Hanover Public Schools Updates for Families 1/24/21

Hanover H

We are writing to inform and update our school community on the status of our planning to increase in-person learning as we look to the future.  The School Committee and administration are committed to returning all of our students to additional days of in-person learning as soon as possible.  We continue to work with public health officials to make informed decisions about keeping our schools open on a day to day basis.  Fortunately, we have been able to successfully maintain our current hybrid model following the holidays, and we recently returned all second graders and high-needs students (grades 3-12) to four days/week.  On our four hybrid days (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday), we have approximately 70% of our K-12 students attending in-person.  We have continually made incremental progress, but we also understand for families whose students do not fall into these categories - more is needed.  We are actively planning the next steps for these students.

We understand that there may be some confusion surrounding why we have not yet implemented our plans that were shared in December, which anticipated students returning to additional in-person learning days in late January/early February.  Those plans were put on pause as we worked with state and local public health officials to manage the extremely large spike of COVID-19 cases throughout the holiday season in Hanover, and the high case counts that continue.  As of today, public health officials are still recommending that we not add additional students to our buildings and remain in the hybrid model.

There are several factors that public health officials consider when advising us about remaining open in our hybrid model and/or moving forward to increase the number of students in our schools, including:

  • The Town of Hanover test positivity rate, and average daily case rate (improving recently but remains one of the highest percentages locally).
  • There were 28 new school-related cases this past week, and 20 of those were in the last three days.
  • There are currently over 135 students and staff in isolation or quarantine.
  • Presently, there remains little or no evidence of in-school transmission.
  • Our ability and resources required to contact-trace all positive cases and close contacts.  
  • Our capacity as a community for COVID-19 testing.
  • Our ability to maintain adequate staffing for effective instruction, supervision, and safety.
  • The amount of social distancing we can provide in classrooms, lunch, passing time, etc. 

We know you understand that there are significant challenges to overcome.  Local COVID-19 conditions, staffing capacity, transportation constraints as dictated by the state, traffic and supervision logistics, physical space, Virtual Academy capacity, federal/state stimulus funds and other aid, and our own budget capacity to name a few.  These challenges are not independent of each other, and taken together, are significant.  However, we are moving forward.  We expect to have all students (who chose to return) back in school at the earliest opportunity and will release a new projected timeline with updated plans shortly.  In the meantime, we will work with public health officials to monitor COVID-19 conditions and continue the ongoing negotiations with the Hanover Teachers’ Association.

Each of our schools has a plan for adding students back in a deliberate and methodical way as soon as we are able to proceed.  Once our new timeline is released, we will be sending a Google Form to all families to gather the necessary logistical information we need to support an effective return.  We fully understand that many families, students, and staff are ready to take the next steps to be back in school.  We are, too.  Your ongoing support and patience is deeply appreciated.  We will keep you informed as our plans progress.

Sincerely,

Leah Miller, School Committee Chairperson
Matthew Ferron, Superintendent of Schools
Patricia Smith, Director of Health Services