Pittsfield Not Anticipating Reopening Schools
Editor's note: There appears to be confusion about this article, which points out in the third graph that the school district is preparing for the "worst case scenario" of the schools not opening. No decision has been made and if it is, as is also pointed out in the article, the School Committee will make that decision. We've changed "planning" to "anticipating" for better clarity.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — School administrators are not anticipating on reopening buildings this school year.
Superintendent Jason McCandless told the School committee on Wednesday that although the governor could decide to reopen schools May 4, for planning purposes, Pittsfield administrators do not anticipate returning to public buildings.
"Our working assumption with our planning is that the school year with people gathered in school buildings is over," he said during the meeting held remotely and carried on Pittsfield Community Television. "We are taking this approach because we think it is the right thing to do to prepare for the very worst-case scenario and hope like heck that the best case scenario comes to pass."
Mayor Linda Tyer said the governor could very well decide to continue closures beyond May 4 but if he doesn't she urged school leaders to consider remaining closed.
"To be really honest I am really anxious about the idea of opening school in three weeks time and I am very hopeful that the governor will be persuaded to keep the schools closed for the rest of the year," Tyer said. "I don't think we are at a point in this public health crisis where we should be bringing back hundreds of people back into school spaces."
McCandless agreed and said although he respects the governor's guidance and decision making he acknowledged that the governor has to consider the entire state.
Gov. Charlie Baker ordered schools to close on March 17 and twice extended that to May 4 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
McCandless added that Berkshire County school districts decided to close before the state did and the decision to reopen will be up to the School Committee.
"We have to make a decision that is the best fit for the residents of Pittsfield," he said. "Our unions will have to weigh in on this and our families will have a great voice on how wise they think this is."
As for school events, McCandless said everything has been either canceled or put on hold. He said this includes prom and graduation.
Although no decision has been made, some options are being considered for graduation.
"We look at the college graduations that have been postponed or canceled," the superintedent said. "I won't say at this point if graduation is canceled, but I will say we have switched to the mode of looking at what a virtual graduation will look like or graduation by other means."
McCandless said they have also considered holding graduation in the summer if possible.
Learning from home is progressing and he lauded teachers for stepping up in a unique situation.
"Our teachers have really had to step into gears that many of us didn't realize we had in order to make this work," he said. "We are grateful for those teachers and administrators."
He said an important aspect of remote education is students’ access to technology and noted many students do not have easy access to computers, computers available at all, or even an internet connection.
He said currently there are 835 requests of Chromebooks and likely more.
The district has been able to find some $500,000 through savings, many related to not being open, and has purchased 2,500 new Chromebooks. Each Chromebook will be cataloged and tracked.
"We realized that we needed to get our Chromebook fleet to the number where we could offer almost every student in the district who doesn't have a working Chromebook," he said. "Because we think we could be doing school like this in the summer and into the fall."
He added that more power cables are also needed and that Gilson Family Foundation stepped up with almost $90,000 donation to fund the purchase of 2,000 components.
McCandless said work books also have been sent to students to supplement learning when a device is not available.
In other business, the school district accepted a memorandum of agreement that would honor April vacation in some form next week.
Monday, Patriots Day, will be a day off. Virtual school will be on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday will be off.
Lunches will be handled differently because many workers contractually cannot work. Berkshire United Way will handle lunch and breakfast for the week of April 21 and Tuesday will hand out a 12- to 14-pound bag of groceries to families. Parents are urged to attend pick up so they can carry the heavier bags home.
Tags: COVID-19, pittsfield schools,
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