab setting. "They are going to do their remote work but from some of the schools where they will have adult supervision," Pangallo said.
Bates Elementary School music teacher Ann Berman, who has been teaching for more than 25 years and is the current president of the teacher's association, was hoping for a different outcome. "We have teachers who feel they are being targeted and they have to go back and they are not ready to face their students with masks on and shields," she said.
Berman says 2020 has been a stressful road for everybody, but especially students and teachers.
"It's been a roller coaster. I feel we should be airing on the side of caution," Berman said. "We have some teachers who are the K-3 who are feeling a little bit targeted that they're being told that they have to go back and they're not ready, they're not ready to face their students."
Mashpee Schools will offer a similar plan. Younger students will have in-person learning while older students will be offered remote or hybrid learning. Manchester, New Hampshire voted for school to stay remote. Haverhill, Middleboro, Natick, Norfolk and Wrentham will open with hybrid models.
