Back-to-school: What you need to know about Fall River public schools

FALL RIVER – With the countdown for back-to-school days away, school administrators are checking off the items on their to-do list.

Flexible seating is gone and 6-foot spaced seats at forward-facing desks are in this season at Fall River public schools. Students can expect frequent outdoor mask breaks and some big changes at lunchtime.

On Tuesday, Fall River Superintendent Matt Malone and Chief Operating Officer Ken Pacheco discussed the COVID-19 health and safety measures that have been made to schools over the past several months to get them ready for students and staff.

On a tour of Alfred S. Letourneau Elementary School as an example of the COVID-19 safety measures, Pacheco said the first change parents and students will notice is a new window in place in the space between the two sets of entryway doors. That window will lessen the number of parents who need to enter the school to drop-off and pick-up documents and other materials.

One of the biggest pieces they completed at more than a dozen school buildings was to enclose the front office counter with glass. In addition to providing a protective shield against COVID-19, the glass-enclosed work spaces are also a security measure that will be permanent fixtures.

“It doesn’t allow people to be walking in the building. This has provided us with the opportunity to do something like this that’s a heavy lift — something we wouldn’t normally do,” Pacheco said.

They started working on the schools last April in preparation for reopening this fall, added Pacheco.

At Talbot Middle School, they actually relocated the entrance to the side of the building to bring it closer to the front office, thus eliminating people walking through the school unnecessarily, he added.

School buses will be transporting half the number of students and SRTA is also working with the school district to reduce the numbers of students on those buses to the appropriate levels by possibly adding a second tracer bus to transport the overflow of students, said Pacheco. Dismissal from school will be by bus, eliminating large groups of students converging on the exits. All of the entryways will also have touchless hand sanitizer stands that students will have to use when entering and exiting.   

Signs reminding kids about COVID-19 health and safety practices will be prevalent throughout the schools.

Lunches will also be completely different, with a reduced number of students in the school each week and staggered lunch times, making for significantly fewer students in the cafeteria at one time, said Pacheco. In a school like Letourneau, the number will be reduced to about 40 to 45 students at one lunch seating.

Additionally, students at all of the schools will no longer be going up to the counter to get their lunches. Instead, they will be seated two students per table with tables placed 6 feet apart. The cafeteria staff will go to each table with three choices of food (hot, cold and a la carte) and they will scan the student’s ID to make sure the student is not selecting any food that they may be allergic to. After lunch, students will just leave their trays on the tables instead of lining up to throw out their trash. At B.M.C. Durfee High School, they replaced the cafeteria tables with socially distanced desks.

Free breakfast will continue to be served in the classrooms, but there won’t a shared table for any unopened leftovers.

Despite all the changes students will face this year, Letourneau first-grade teacher Bethany Debalsi said it will still be a fun year for kids.

“It’s going to be a little different, but it will still be an inviting environment. We’re going to be doing our best,” she said.

Malone said about 40% of Fall River students and families opted to start the school year fully remote. Those who didn’t respond to the survey by the Aug. 28 deadline were automatically placed in the hybrid model. With 40% fully remote and a significant portion in hybrid on-off weeks, the total number of students in the schools is about 3,500 at any one time.

The high percentage of students opting for remote wasn’t surprising to Malone, who said they’re seeing similar numbers in other districts. Some kids, he said, just like the idea of working remotely. When parents have asked him for advice, Malone said he’s advised them to pick the hybrid model which gives them both, remote and in-person.

Every school building has at least one full-time nurse and Malone said they will be presenting a plan at the School Committee on Monday to bring on CNAs to provide additional services.

Fully remote students will be assigned an educator from the district and most of the learning will be through online programs such as Ingenuity. Those who are in the hybrid models will have one week of face-to-face classes in school and one week of remote. The hybrid remote classes will be a blended version of online work and Google Meet classes held by video conference.

“It’s a huge challenge figuring out this schedule,” said Malone, adding the district is still in negotiations with the Fall River Educators Association, the union covering the teachers. Some details that still need to be worked out (as of this interview) include how students who are fully remote will be taking their electives.

Students who are in the district’s middle schools were all supplied with Chromebooks through a Verizon grant program. The rest of the students will be on a “bring your own device” mode, but Malone said they will supply devices to those in need.

One of the biggest challenges in figuring out the school year, said Malone, is the supply chain: Finding ample supplies including hand sanitizer, building materials such as glass for the windows and Chromebooks.

Another big challenge, he said, has been the methods of communication such as no in-person open houses to inform parents and meetings and trainings being done virtually. There is also a video on the FRPS website showing the cleaning process.

Malone said he’s personally been answering about 20 emails a day from parents and he’s also trying to keep them informed via the FRPS Twitter account. The fastest and most direct route for information, he said, is for parents to contact their child’s school or teacher.

“We’re telling people to stay calm; we’ll work through all the details. Nothing is going to be perfect. If people want perfect, go somewhere else. We’re human, we’ll figure this stuff out and we’ll get better at it,” he said, adding nothing like this has been done in the school system. “We’re the gravel trucks on the road. At some point they’ll pave the road, but we have to put gravel down first.”

Letourneau Principal Sean Sibson said every phone call and email communication with parents is easing their concerns about the new school year.

Overall, said Malone, people have been great and supportive as they work out the details of forging a new school year, especially the School Committee. “They’ve been great through the entire process thinking ‘big picture’ and budgeting appropriately and adopting all the policies we need,” he said. “Everyone’s moving in the right direction so starting from that position we’re in a good place. ... People don’t need to freak out. Just stay calm.”

The first day of school for all students is Wednesday, Sept. 16. This is a fully remote day for all students. On Sept. 17 and 18 (Week 1), all Cohort A and Cohort C students will attend in-person learning, and all Cohort B and Cohort D students will participate in remote learning. The week of Sept. 21st (Week 2), Cohort A and Cohort D students will attend in-person learning (4 days), and Cohort B and Cohort C students will participate in remote learning all week.

Fall River’s Four Back-to-School cohorts:

Cohort A is a fully face-to-face group for a high-needs group of special education students and English language learners, accounting for about 1,480 students.

Cohort B is the remote-only group.

Cohorts C and D: a 10-day, alternating two-week cycle. Cohort C would be in school for eight of the 10 days while Cohort B would be learning remotely for eight days. Both cohorts have with two days of check-ins and supports midweek in the 10-day cycle.