Dedham Schools To Reopen For In-Person Classes Oct. 1
DEDHAM, MA — Dedham Public Schools are getting ready to welcome students back into the classroom — again. The schools initial in-person phased program was delayed before the first week of school was over after a high school party spurred a
The schools plan to follow the previously outlined phased return approach with a two-week delay, making some adjustments for its youngest students in preschool and kindergarten. Some Dedham preschool students are now tentatively scheduled to return in-person to school beginning as early as Oct. 1.
Kindergarten and designated “high needs” students would start coming back to classrooms on Oct. 5, assigned in hybrid or for four days per week schedules. All other Dedham students will begin phasing into a hybrid in-person/remote classroom model in the weeks after.
Kindergarten students will still return in-person using a hybrid approach, which will bring students into classrooms according to designated Cohorts, for two days in-person, three days remote learning. Highest and high needs students will return in-person for four days of learning. All Dedham Schools are closed, with students engaged in remote learning on Wednesdays, while all school facilities undergo deep cleaning measures.
“We were heartened by the conversation by the Dedham Board of Health this evening, as well as the tremendous effort by our educators, to ensure our spaces are safe for in-person student return. We were happy to host a tour of ECEC today for the Dedham Board of Health to showcase the hard work our staff has put in place to create safe, distanced classrooms capable of hosting our students in-person,” stated Superintendent Mike Welch.
The COVID-19 cluster from the party brought Dedham to an elevated risk level, pushing the community into the "red" state designation of high risk. In the past week, the town's level dropped to "yellow" with 22 active cases of the virus in town. Officials are still urging residents to stay vigilant and take advantage of the testing site offered at the Endicott Estate. In the last 14 days, 3,622 tests have been administered.
In response to the drop in designation status, the Board of Health supports the phased in approach to hybrid learning for the Dedham Public School District.
This article originally appeared on the Dedham Patch
