14 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, October 30, 2020
COMMUNITY | Schools School Superintendent urges families not to change learning models By Jennifer L. Grybowski Community Reporter WESTBOROUGH - The Westborough School Committee heard a variety of COVID-related updates at their meeting Oct. 21. Changing learning models Superintendent Amber Bock told the committee the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) requires the district to offer parents the opportunity to change learning models at the end of the trimester/semester. “Public educators who are just getting systems in place are not in favor of this,” she said. “I want to be on record in saying that this is a DESE guideline that is causing consternation among multiple districts as we face concerns around a break in stability and a continuity in daily instruction that we are
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It’s a giant jigsaw puzzle. Current students will get shuffled around and be impacted even though they didn’t ask for a change.
starting to seeing starting to occur in both models.” Requests need to be made four weeks before the end of the term and approved K-8 students will transfer Monday, Jan. 4, 2021 while grade 9-12 students will transfer Monday, Feb. 1, 2020. Parents will be given instructions and deadlines for how to request a transfer in late November. However, Bock urged people to stay within the model they originally selected. “They should commit to the relationships and the decisions you made and the class structure you’ve been given,”
Daniel Mayer Assistant Superintendent
she said. “Our faculty prefers that and I want to be firmly on record in saying that.” Assistant Superintendent Daniel Mayer agreed, saying there is no doubt there will be some academic loss for those who transfer. This is due to the fact that when students transfer, they are going to be dropping into new classes as if they just moved to town. Bock and Mayer also pointed out that if too many students request to come back into the building, grades and classes will have to be configured, and that parents should consider the effects of their
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decisions on the entirety of the student population. “It’s a giant jigsaw puzzle,” Mayer said. “Current students will get shuffled around and be impacted even though they didn’t ask for a change. We will do the best we can under the circumstances to accommodate but we want to flag very clearly to the whole community how the impact of your decision if they move in massive numbers are going to have on disrupting our mid-year.” Bock said she realizes that some students are having a difficult time working re-
motely, both for academic and social-emotional needs. “But I want to emphasize the importance of instructional stability for students and the models they are in,” she said “When you selected to be remote, you have to commit you can sustain that level of screen time all year. If you want to switch because your student is beginning to fatigue doing that much learning on screen, you’re still going to come into a new classroom setting where they are going to have to plug into what’s going on and figure out how to make up what’s in between. It’s an important family decision that really needs to be thoughtful.” Mayer also said that if people are thinking about going fully remote due to rising cases, they are encouraged not to switch because if infection rates become unsafe the school will go fully remote.
Peace of mind… is our policy. Due to the escalation of the response around us and with the goal of minimizing the spread of COVID-19, we will be implementing temporary changes that impact our office access and face-to-face availablity with our staff. Effective March 19th, we will serve our customers at our offices via appointment only, and only for critical situations that cannot be handled by electronic means or by telephone. Please call our main number to schedule an appointment. 1-800-443-7007.
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