Assabet Valley Will Offer 2 Options For Back-To-School

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Assabet Valley Regional Technical School students will begin the school year in mid-September, and will get to choose between two different types of learning models amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The district recently approved a plan to open schools beginning Sept. 15 for freshmen. Most students will attend Assabet under a hybrid model, but some will be allowed to choose to learn remotely, according to school officials.

Like almost every district in the state, Assabet Valley is planning to welcome students back to buildings with a variety of virus safeguards in place. Students will be required to wear masks — although there will be mask breaks during the day — and furniture will be reconfigured to allow more distance between students in class.

Students will be arranged in cohorts of up to 20, and grades will alternate between in-class learning and remote learning under the hybrid model. For example, ninth and 11th grade students would attend in-person classes for one week while 10th and 12th graders would learn from home, according to the plan.

The all-remote model will be available for students who "cannot yet return in-person due to documented health-related issues or extenuating circumstances," the plan says. But Superintendent Ernest Houle acknowledged that the entire school may have to switch to all-remote if virus trends worsen.

"Members of our Assabet Valley school community — students, staff, and parents — continue to express their strong desire to return to school in-person this fall. At the same time, we recognize that we may experience a resurgence of the virus, and we must prepare for the possibility that learning will be entirely remote this fall," he said in a letter to parents.

Many districts, including nearby Framingham and Wayland, are ramping up to hybrid model by starting the school year fully remote. Marlborough and Framingham have both been highlighted by state health officials as cities where virus trends are on the rise.