Marlborough Lands On Late February Hybrid Start For Students

MARLBOROUGH, MA — Marlborough students will start returning to a hybrid learning beginning on Feb. 22, a week earlier than had been proposed, the School Committee decided on Tuesday.

Marlborough students were tentatively supposed to return to hybrid classes by the end of January, but Superintendent Michael Bergeron this week proposed pushing the start date back until March 1. Under his plan, students would return in phases, with some students not returning until the middle of the month.

Bergeron said he picked the March 1 start date based on feedback from School Committee members at a previous meeting. But several School Committee members said beginning March 1 would delay some students too long.

"It's really pushing it far out for some of these kids. So the sooner we could implement this whole plan certainly the better," Vice Chair Michelle Bodin-Hettinger said.

Here's the hybrid return schedule the School Committee ultimately approved:

• Feb. 22 — Cohort B, grades 3, 8 and 12
• March 1 — Cohort A, grades 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 and 12
• March 8 — Cohort B, all grades
• March 15 — Cohort A, all grades

Bergeron highlighted that teachers are supposed to start receiving the coronavirus vaccine in February. He also said the district is pursuing a plan to possibly hold weekly coronavirus testing events for students, teachers and staff with the more reliable polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests. The district also has rapid testing available.