11.4.2020
Dear Brewer Schools’ Families,
Based on extensive study and discussion, and following conversation at the 11.2.2020 meeting of the Brewer School Committee, the school department will be adding one day every other week to in-person learning for students in both cohort A and cohort B beginning the week back from the Thanksgiving break which is Monday, November 30 through Friday, December 4. We will keep our current rotation, with cohort A attending in person on Mondays and Thursdays, and cohort B attending on Tuesdays and Fridays. Each cohort will get an extra day every other Wednesday, instead of the flex day, on a two-week cycle. See the rotation, below:
Week 1
Monday: cohort A
Tuesday: cohort B
Wednesday: cohort A
Thursday: cohort A
Friday: cohort B
Week 2
Monday: cohort A
Tuesday: cohort B
Wednesday: cohort B
Thursday: cohort A
Friday: cohort B
This means that when we return from the Thanksgiving break cohort A students will attend an extra day on Wednesday, December 2 and the following week that cohort B will attend an extra day on Wednesday, December 9 while both cohorts will remain in their regular rotation on the other days of the week. This will continue in the weeks that follow. Please review (and print and post on your refrigerator) our newly updated A/B Calendar Effective 11/30/2020. We will continue to use an A,B,A,B rotation on 4-day weeks, and we have some early release days that you should also note. We’re doing those on two consecutive days (one A and one B to keep everything even) where students will attend for half days as they normally would.
Our goal to adding Wednesdays to the rotation is to get students more at-school learning time in our hybrid model while we maintain the cohort structure that will help keep everyone safe by continuing to limit the number of people who come into contact with one another during this time of COVID-19. Additionally, we heard from families, in our recent survey, that by keeping the current rotation in place and just alternating the cohorts on Wednesdays then you could maintain your current daycare and day programming arrangements as they are without any disruption. In fact, you should need a little less coverage for your students because they’ll be at school every other Wednesday (unless they are already a fully remote learner, in which case their program will remain as-is).
I want to emphasize that our buildings are being thoroughly cleaned, including being sprayed with virus killing disinfectant, on a nightly basis. These products are 100% safe for human contact. There is an equal amount of cleaning happening Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings along with the work our day custodians are doing throughout the week. We do not need and are not using Wednesdays to complete more cleaning than on any other day and evening which means adding Wednesdays as another in-person learning day does not change or negatively impact our safety practices in any way.
Finally, we remain concerned about the small number of students who are not engaging, especially those who are technically fully remote learners but are just not showing up through their Google Meets lessons or turning in work on a regular basis. We will reach out to families and try to solve these issues. As we work on plans to help all our students, including learners who are struggling to be present and focus on work, we will communicate and share possible solutions. We will not give up on any student.
Happily most students are engaged and working with their teachers and educational technicians and others who are part of their programs. That is very good news to be able to share with you as we move past the first quarter of this school year. Despite the many challenges we feel as though we have made progress and that students are learning and are able to be at school in order to safely interact and socialize with one another.
Thank you so much for your goodwill and partnership in this most unusual school year. We will add this additional day while we monitor data on the spread of the virus and, whenever necessary, adjust accordingly to keep everyone safe. We hope for good news and that we can reevaluate our program again as winter turns into spring and we look to the day when every staff member and student can attend in person together every day of the week.
Please call or email with any questions.
Sincerely,
Gregg Palmer
he/him/his