Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,

I’m writing to you this morning to share the audio presentation from last evening’s North Reading High School Parent forum as I think much of the message applies to our entire district.

As the number of positive cases remains high in the town of North Reading we are continuing to see a large number of students who are also testing positive. While we still seeing very low evidence of transmission in our classrooms there are a growing number of concerns based upon the overall numbers as well as a palpable fatigue with respect to all aspects and information related to COVID-19.

The next six weeks are critical for us as a community. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and we need to redouble our efforts and not lose focus on those behaviors that will continue to ensure that we will be successful in our hybrid model.

Fortunately, we have not seen evidence of the large parties or gatherings that have led to school closures in other communities. However, we are routinely seeing that smaller gatherings of 3-4 close friends-- where everyone is asymptomatic until one person tests positive and then it spreads within the group—are the most common causes of the spread of the virus. We ask that everyone in our school community commits to avoiding these smaller indoor gatherings and if they do happen that everyone wears masks and remains six feet apart.

Another consideration is to wear masks when carpooling with anyone not in your immediate household. Please encourage this with students much in the same way we encourage them to fasten their seat belts.

Finally, we want to be clear that students should continue to remain home when sick or if they suspect that they could have been exposed to someone who is sick. We do not want to change those behaviors as that has been working well!

However, if a student is not sick and is in cohort A, that student should be in school on those cohort A days. The same goes for Cohorts B and C. In recent weeks more students have been remaining home on days when they should be in person and this was not the intention of the hybrid model. While we do understand and recognize apprehension following the holidays we remind and encourage students to return to school on their scheduled cohort days in order to make our model function as designed.

Our common goals are the following:

1. Continue the provide the opportunities for in person student learning during the school day through our hybrid model

2. Continue to provide the opportunities for students to participate in sports, performing arts, and other extra curricular activities 

3. Identify opportunities for spectators to gather when it is safe (sports, senior events, school functions, etc.)

In the coming weeks I anticipate sharing additional information that we will be exploring related to COVID-19 testing (both for symptomatic and asymptomatic students through pooled testing), any information we receive related to vaccination opportunities for educators and others in the school community, and updated guidance from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education related to our learning models. I truly believe that better days (and a return to something closer to normalcy) are ahead but that we need to hang on and power through this winter.

Thank you to Mr. Loprete for hosting this high school event last evening. Please see this audio file to hear our message and, as always, please reach out to me with any questions and concerns at pdaly@nrpsk12.org.

Be well,

Dr. Daly