By Susan Gonsalves, Contributing Writer
Westborough – Swing spaces like the library, gym and auditorium as well as tents and hallways will be used when grade 7 and 8 Gibbons Middle School students return to full time in-person learning on April 26, if not sooner.
That’s news from a Westborough School Committee meeting, March 10, in which local officials weighed new guidance from state experts pushing them to transition out of their current “hybrid” learning model mixing in-person and remote learning for students.
Large student body poses challenges
Speaking at the meeting, Gibbons School Principal Jack Foley noted that his student population of 624 is higher than any enrollment he remembered over his 11-year tenure.
With three-feet of social distancing for each of those students in 750 to 800 square foot classrooms, the school can manage to fit 18 to 20 seats per class. Of 190 weekly class sections, 84 would have more than 18 students.
To further space out the school community, select teachers who will continue instructing remotely after this transition will do so from home instead of from the the school itself as they currently do. Those teachers will support a total of 168 students who will remain in the remote program, school officials said.
Superintendent Amber Bock explained that plans for this return to school are designed to: maintain stability of remote leaning and faculty; deliver special education services effectively; limit complex transitions of movement during the day; and follow safety procedures and practices.
She said she was confident the set up would make school “safe, healthy and viable.”
Foley added that everyone is “very excited at the opportunity of having all the kids back.”
Lunch poses unique social distancing problem
To accommodate overflows in classrooms, small groups of students will move to hallways on a shared rotation where they will be monitored. Other measures include altering seven science lab rooms with a dozen or more lab tables and replacing them with regular student desks. In still more situations, kids will work in neighboring classrooms.
The plan also includes using the cafeteria, auditorium, library and gymnasium throughout the day for classes. Physical education activities will be moved outdoors when possible and tents will be set up to house several additional classrooms. Bock said that her district plans to specifically buy up to $100,000 worth of tents using COVID-19 relief funds.
Because lunch involves having kids with masks off, they will be set up in 6 x 6 seating zones in various spaces in the building and have the ability to eat in the courtyard as the weather gets warmer.
“Everybody is game to make this happen and we have confidence implementation will go well,” Bock said.
School officials praise plan, eachother
School Committee Vice Chair Stephen Doret praised Foley and Assistant Principal Patrick Nash for coming up with solutions to meet the overflow of students.
In particular, he cited Foley who has been in this situation before having to make accommodations while school construction was going on.
“I’m going to sit back and watch how you solve this problem because I have the greatest faith in you being able to do what you have to in order to meet state guidelines,” Doret said.
He asked parents to give the principal a chance to resolve their concerns.
“The kids will get the best education they can under the circumstances,” Doret added.