Back to school? Kind of ...
Students in Hopkinton, Framingham and elsewhere try to adjust to effects of virus
HOPKINTON — It was a quiet back-to-school scene outside Marathon Elementary School early Wednesday morning.
A bright yellow bus gasped open and a handful of students — barely one-third of its capacity — trickled out. With her aunt, Tuttie Alexander, leading her to the door, 6-year-old Maddie Cohen began her first day of first grade with a face shield in her backpack. When the first bell rang, a small crew of masked teachers came from the entrance, clapping, to greet students.
Allison Griffin embraced her 6-year-old son, Henry, also a first-grader, as father Drew Griffin captured the moment on his phone. Even with the coronavirus pandemic complicating the day, Allison Griffin said typical first-day worries were on her mind.
"It's the normal school stuff: Will he adjust? Will he make friends? Safety is a concern, but in a group of things. We want him to have as much normalcy as possible," she said.
Hopkinton was among more than 70 Massachusetts districts to start school on Wednesday. About 75% of the district has elected for a hybrid model, where students attend school on an every-other-day basis, with the other 25% learning 100% remotely.
Thousands of MetroWest and Greater Milford students have returned to school, though what that looks like varies by community. Locally, the vast majority of schools have opted for a hybrid model. Framingham, Franklin, Mendon-Upton, Millis and Wayland each began remote, with plans to shift into a hybrid model later.
Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School was forced to go remote after some students were found to have held a crowded party on Friday. The plan is to shift to the hybrid model after 14 days.
‘Pretty much like a normal school day’
Before the first day back, Natick High School senior Lincoln Anniballi, 17, worried that the hybrid model would zap the social aspect from school.
He thought the newly one-way hallways, now with red arrows plastered to the floor, would make randomly bumping into friends or teachers unlikely. Between the face coverings and plexiglass dividers, he wondered how he’d be able to catch up with old classmates or meet new ones.
On Wednesday afternoon, he was pleased to say he was wrong.
“It was completely the opposite of how I thought it was going to be,” Anniballi said. “The day went pretty much like a normal school day, besides social distancing and masks.”
A member of Cohort A, he started with in-person learning. His day began at 8 a.m. and ended at 12:20 p.m., when students were dismissed. At that point, the at-home Cohort B students logged on and began their remote classes.
The schedule means students do not eat lunch at school, though they have the option of grabbing a bagged lunch to go.
Anniballi had four classes on Wednesday, each one beginning with an orientation on COVID-19 precautions. Students learned about face masks, social distancing and cleanliness. Desks were separated by 6 feet of distance and divided with sheets of plexiglass.
During free periods, students were asked to record where they planned to be in an online form. It’s meant to help with contact tracing should there be an outbreak, said Anniballi.
In the middle of the day, he and others took a 15-minute mask break. They spread out across the softball field or under a tent in front of the school and removed their masks.
“It was a good moment. You got to see everyone’s face,” said Anniballi. “The mask personally doesn’t bother me too much but it was a good time to take a breather and have a mental pause, see your friends and have an actual human connection.”
Next week, Anniballi will learn remotely.
“It’s going to be a little upsetting to not be in school,” he said of the upcoming switch. “But it’s just something to look forward to for next week.”
Hiccups with remote learning
Andrea Feder was blunt when asked how remote learning went for her family.
"It's gone horribly, everything was awful," said Feder.
Nine-year-old Daniel, her grandson who lives with her, is a third-grader at Dunning Elementary School in Framingham, and has autism. Along with the rest of the district, he started all remote classes on Wednesday.
Technology problems snarled the first day, said Feder.
"They could hear him, but he couldn't hear them," said Feder.
The district plans to have children with the highest needs, including Daniel, begin in-person learning on Oct. 5. Those with high needs would begin on Oct. 26, though plans could change. Health and school officials will evaluate whether to begin the hybrid model for the rest of the student body at designated dates throughout the year. The first evaluation will be on Oct. 19, with the implementation date being Nov. 5.
Feder said it can't come soon enough.
"He has a very hard time doing it. It's not going well, he regressed a lot," said Feder. "He needs to be back."
For Framingham High School senior Anderson Cardona, the trouble began on Tuesday night.
Cardona, 17, tried to set up his district-issued Chromebook in anticipation of his first day of remote learning. But he could not access the video conferencing website Zoom. He said he spoke with friends who reported the same problem.
"It just didn't work," said Cardona. "The Zoom thing is blocked."
In a Tweet, the district said middle and high school students will need to select 'continue with browser' while accessing Zoom. Students and families can seek technology help on the district's website or by emailing the help desk at helpdesk@framingham.k12.ma.us.
He switched to his personal laptop instead. On Wednesday morning, his brother Jeremy, a second-grader at Barbieri Elementary School, did his remote learning from his uncle's home to not overwhelm the family's WiFi.
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Cardona's day started with a work study period but he did not realize when it ended. An email with a Zoom link appeared in his inbox right before his second class, creative writing, was set to begin. He joined just in time for a round of introductions.
But the class was cut short, said Cardona.
"They ended up telling us that wasn't the actual schedule," said Cardona. "There was another schedule that a lot of people didn't receive."
Next up was Advanced Placement Spanish Language and Culture, which he had originally thought began around 12:30 p.m. It actually started 15 minutes later, but his schedule did not account for his lunch period, meaning the start times for his classes were scrambled. He later emailed his counselor requesting the updated document.
Cardona said he had some mixed feelings about the school year ahead. The previous class of seniors missed out on prom and other rites of passage, he said, but it’s nothing compared to what his classmates will experience.
“It’s a bummer we can’t go to school and have a normal school year,” said Cardona. “We’re probably going to do school online for the rest of the year, I’m assuming. We don’t know when COVID-19 will end.”
One plus of remote learning: He spent his first day of school in shorts and a sweater.
“For the first day back to school, people would always try to dress up nice but now we're doing it virtually," he said. "We're just looking at your faces, it doesn't matter what you wear.”
Zane Razzaq writes about education. Reach her at 508-626-3919 or zrazzaq@wickedlocal.com. Follow her on Twitter @zanerazz.
