Bedford Schools and Shawsheen Tech Post Academic Plans

August 14, 2020

The Bedford Public Schools are on target to begin a “hybrid” academic year, with a remote component, on Sept. 16.

However, Shawsheen Valley Regional Technical High School, which includes Bedford students, has switched to full remote classroom learning to start the school year, responding to feedback from teachers.

Both districts reported developments in letters to school households on Friday.

Bedford Superintendent of Schools Philip Conrad wrote that nearly 80 percent of families completed the recent enrollment and transportation survey, and four-fifths of them “intend to send their students back to school in the hybrid model.” The remainder prefer full-remote learning, called Bedford for Bedford (B4B).

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The latest reopening plan, which was sent to the state education department today, “outlines the hybrid model and begins to outline the B4B remote model, which is still under development,” Conrad wrote, noting that both were approved by the Bedford School Committee on Aug. 5.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bradford L. Jackson, Shawsheen superintendent-director, wrote to parents that “when our original plan was shared with the School Committee, I was clear that my number one concern was whether or not we’d have an adequate number of staff to pull it off.  Unfortunately, those concerns turned out to be well-founded.”

But this week, “a large number of academic teachers reported that they could not be physically present in school, either because of documented medical issues or because of the specifics of the hybrid plan chosen by the district where their elementary-aged children attend school. This would leave us with a critical shortage.”

Under the updated version, Shawsheen students will be attending school on a one-week-on, one-week-off model, physically present for the shop week, and participating in remote learning for the academic week.   “Students who are identified as high needs will still have the option to attend in-person during the academic week,” Jackson wrote.

Similar consideration is built into the Bedford schools’ reopening plans.

“We have been planning for our students who need additional support, our Cohort C group.  “This select group of students will be invited to school four days each week based on their specialized educational needs,” Conrad wrote.

He acknowledged that there are space limitations, especially since capacity has been compromised by distancing requirements. So the first cohort “will be limited at first to students in special education programs, particularly English Language learners, and students who are homeless or in foster care.  At some point, we hope to add to this cohort, but to start this group will be limited to select students only.

He also encouraged any student households to contact the schools’ technology department if there are Internet connectivity issues. “We’d like to make sure that everyone starts the school year connected to the Internet.”

Conrad also thanked everyone who has shared articles, letters, opinion pieces, and studies. “Each is a helpful piece of information and helps inform our decision making in this unprecedented time.”

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