Planning To Reopen - Our Schools, Reopening Plans Due Today

8/14/2020 (Permalink)

Today marks the state-imposed deadline for school districts across Massachusetts to submit their fall reopening plans. The state's education department directed school districts to prepare plans for three different reopening models: in-person, remote or a mix of the two. Several districts have already opted for online-only or hybrid versions of in-person and remote learning.

This comes at a time when the Commonwealth is seeing a rise COVID-19 case counts. The Department of Public Health confirmed 210 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday and 273 more cases on Sunday, along with the announcement of 31 recent COVID-19 deaths between the two days. The number of daily new cases, which had generally settled at fewer than 200 a day earlier in the month, has been above 200 each of the last four days.

To find out your town's reopening plan click here.

There has been push back from unions and parents regarding any model with any form of in-person learning. Currently there are at least 31 districts in Massachusetts that have already decided against having kids return to class at all at this time. These districts will begin the new school year offering remote learning only. To 

To find out if your school district has decided to offer remote learning only click here.

The most challenging aspect of the coming school year is that, state wide, Massachusetts may have lost more than a quarter of the available space at child care centers. This is sure to complicate life for parents who will need child care services this coming school year. To help, the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) has created a geographic search tool to help you find licensed child care programs. You can search by both geographic area and child care program type. Unfortunately, some licensed programs choose to not be listed in EEC's searchable directory. If a program that you are looking for doesn't appear in your search results, you can call your local EEC office to confirm whether the program is licensed. 

NOTE: According to the CDC, in lieu of a vaccine or therapeutic drug, mitigation is the greatest weapon communities can wield to slow the spread of a virus with pandemic potential such as COVID-19. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a new (and some data suggests evolving) coronavirus.

COVID-19 is highly transmissible. Individuals should follow these universal precautions regardless of the extent of mitigation needed:

1. Follow healthy hygiene practices
2. Stay at home when sick
3. Practice social distancing 
4. Use a cloth face covering (with some exceptions) in community settings when physical distancing cannot be maintained.

(See our Planning to Reopen series of blogs for more information regarding CDC, EPA, FDA, Mass EEA, Mass EEC, and OSHA safety requirements). To review the administration's reopening guidance from the state click here. To view Governor Baker's full report click here).

While the administration continues to work with communities to implement best practices and protocols for reopening our schools we will continue to share with you guidance from the CDC, EPA, FDA, Mass EEA, Mass EEC, and OSHA and the Governor's office to follow as we prepare for the new school year.

Also, we at SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley know that not every community has access to the resources necessary to meet the strict cleaning guidelines to ensure a safe environment for our children. For those communities, we are here to help!

Certified: SERVPRO Cleaned

The Disaster Remediation Teams at SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley are specialists in cleaning services and we adhere to the highest cleaning and sanitation standards. We are prepared to clean and disinfect your schools, according to protocols set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We have years of experience in dealing with biological contaminants, and we will go beyond the scope of work of "normal daily cleaning". Call SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley today for a free consultation - (617) 332-9000.

All of us here at SERVPRO of Newton/Wellesley want you and your loved ones to stay safe and know that we will make it through this together! Rest assured, we will continue to do our best to keep you up-to-date and informed!