Barnstable Public Schools Provide Update on Fall Reopening

BARNSTABLE – Officials with the Barnstable Public School system have provided an update on reopening plans for the fall.

The most recent draft will prioritize in-person learning for Enoch Cobb Early Learning Center, Barnstable’s pre-school, and for the town’s kindergarten through grade 3 schools which include Hyannis West Elementary, Centerville Elementary, West Villages Elementary, Barnstable Community Innovation School, and Barnstable West Barnstable Elementary.

This in-person model will see students attend school in-person on Monday’s, Tuesday’s, Thursday’s, and Friday’s.

The return to in-person learning will come with health safety precautions such as appropriate physical distancing and health checks.

Face coverings are also required for all students’ grades 2 and up.

Barnstable United Elementary, Barnstable Intermediate School, and Barnstable High School will prioritize a hybrid learning model.

“Due to the size of enrollment at each of those schools and the physical distancing requirements, we cannot bring back all students to in-person at once,” said Superintendent of Barnstable Public Schools Meg Mayo-Brown.

“We have to implement a hybrid model at those three schools.”

The hybrid model consists of both in-person learning and remote learning.

To accomplish this, students at the three schools will be placed into cohorts.

“Cohort A across the three schools would attend in-person learning Monday and Tuesday and learn remotely Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,” said Mayo-Brown.

“Cohort B would be the opposite, cohort B students would attend in-person learning on Thursday and Friday and would be remote learning Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.”   

All public schools in the town will be closed on Wednesday’s for a deep cleaning and students at all schools will learn remotely.

“Just to summarize, all K through 12 schools will be closed to students on Wednesdays for cleaning,” said Mayo-Brown.  

“That break mid-week for us on Wednesdays where all students are remote allows for some deep cleaning of our buildings. It also allows for our teachers and staff to engage in additional training, professional development and it gives us an opportunity to visit our proctors in place to make sure that those protocols are indeed creating health classrooms and health schools.”   

If parents and guardians of students at any Barnstable Public Schools wish to do so, they can choose to have their child or children put on a remote learning only plan.   

If parents or guardians select this plan but then wish to change their decision they will also be able to do so but they are asked to do so at the end of a grading period.  

There will also be a cohort C and a cohort D for the hybrid-model schools.

Cohort C will consist of students will need to attend in-person learning four to five times a week, such as those whose parents work at a Barnstable Public School.

Cohort D will consist of students who are on the remote learning only plan.

The cohorts have not been decided yet and May-Brown said that they anticipate having the cohorts tentatively set on or around Sunday, August 23.

At that time school officials will share the process of requesting a different cohort.

“If we’ve assigned you cohort A and that is not working for you or for your family, we want to create a process where you can request cohort B,” said Mayo-Brown.  

The draft plan calls for a phased-in opening, beginning for students on September 14.

“The significant change in the school calendar, which I’m sure looks very different than calendars from years past, this calendar prioritize a phased-in opening for our students,” Mayo-Brown.

The phased-in opening will see all K through 12 students begin remote learning on September 14 and last for two weeks.

After that, the schools will enter a phase of reduced days for two weeks beginning on September 28.

The reduced days phase will see students return to school for in-person or hybrid learning for four hours a day.

Finally, on October 13, students will return to school for in-person or hybrid learning for an entire day.

Mayo-Brown noted that the phased-in return is contingent on health safety precautions.

She said that officials will be monitoring COVID-19 cases through the region and that a spike in cases on Cape Cod could alter the plans.

The draft plan will be recommended to the Barnstable School Committee at their August 5 meeting.

The school committee will review the plan and calendar and will have the option to vote to approve it with or without modifications.

There will also be a survey going out to Barnstable families on Wednesday regarding their thoughts on the reopening plan.

All parents and guardians are highly encouraged to take it as, according to Mayo-Brown, it will help them determine the cohorts for the hybrid-model schools.

If parents or guardians have multiple children, they are asked to take the survey multiple times, one for each child.

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