Welcome to the Medway Public Schools website.
September 14, 2020
Dear Medway families,
This weekend I took some time to unplug, step away, and reflect on these past months. They have certainly been filled with many unknowns and many firsts. I am happy to share some thoughts and observations with you as we ready to begin the 2020-2021 school year.
First, I love the first day of school. The 2020-2021 school year represents my 25th school opening as an educator. While the road to get here has been complicated, long, and arduous, I am more excited than ever to get this school year underway. I cannot wait to welcome our students to the 2020-2021 school year on September 16th. I cannot wait to see them in our schools, or online, working with each other and learning from the gifted teachers of our district.
Over the past months, the faculty and staff of the Medway Public Schools have been actively engaged in preparing for the opening of the school year. The summer traditionally affords us the opportunity to enjoy a slower pace, while many of our staff enjoy a well-deserved summer recess. This was not the case this summer. Throughout the summer faculty and staff have been busy planning for this unique school year. The updates and guidance that were released throughout the summer resulted in a need to re-examine and make adjustments to already established plans frequently.
As the summer planning progressed, and my energy waned, I was reignited and inspired when our faculty and staff returned on August 31. While the return was one that included some anxiety, the staff connected with each other and jumped right into the planning for this school year. They entered their work with enthusiasm and excitement. They pushed through many challenges to ensure that our schools will be ready for our students. While the school year will be different in so many ways, what will not be different is the incredible energy, commitment, and passion that the faculty and staff of the Medway Public Schools will bring to this school year. I am so incredibly proud to call them colleagues. I am so proud of their continued selfless acts to ensure that our students, upon their return, will be connected with adults who care about them.
Safety
A critical focus of the planning this year has been around student, faculty, and staff safety. Ensuring that we reduce risks to the greatest extent possible has been a key element to our school return. Much planning and many conversations have focused on this topic. Our efforts have ensured that we meet guidance and requirements, and in many cases we have exceeded that minimum guidance. Some of the planned health and safety measures that were put into place include:
- Mask wearing for students, faculty, and staff
- Adoption of a 6’ minimum physical spacing standard in our classrooms
- Implementation of enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols
- Assessment and repairs to our HVAC systems
- Assessment of all sinks in our schools, and the procurement of hand sanitizer throughout
- Procurement of individual room HEPA air purification systems for teaching spaces
- Purchase and installation of hands-free water bottle filling stations in schools, with more to be installed
- Reduction of higher risk activities, at least temporarily (e.g. fall interscholastic football and cheerleading)
- Exploration of a COVID-19 Surveillance Testing program for all students, faculty, and staff (more to come on this soon)
In Medway we are fortunate that the number of cases has been low throughout the summer. It is important to note, however, that there continues to be active virus transmission. A high level of vigilance is a must as we reopen our schools. These efforts, and many not mentioned, have been put in place to support reducing the risk of those in our schools.
Student Experience
The school year will be very different for our students. It will also be very different for all of us - educators, administrators, support staff. While the new practices, policies, and expectations will be an adjustment for everyone, I know that through our resiliency and persistence will get us through. There have been major changes in nearly all aspects of the educational experience for our students. As we embark on this school year we recognize that our decision to ensure families had a choice around attendance in-person or fully virtual, along with the adopted hybrid model has created enormous planning challenges. We recognize that while we have put forth our very best efforts to plan for this school year, there will be continued challenges and areas where we can do better.
One area of continued challenge has been staffing. The models of education we adopted require significant, additional staffing. While we have made many hires throughout the summer, some open positions remain. We are continuing to work to fill these positions to ensure we have staff in place to support students as quickly as possible. If your child is part of the Hybrid Student Learning Model, courses without a full time hire finalized will be filled with substitutes. If your child is part of the Virtual School Learning Model, the start of these classes will be delayed until an appropriate educator is in place.
We commit to the following:
- We will continue to assess and review practices for opportunities for improvement
- We will continue to improve our educational practices, in this unique delivery of education, over time
- We will respond to questions, concerns, and opportunities for partnership as soon as possible.
We continue to ask for your patience and understanding as we begin this new model of education. While we have worked hard to prepare, and our educators have been intensely engaged in professional development to learn how to provide an effective education in this environment, excellence will take time. We appreciate the understanding provided by our community and know that, with your support and assistance, we will provide our students with the very best education possible.
Partnership
As I have shared, the year will offer many challenges, but also many opportunities. Together we can get through this. Together our efforts will support your children, our students, to have the best year possible. The community has been amazing during this time. Your partnership in the following areas is crucial:
- Talk to your child about the importance of being vigilant in their mask wearing, hand washing and physical distancing. This will help to protect everyone.
- Continue to ensure your children are following physical distancing guidelines outside of school. We have seen examples of outside of school social situations impacting the return to school plans in other communities.
- Follow health guidance and keep your child home if they are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms. More information can be found here.
- If you plan to travel, follow the Governor’s Travel Advisory.
- Anticipate that despite our best efforts, there are going to be bumps in the road as this school year starts.
- Be patient and kind to our teachers and staff. They have been working hard to learn how to teach in this new environment. They need your support and understanding now, more than ever.
- Continue to be engaged - read the communications that we send and respond when we seek feedback, when you have a question, or when you want to offer your supportive thinking.
There is no doubt that this year will continue to offer challenges and opportunities the likes of which we have never seen. Our road to success is through continued collaboration, partnership, and communication to ensure that we share an understanding of these challenges and can work together to overcome them.
On behalf of the faculty, staff, and administrators of the Medway Public Schools, thank you for your continued support. I wish you all a wonderful start to the school year!
Sincerely,
Armand Pires, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
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August
Dear Medway families,
Thank you for your engagement, questions, conversations and support that you have provided to the district and to our school leaders in these recent weeks. Your partnership has allowed us to ensure that the development of an MPS Fall 2020 School Return Framework is measured, rooted in known data, and structured to mitigate risk for students, faculty, and staff.
During the August 13 special meeting of the School Committee, the Medway Public Schools Fall 2020 Reopening Recommendation was approved unanimously by the School Committee. We presented an overview of the plan through a slide presentation which can be found here. The full plan is an extensive, important document that we encourage you to read in full. We have created an Executive Summary to share the highlights and also included an important Frequently Asked Questions document in the Appendix. You can access the full plan here. Please note that we will continue to make adjustments as new information becomes available.
We have much more to do to be prepared to open schools to our learners on September 16. This work cannot be accomplished without your continued partnership and engagement. Most immediate is our need to understand which Student Learning Model your child(ren) will engage in and whether or not your child will require transportation for the Fall. We are asking ALL families to please complete the Final Student Commitment Survey and any families who are eligible for bus transportation to complete the Final School Transportation Commitment Survey, linked below, for each child in your household BY AUGUST 19, 2020. This timeline is important as we need this final data to assign students to their cohorts and build our class lists. These are time intensive tasks. Our goal is to communicate to families, your child(ren)’s cohort assignment by the end of August and then set up orientation meetings with families and students.
DUE AUGUST 19: Final Student Commitment Survey
DUE AUGUST 19: Final School Transportation Commitment Survey
Families of children who have been identified for participation in Cohort C (attend school Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) will receive a notification of this recommendation from the building principal by Monday, August 17.
We understand that the decision whether or not to have your child return to school, even two days per week, is a difficult one. Please know that any decision that you make and for whatever reason is a personal decision and one that everyone throughout the district respects. We will do all that we can to ensure that your child(ren) is/are supported in each of the Student Learning Models.
If you would like an opportunity to hear the overall plans for the Virtual School Model, we invite you to join us for a webinar on August 17 at 3:00 p.m. If you were unable to attend the Virtual School Model Webinar you can view a recording here, and the slideshow can be viewed here.
Sincerely,
Armand Pires, Ph.D.
Superintendent of Schools
Please find information here connected with our Fall 2020 Feasibility Study for a full school return that was shared with our community on July 23, 2020.
Below, please find information connected with our Fall 2020 School Reopening Plans.
Community Webinar on Fall 2020 Reopening Recommendation:
On Tuesday, August 11, 2020 at 5:00 p.m., we conducted a webinar with Reopening Recommendations. If you were unable to attend the webinar, a recording can be viewed here.
Grade Span Specific Webinars:
Elementary (PK-4) School Hybrid Model Webinar. If you were unable to attend the webinar, a recording can be viewed here.
Middle School (5-8) Hybrid Model Webinar. If you were unable to attend the webinar, a recording can be viewed here.
High School (9-12) Hybrid Model Webinar. If you were unable to attend the webinar, a recording can be viewed here.
To ensure that you are connected to the latest information and communications associated with our school return planning and decisions, please check back to this site often. Additionally, all families of the Medway Public Schools should be receiving regular email updates from building principals and the superintendent of schools. If you are not receiving regular updates, please email parent@medwayschools.org so that we can ensure that we have accurate information within our system.
Additional information from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education can be found here.
We encourage families to stay in touch with our school leaders with questions and concerns as they arise. These are uncharted waters and we are all learning as we go; please be patient as we navigate this new reality together.
For Information Regarding Online Registration, please visit our Student Registration site.