Full Day Return For Beverly Elementary, Middle School Students

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly Public Schools will return all elementary and middle school students who wish to be in the classroom to five days of full-day in-school learning by April 12.

The Beverly School Committee voted on Wednesday to transition elementary school students from hybrid to full-day on April 5 and middle school students on April 12.

Beverly will return high school students to a "two-thirds" learning model at first with seniors back in the classroom five days as of March 22 and freshmen, sophomores and juniors following on March 29, with afternoons being remote learning.

Families of students who wish to remain in fully remote learning will have that option through the end of the 2020-21 school year.

"I want to thank the entire school community for your continued patience and understanding as we work toward the goal of reopening our schools to full in-person learning," Beverly Superintendent of Schools Sue Charochak said. "We are aware how significantly these transitions and timelines impact our staff, students and families."

Charochak said families will receive a survey this week where they will be asked to declare whether they want their students to enroll in full in-classroom learning or fully remote learning as the hybrid model used since September is suspended.

"Please respond with your model selection as this will be important to our transition planning," Charochak said.

The state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education issued a directive to all school districts last Friday mandating that elementary students have a full-day option no later than April 5 and middle school students no later than April 28. A date for high school students to return full-time statewide has yet to be announced.

Beverly also revealed the parameters of the school day — which is required to be the same length of day that schools used pre-pandemic.

Elementary school students will go to school from 7:55 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and from 7:55 a.m. to noon on Wednesdays.

Middle school students will go from 8:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, and 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Starting March 22, high school students will be in the classroom 8:15 a.m. to 11:50 a.m. five days per week and will be remote 12:50 p.m. to 2:33 p.m.

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)