By Jennifer L. Grybowski, Contributing Writer
Westborough – The Westborough School Committee heard an update from administrators at its Aug. 31 meeting the schools reopening earlier that day for faculty and staff.
Superintendent Amber Bock noted that while there are still a lot of moving parts, many things are beginning to solidify.
“It is a very fluid, very intensive quick responsive model right now,” she said. ”It’s kind of Herculean in terms of what it takes in getting it done. So I think everyone’s patience we appreciate; there’s definitely a sense of concrete movement of pacing.”
Assistant Superintendent Daniel Mayer said he knows parents are eager to get teacher assignments and schedules.
“I think it is imperative that parents realize we didn’t get their final say [on choosing a learning platform] until about a week ago,” he said. “It is a work in progress.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Vincent agreed.
“Any regular high school scheduling, rolling it over from one year to another, takes several months,” she said. “Then to make changes to the schedule sometimes takes a six-month study, and some trials and research, and we are asking them to do it in such a short amount of time, so definitely kudos to them.”
Numbers show that 2,771 students have chosen hybrid learning and 923 have chosen remote learning.
In order to staff both programs, about 14 positions are needed: seven at the high school, three at the middle school and four for elementary schools.
“We are focusing on strong programming,” Bock said. “Getting staffing place was an important anchor first piece.”
Mayer said the high school does have Westborough teachers teaching a significant number of classes, so students won’t have to rely on Virtual High School (VHS) classes as much as originally believed.
“People are willing to pitch in and do what they can to help,” Mayer said.
Vincent agreed.
“I commend all admin. principals for working on creative staffing solutions, and thinking about who can do what and how can we make this work for our students in the building and remotely,” she said. “It’s that creativity that’s going to make this work.”
This first day of training for staff included new safety protocols, as well as the Employee Assistance Program services and other resources. Bock said the overall feedback from staff on this first day was positive.
Mayer said the district has a well-thought-out plan for the 10 days of professional development that is a combination of structured meetings, activities and resources they can tap into and use to help them get creative ideas on how to structure curriculum differently.
“This is not the same kind of teaching and teachers understand that,” Mayer said.
He said teachers won’t be able to pull out old lessons; instead, they will have to recreate how the learning time and activities are going to take place.
“There is a lot of work to be done and I’m very confident the teachers are going to do well in these 10 days and will be ready to greet the kids when school starts,” Mayer said.
Public Schools’ Director of Finance and Administration Irene Oliver gave the School Committee a transportation update. She said about 1,700 students have chosen to take the bus, about 950 will be remote, over 1,000 will be driven, and 75 haven’t responded. Now that the numbers are in, she said, it should take about a week to map out the routes. With a maximum of 21 students per bus, Oliver said that with some creativity the district would be prepared for any changes.
