News

School board rescinds fully reopening mandate

By Patrick Adrian [email protected]
BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. — The Rockingham School Board rescinded its mandate for Superintendent Chris Pratt to fully reopen schools by the second week of the school year, and opted instead to work collaboratively with district administrators under the proposed hybrid instructional plan.

In a special meeting Monday, the board voted unanimously to temporarily adopt the district’s hybrid instructional proposal while the board and superintendent plan how to return to “in-person instruction at the earliest possible time.”

The new decision reflected the board’s effort to repair the relationship with district administrators in regard to reopening the 2020-2021 school year amid the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, Aug. 3, the school board voiced opposition to the district’s proposed plan to reopen under a hybrid instructional model, in which students in grades K-12 would attend school two days a week and learn remotely three days a week. The board, by a 3-2 vote, approved to direct Pratt to restore full in-person instruction for all Rockingham students by the second week of the school year.

The board’s vote was met with a wave of criticism from parents and educators and caused former Rockingham School Board Chair Rick Holloway to tender his resignation in protest.

Board member George Smith, filling in as chair Monday, opened the meeting by urging administrators and board members to take this opportunity “to build a healthier relationship.”

“I’m asking us to consider the fact that working together is better than working independently,” Smith said. “And try to establish a common working ground to work toward our shared goals.”

Earlier in the day board members visited the classroom of 3rd-grade teacher Kelley Green at Central Elementary School to see the configuration of furniture with six-foot spatial separation, based on the recommended guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Board member Priscilla Lambert, who fiercely criticized the hybrid instructional plan the previous week, said her intent was not “to step on the toes of the [reopening] task force” but rather support district parents who said that continuing remote learning, even part time, would be too stressful on their families.

“Some of those parents need the schools to educate their children because, for whatever reason, they cannot do it at home,” Lambert said. “We need to be sure as a board that we are providing education.”

Lambert complemented the plan for including an option to homeschool or participate in a virtual learning program, though she still feels the district needs to move faster toward a return to full in-school learning than the district’s plan details.

The board’s vote last week was technically not-binding because it occurred before the SAU board — which represents all the school districts in the supervisory union — voted to approve the plan. On Wednesday, Aug. 5, the SAU board voted 6-2 to adopt the hybrid instructional plan. Lambert, representing the Rockingham district, cast one of the dissenting votes.

But the town’s previous vote still caused a conundrum because the plan needed approval from every board in the supervisory union for the district to proceed. Conversely, state law prohibits a supervisory union from having multiple plans, so any proposed changes by one school board must be approved by the others.

The SAU also needed to get the plan approved immediately as Thursday, Aug. 13, is the deadline to enroll middle and high school students in virtual courses at the Vermont Virtual Learning Cooperative.

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