Schools, FATV team up on safety videos
OITESDUrR » During these challenging times due to COVID19, it’s extremely important to stay nimble and flexible, said Fitchburg Public Schools Superintendent Robert Jokela.
Transparency and clear and frequent communication — real time and detailed information — is always the goal of Fitchburg Public Schools.
And thanks to a new and prospering partnership with Fitchburg Access Television, communication from the district to the Fitchburg community is at an all-time high.
While FPS has continually provided frequent updates on its website and social media outlets — Facebook, Twitter and Instagram — the message, during this pandemic, is reaching an even greater audience thanks to the hard work and community-first dedication of the staff at FATV.
“FATV helps the school district connect to all members of the community,” Jokela said. “FATV’s platform has allowed us to increase the frequency of important communications to our families, and highlight our programs and special events, including our high school graduations, and the Junior-Senior Relays this year at Crocker Field.”
Fitchburg Public Schools has worked diligently to have the schools ready for a safe return of staff and eventually students during the pandemic, as it continues to receive and distribute personal protective equipment
and deploy masks and cleaning supplies throughout each and every school.
With the help of FATV, the district has launched informational videos, a “COVID-19 Safety Series” at each school.
“Collaborating with the school department to produce these important safety videos is something FATV felt would be of great value to our community,” said FATV Executive Director Nathan Glenny. “We appreciate this partnership and continually look toward ways to best serve the city of Fitchburg as the local access provider.”
While on camera, principals and administrators take the viewer up close and inside the building to show what safety measures are being put into place, including mandatory masks being worn while inside the schools, what PPE are available to staff and students, what a classroom will look like with proper social distancing between each seat, how foot traffic in the hallways will flow, and the cleaning measures taking place to ensure a safe return of staff and students.
“Visualizations always help to better communicate messages, and in dealing with this pandemic, we’re trying to best convey these safe practices toward a successful restart of in-person learning for our school community,” Glenny said. “These videos, filmed and edited by the FATV staff, will assist students, parents and faculty with these vital protocols put in place by the FPS district.”
These videos are currently available on fatv.org, in both
English and Spanish. The Spanish voiceovers were done by McKay Arts Academy paraprofessional, Luisa Fernandez.
The partnership between FPS and FATV continues to grow and extends all the way into athletics. Be on the lookout for a new program dubbed, “Inside Fitchburg Athletics.”
“We are excited to see where this partnership takes us this
year and well into the future,” said FPS Athletic Director Craig Antocci. “FATV is a tremendous community resource and we thank them for wanting to promote and showcase our studentathletes, teams, programs and coaches.”
FATV is obviously excited with this new partnership with FPS
and bringing quality and informational programming into homes throughout the city.
“FATV is thrilled to be working so closely with the FPS district by utilizing the professional staff on hand at FATV to create relevant content through professionally produced programming,” Glenny said. “With the
start of the fall high school sports season beginning, we would welcome members of our community to become volunteers and help cover these games for all to enjoy.”
Call 978-343- 0834 or email contact@fatv.org for more information on how you can become a member or volunteer with FATV.