School Guidance Letter

Framingham Public Schools Robert A. Tremblay, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools SCHOOL COMMITTEE Adam Freudberg, Chair • Tiffanie Maskell, Vice Chair • Priscila Sousa, Clerk Jessica Barnhill • Geoffrey Epstein • Richard Finlay Beverly Hugo • William LaBarge • Scott Wadland Yvonne M. Spicer, Mayor Farley Building, 19 Flagg Drive, Framingham, MA 01702 Telephone: 508-626-9121 www.framingham.k12.ma.us/schoolcommittee July 23, 2021 RE: RETURN TO SCHOOL GUIDANCE FOR SCHOOL DISTRICTS Dear Governor Baker, As we prepare to return to school several weeks from now, it seems that every community across the Commonwealth would be well-served to open their doors with consistent COVID-19 risk mitigation guidance. We are grateful that early in March, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) announced that remote learning was no longer authorized for the 2021-22 school year. So, with that in mind, we have taken operational planning steps to ensure that five full days per week of in-person learning will start this fall. The lead time the department gave us on that decision was extremely helpful. Now, however, we are in a place where more direct rules from the Commonwealth around public health measures are necessary for the operational planning and communications to students and their families before school begins. The Commonwealth has not taken a formal position on COVID-19 risk mitigation public health measures for in-person learning and what that will look like during the 2021-2022 school year. Ensuring that risk-mitigating measures and rules around vaccinations, masks, quarantines, air filtration, and pooled testing, etc., are consistent across the state would eliminate a major challenge that districts faced during the pandemic and pitted some school districts and communities against one another. During our last School Committee meeting, our Superintendent Dr. Robert Tremblay, reported on his recent remarks during a large in-person forum of Massachusetts Superintendents. He told us that he asked at that meeting that the entire Commonwealth, through DESE and/or DPH, anchor decision-making on science and follow the precise alignment of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or the American Academy of Pediatrics - without DESE or local interpretation - so that every district is operating with a consistent set of expectations for their communities. Last year DESE released a Back-to-School plan on June 25th. This year it is now a month after that timeline. With the many lessons learned during this past school year, so much more is known on what COVID-19 risk mitigation measures allowed us to keep our community as safe as possible from the detrimental impacts of the virus, and how to keep our buildings open for in person learning. As we plan during the rest of the summer, anything the Commonwealth can release, as soon as possible, will allow us to do our jobs better in order to serve our students, staff, and community. As a School Committee we thank you for your consideration of this request and hope that you will act soon so that all school districts in Massachusetts are ready to implement and communicate the public health mitigation measures far in advance of the first day of school. Sincerely, Adam Freudberg Tiffanie Maskell Priscila Sousa Chair Vice Chair Clerk Jessica Barnhill Geoffrey Epstein Richard Finlay Beverly Hugo William LaBarge Scott Wadland All signed electronically as authorized during the School Committee Meeting of July 23, 2021 CC: Senate President Karen Spilka State Representatives Jack Patrick Lewis, Maria Robinson, and Carmine Gentile Secretary James Peyser, Executive Office of Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley, DESE Board of Elementary and Secondary Education Secretary Marylou Sudders, Executive Office of Health and Human Services Commissioner Monica Bharel, Massachusetts Department of Public Health Mayor Yvonne Spicer Framingham City Council Framingham Board of Public Health Dr. Robert Tremblay, Superintendent of Schools, Framingham Alexandra DePalo, Acting Director, Department of Public Health, Framingham Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Massachusetts Association of School Committees.

Load more