ORANGE — Ralph C. Mahar Regional School has entered its first full week of hybrid learning following a Jan. 14 vote of the School Committee.
The hybrid model took effect Thursday, with half the students attending in-building classes on Thursdays and Fridays and the other 150 going in Mondays and Tuesdays. Wednesdays are all-remote days.
Mahar had been fully remote since the start of the academic year. The school committee had originally opted for a hybrid model but later reconsidered its decision. Families can opt to keep their students home to learn remotely, if they wish. Some special needs students have been allowed in the building for in-person instruction all school year if their parents or guardians decided to send them. The School Committee vote was 5 to 4, with members Patrick Davis, Maryanne Reynolds, Lynn Peredina, Jack Radner and Sunday Lefebvre voted in favor of hybrid while Patricia Smith, Dianne Salcedo, Carla Halpern and Chair Peter Cross voted against the measure. Member Chris Paul was not present at the meeting.
Cross explained surveys of the school committee have indicated half of parents and guardians wanted to adopt a hybrid model, but that amount has dropped to 40 percent since the Jan. 14 vote. He said he voted against going hybrid due to the rate of infection in Orange.
“I felt that … it didn’t look like the rate was going down. It wasn’t the safest thing to do,” he said. “I listened to what the teachers’ union said and, basically, agreed with them.”
Cross said the parents that wanted their students to return to in-person learning were pleased.
Lefebvre said her vote in the affirmative was driven by multiple factors.
“Number 1 is, I did have a lot of parents who really wanted that opportunity for their kids, because they felt their kids’ education and social development were not where it ought to be,” she said Monday. “They knew teachers were doing the best they could doing remote, but it’s not the same.”
Lefebvre also said some students do not have reliable internet connectivity at home and schools throughout Massachusetts have been able to function in a hybrid model during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said some out-of-state schools have their students attending full-time, five days a week.
“I’m cautious, but I believe we can open with that caution, and that’s why I voted yes,” Lefebvre said, adding that she has received only one negative comment since the vote.
Dr. Elizabeth Teahan-Zielinski, in her first year as superintendent of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional and Union 73 school districts, said everyone in the school community is doing their part.
“It’s been calm, cool and collected,” she said, adding that students wear masks and remain physically distanced. “It is always a challenge to teach both remote and in-person students at the same time. But students are doing their thing, teachers are doing their thing. And the teachers are doing a wonderful job, and we’re going to get through this.”
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.