School Reopening Updates 8.28.2020

Hello North Reading Families and Educators, 

Please see the updated version of the 2020-21 School Year Calendar. Included in this calendar are the updated start and end times for each school’s day as well as other updates to the school year recently approved by the North Reading School Committee. 

In addition, the district Google Calendar is located on the main page of every school and the district website. This calendar will additionally communicate the days in which the cohorts will be attending in person. This calendar can also be downloaded to your computer or smartphone’s calendar. 

Please note that, as previously mentioned, the Wednesday cohort days will follow a pattern that allows for a balance of attendance in person for both cohort A (17) and B (16). This will often be achieved in alternating weeks but there are some exceptions in order to account for holidays, etc. This calendar will be a helpful tool in addition to other school-based communications about this cohort schedule. As always, thank you for your patience and support as we make the final steps in preparation of our first day of school with students (cohorts B and C in person) on September 17th. 

Thank you and be well, 

Dr. Daly

August 18th Update: Cohort Assignments and Daily Schedule Adjustments

 Dear North Reading Parents and Families,

As scheduled, parents will be receivng emails today with information regarding the cohort assignment for their child(ren) in the hybrid model that will be in when school reopens on September 17th (Cohorts B and C in person, cohorts A and D remote for that first Thursday and Friday).

Please note that we are running all of the assignments from a central database and so it may take the rest of the afternoon for all of the emails to be sent for all the schools.

Thank you to our parents, families, and community for being supportive and understanding of the changes that need to occur across the district in order to bring everyone back for as many days and hours as we are proposing in North Reading and still meet the safety guidelines in place for a safe reopening.

As I have mentioned, we are also in the process of negotiating with our unions and associations in order to meet all requirements of collective bargaining under the law. Our teams have been hard at work making adjustments to the schedule and making sure that there is a balance across the district to support our students who are in person and in remote each day. This modified schedule will allow students to access more electives and participate in the classes with their specialist teachers and allow our teachers to provide the best remote learning experience for those students who are at home.

The North Reading Public School District has been able to come to a tentative agreement on a modified daily schedule for students that includes the following:

• Schools are open for in-person learning opportunities five days per week

• Cohorts A and B will attend (2-3 days per week)

• Cohort C will attend five days per week (including PreK and Kindergarten)

• We will continue to explore additional days for other grades, beginning with grade 1

• Modified hours at the MS/HS five days per week

• Modified hours at the elementary school (half day) on Wednesdays and earlier start times to accommodate busing and extracurriculars at the high school

For the 2020-21 school year the daily schedule for students will be as follows (subject to School Committee vote):

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, Friday

School	Student Start Time	Student End Time
Batchelder	7:45 a.m.	2:00 p.m.
Hood	8:05 a.m.	2:20 p.m.
Little	8:05 a.m.	2:20 p.m.
MS	8:55 a.m.	3:05 p.m.
HS	8:30 a.m.	2:40 p.m.

Wednesdays

School	Student Start Time	Student End Time
Batchelder	7:45 a.m.	11:15 a.m.
Hood	8:05 a.m.	11:35 a.m.
Little	8:05 a.m.	11:35 a.m.
MS	8:55 a.m.	3:05 p.m.
HS	8:30 a.m.	2:40 p.m.

• The student day meets the revised 2020-21 time and learning requirements (850 hours elementary and middle/ 935 high school).

• Shifts in starting times allow for all buses to arrive at each school on time and for all interested students to take the bus.

• Bus pick up times for elementary school, although earlier, will be no earlier than 7 a.m.

• Before and after school care will be available for elementary students. Times and days of the week will be adjusted to match the hybrid schedule.

• Later start times are preserved for high school and middle school students. Survey data and research supports later start times for secondary students.

• The schedule will remain the same whether in remote or in person. (Exception: The Batchelder School may adapt its hours and follow the same schedule as the Hood and Little if the district moves to full remote instruction.)

• Daily/weekly collaboration opportunities are embedded for teachers in order to provide the best possible instruction.

• Pre-K schedules for both full and half day will be shared in a separate email to those families 

I know that these schedule changes may present some challenges to families and we do appreciate your understanding that these changes are necessary to be able to offer our hybrid model to students five days per week.

Thank you for your continued support, patience, and understanding.

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Daly

August 11, 2020 Final Reopening Plan

 Good evening North Reading Parents and Families,

Thank you to all of the members of our reopening group and our incredible educators and administrators whose hard work made this comprehensive document possible.

Please see the information on our Reopening website containing all of the information for you to review, including our final reopening plan, videos, links to resources, and more.

After reviewing the information please take the August 11th survey to further help us in the planning process.

The Frequently Asked Questions document as well as the executive summary (attached) will provide you with an overview

Cohort C students will be notified this week and all other students will be informed of their cohorts by the end of the week or early next week. 

There will be a forum for for families with students entering Pre-K and K that will announced soon to answer specific questions for those families.

Thank you for your patience and support throughout this process of reopening!

Sincerely yours,

Dr. Daly

August 7, 2020 Reopening Update

Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,

This morning in a 5-0 vote the North Reading School Committee accepted the final reopening plan for the North Reading Public Schools, incorporating any recommendations form the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), with the understanding that the situation is fluid and changes to the plan may be necessary.

As soon as all feedback is received from DESE on our previously submitted proposal by Monday evening I will be sending the final version of our reopening plan to the North Reading School Community on Tuesday, August 11th, as planned. In addition to the plan I will also be sharing a link to the reopening website that will contain the plans, videos from the forums, presentations, answers to frequently asked questions, and links to a variety of resources.

We will also be hosting forums specifically for the families of incoming Kindergarten students as well as families of students receiving Special Education services. Details on those forums will be shared next week.

Of note, this morning I shared that we will be able to have all Kindergarten students return in-person five days a week. More information on this model, as well as an overview of the full- and half-day models, will be shared in the forum mentioned above.

I also shared that the district will be supporting all of our students K-12 with 1:1 Chromebook devices that we hope to have in place as we begin the school year. More information will be forthcoming on this process as well.

If you have not yet had the opportunity to complete the July 31st survey for reopening, or if you wish to change your response to indicate that your child(ren) will be participating in the full remote Cohort D, please complete this survey as soon as possible: https://forms.gle/k9Akbc8JZmicaB5dA 

Information about which cohort your child will be in (A or B) as well as those students who will be a part of cohort C will be shared as soon as possible so that families will be able to adjust their schedules as needed. Our Principals have been hard at work balancing the cohorts and trying to accommodate the many needs of all students into these placement decisions.

We are also continuing to explore options for working parents who may want to take advantage of programs by community partners for remote learning assistance on the days the students are scheduled to be remote. Other details, such as the school day schedule and busing information will be shared as soon as it is available. 

For those who would also like to review the preliminary plan it is available here.

Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!

Be well,

Dr. Daly

Parent and Family Forums

Good evening,

Please click on this link for a  recording of our Monday evening at 5pm parent and family forum. There is an additional forum Tuesday morning at 10am (link below). Be sure to join 5 minutes early to ensure that you are in the session when it begins.

Note: We will also hold an future meeting to specifically address the Kindergarten program.

Please click to view the Tuesday morning session:

Please also see these updated FAQs from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.