Danvers Schools Set To Return 5 Days Starting March 29

DANVERS, MA — Danvers Public Schools intends to bring back all students who want to be in the classroom to in-school learning five days a week by April 5.

The Danvers School Committee unanimously approved Superintendent of Schools Lisa Dana's plan to bring back students in kindergarten through fifth grade on March 29 and those in grades six through 12 on April 5.

The shift will effectively end the district's hybrid-learning model that has been in place since Sept. 16 amid the coronavirus health crisis. Families that want to have their students in fully remote learning will have that opportunity through the end of the 2020-21 school year.

Families should expect to receive a survey Tuesday on their learning choice. This will be the final opportunity this school year to choose between remote and in-person learning.

According to Dana, the plan includes keeping 6 feet of distancing in schools "when feasible" but that it may have to be reduced in increments based on space restrictions at the middle school and high school.

The recommendation is in line with state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley's directive on Friday that all districts should look to bring back students full time in April.

Dana's proposal directed the district to engage in impact bargaining with the teachers' union on the most recent changes to their memorandum of agreement from the beginning of the school year.

"I just want to thank all the teachers," School Committee Chairperson David Thomson said during Monday night's meeting just prior to the vote. "This has been a crazy year. A year that no one could have predicted. Whether a teacher is teaching hybrid or fully remote, the amount of work they've had to put in has been unlike any other year.

"I want to thank them all for everything they've done. Thank them for their patience. We've had to make decisions we know have not always been favorable to lots of different groups. But we've made the decisions that we think are best based on the information we've had."

Danvers students in grades kindergarten through third grade are currently in the classroom four days per week, with all other students in school two days a week.

The decision comes amid the DESE recommendations and the beginning of teacher vaccinations nationwide. About 70 to 80 Danvers school staff have been able to secure vaccination appointments through the federal pharmacy program this week with appointments opening for the state vaccination sites on Thursday.

Danvers Director of Public Health Mark Carleo said no in-town clinics are currently planned for educators.

"Unfortunately the state made a decision to de-prioritize (local Boards of Health) as of March 1 and we couldn't get the doses," he said. "If we could, we'd be holding the clinics."

Carleo reported that coronavirus cases in Danvers have dropped dramatically in recent weeks from 82 cases and a 3.36 positive test average four weeks ago to 45 active cases and a 2.56 percent rate in the most recent report.

Carleo said there have been no cases determined to be through in-school spread for the past four weeks.

"The numbers are trending in a wonderful direction," he said. "It's something we're really happy to see. ... Pretty much every marker has gotten better. We're really starting to get a solid handle on this a full year into it."

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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.)

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