Portsmouth school official questions reopening plan’s cost

Portsmouth Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy addresses the School Committee during a Zoom meeting Tuesday night.

What will the schools look like?

During her press conference on Friday, Gov. Gina Raimondo shared some of the possible scenarios for re-opening public schools in the fall.

"In order to put the health and safety of our children first, we’re asking schools to prepare for three reopening scenarios that will range from limited in-person learning to full in-person learning," she wrote in an e-mail. "Each option will have two different sets of requirements — one for elementary and middle schools and one for high schools."

The governor added that even in the full in-person learning scenario, there will be vulnerable students who will need to continue distance learning.

"There will be students who need to quarantine. There will be students with the sniffles who need to stay home," she wrote. "All students deserve the highest quality education we can provide for every one of the 180 days of the school year, regardless whether those days take place in a classroom or at home. That is our commitment to every student."

Full in-person learning

"Full in-person learning, which is what we’re aiming for on Aug. 31, is going to require elementary and middle schools to keep kids in stable groups of 30 or fewer. That means the same 30 kids should be interacting every day — students won’t be able to go from group to group. While we do not be expect that students maintain 6 feet distance at all times within these stable groups, we will always encourage as much physical distance as possible, even within these groups. And any time more than one stable group is in the same space, they will need to keep 14 feet away from each other.

"For our high schools, we’re recommending that students stay in stable groups whenever possible, but we recognize that this will be harder to accomplish. In high schools, students and teachers will need to either keep 6 feet of distance or wear cloth face masks whenever they cannot maintain stable groups."

Partial in-person learning

"If we start to see concerning trends and need to scale back, we’ll move to our second scenario: partial in-person learning. For elementary and middle schools, this will look similar to full in-person learning. For high schools, we’ll have to scale back and will only allow 50 percent of the student body to be in the building at any one time unless stable groups can be maintained at all times."

Limited in-person learning

"If we need to restrict in-person learning even more, we’ll transition to limited-in person learning. This is where we’ll prioritize the populations that benefit the most from in-person learning, like our students with differing abilities and multilingual learners. Group sizes and capacity limits will all go down."

PORTSMOUTH — While school leaders develop a plan on following R.I. Department of Education (RIDE) guidelines to reopen school buildings this fall, at least one School Committee member is wondering how the district will afford it.

RIDE came out with detailed reopening guidelines on Friday (see related story for a rough overview), and each district is expected to develop its own plan to submit to the state by July 17.

Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy told the School Committee Tuesday that the district held its first meeting regarding the reopening plan earlier that day. A 21-member steering committee, representing various stakeholders and demographics in the district, will lead the effort that will seek input from three main school subcommittees, he said.

Mr Kenworthy said he will begin sending out a weekly communication to the entire school district, including staff and families, this Thursday, June 25. By the school board’s next meeting on Aug. 11, the district should have some feedback on its plan from the state, he said.

The committee’s vice-chairman, Frederick Faerber III, said he reviewed RIDE’s reopening guidelines.

“The first thing that occurred to me is, it looks like a very expensive plan,” Mr. Faerber said. “It strikes me that no community in Rhode Island has the resources to comply with that plan.” 

As an example, he said the guidelines seem to encourage the construction of units with plastic shields at the high school level. “There must be a way to do this uniformly throughout the state. If we have to have these materials, the state should be purchasing them,” Mr. Faerber said.

As for school buses, the state is recommending one person per seat, he noted. “How many buses do we have to run to get the (students) home?” he asked.

Mr Kenworthy agreed there will be additional costs for transportation, cleaning and other items. School districts should be receiving more money, he said, through the federal CARES Act coronavirus relief funding program. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed in late March announced more than $115 million in federal funding for Rhode Island education. The district will also have to write for additional federal grants, he said.

Committee member Allen Shers said he was confused by some of the guidelines he’s heard about, especially when it comes to social distancing.

“There are still some things to figure out,” the superintendent replied.

‘Pods’ of 30

However, the sizing of groups and how far apart students must be will differ by setting and age level, he said. For example, elementary and lower middle school students will be together with teachers in groups of about 30 and remain together as a “pod” as much as possible throughout the day, he said. Obviously, that’s harder to do with the higher grades, Mr. Kenworthy said.

The most challenging groups will be gym and band classes, since they involve so many students in one spot, he said.

Committee Chairwoman Emily Copeland said the main goal is to “get the most students back safely in school for the longest period that’s possible.”

However, she challenged administrators to think outside the box. 

“This new reality doesn’t have to go back to the same reality,” she said, noting that outdoor classrooms could be expanded throughout the district. 

Safety is paramount, she said, “but I would hope that within those confines we go above and beyond … and basically elevate education in Portsmouth. It’s a pretty tall order; I get that.”

School calendar OK’d

The committee voted unanimously to approve a school calendar for 2020-21 that adheres to the statewide calendar mandated through Gov. Gina Raimondo’s executive order.

Mr. Kenworthy said the calendar doesn’t differ much from the district’s original. School starts on Aug. 31, 2020, and ends on June 16, 2021. The statewide calendar includes breaks in February and April, the same as in Portsmouth, he added. 

There will be no snow days for any district under the new calendar, which shouldn’t be a problem in light of how students have been learning over the past several months, the superintendent said.

“We’ve certainly proven we have the capability to employ distance learning when needed,” Mr. Kenworthy said.

Upcoming meetings

The School Committee will meet at 7 p.m. on the following Tuesdays: Aug. 11 and Aug 25. Unless the statewide COVID-19 directives change, both meetings will be virtual.

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