Students back in the classroom
North Attleboro kindergartners resume in person
NORTH ATTLEBORO — If the town’s kindergartners are good judges, the return to in-person learning in local schools is a big hit.
Assistant Superintendent Michelle L. McKeon told Tuesday’s virtual meeting of the school committee that she toured the town’s schools Monday, the first day that kindergarten classes returned to full-day classroom instruction after months of hybrid learning.
“I wore my first-real-dayof-school dress,” McKeon quoted one excited little girl as telling her.
Another said, “This is the first day I get to see my friends.”
Tuesday’s meeting was the committee’s second this month as officials try to keep tabs on Superintendent Scott Holcomb’s plan to bring all of the district’s 4,000 public school students back to class four days a week by the end of the month.
The district has been op
erating in hybrid mode since schools reopened in September, with half of the student body learning remotely at any one time with the other half in class.
McKeon said kindergarten teachers had told her it’s easier to have all the students in front of them.
“There are some hurdles to work through,” she said. “Overall, it was a really successful transition. The smiles on the kids’ faces made it all
worth it.”
The district is planning to bring back its middle and high school students fulltime as of next Monday, followed by elementary students the following week.
As the high school prepares to transition, Principal Peter Haviland said, “You can feel the vibe .... It’s almost like the first day of school.”
Schedules at the middle and high school will remain the same for now, officials said, minimizing changing between classes. At both schools preparations are underway to make sure there are safe spaces for students to eat lunch, as well as for those who may need extra time to catch up after more than half a year of remote learning.
Holcomb noted the state wants students in K-5 back in school five days a week by the end of April, “and as a district we have made a commitment to do that.” Not doing so, he noted, could mean the loss of state funding.
Students whose parents want them to continue with fully remote learning, however, will still be able to do so.
“At this point, parents who decide to place their students into a fully-remote learning environment will be able to do so and the hours will count towards time-on learning,” he said in an email following the meeting.
Holcomb said another school board meeting should be scheduled next week as the reopening continues.