Good Morning, Everyone,

I hope all is well.  Here is Winter Hybrid Update 8.  We will be sending out additional information about Pooled Testing later today. Have a great Super Bowl Sunday!

• COVID-19 Information-Here are the COVID-19 cases for this week.
  • Staff-We had 2 staff test positive, one at Birch Meadow (remote, no close contacts) and one at Joshua Eaton (in person, 45 students and 7 staff quarantined)
  • Elementary Students-We had four elementary students test positive, all were remote with no close contacts. (Birch Meadow, Barrows, Eaton, Wood End)
  • Middle School-We had four middle school students test positive, all were remote with no close contacts. (3 Coolidge and 1 Parker)
  • RMHS-We had two RMHS students test positive, one in person (1 student quarantined) and one remote (no close contacts)

• Pooled Testing-This past week, Community Forums were held regarding pooled testing.  Below is the Power Point Presentation for the forums.  A separate email is going out later today explaining this information in more detail.  If you have questions, please contact Director of Nurses Mary Giuliana (mary.giuliana@reading.k12.ma.us) or Superintendent of Schools John Doherty (john.doherty@reading.k12.ma.us)
  • Pooled Testing Power Point Presentation

• Fall 2 Sports Season-On Friday, the Middlesex League Athletic Directors and Superintendents met to discuss the Fall 2 Sports Season.  The tentative schedule for Fall 2 is as follows: 
  • Phase I (Practices/Tryouts) – Starts February 22, 2021

• The fall 2 sports season for practices/tryouts will begin no earlier than February 22, 2021.
• Individual schools will make decisions about the timing for beginning practices/tryouts based upon the local context of each school community up to 4 practices a week for varsity and 3 for sub-varsity teams.
• Over the two weeks of Phase I, schools will assess the effectiveness of sports modifications and cleaning protocols, as  well as the trajectory of the virus, to determine if athletics can proceed to Phase II – Interscholastic Competitions.
•   Phase II (Interscholastic Competitions) – Starts March 6th Volleyball, Girls Swim, Indoor Track March 19 Football, Cheer, and Dance

• Interscholastic competition can start March 6th (Volleyball, Girls Swim, Indoor Track & March 19 Football, Cheer & dance)
• Schedules will be designed, by sport, to match only two communities in a given week.
• Initially, up to two spectators will be permitted to attend any outdoor competitions. This number may be reduced depending on the facility and any other limitations placed on outdoor gatherings by the MA Department of Public Health.

• Snow Day or Remote Day?- I received a few questions regarding this past Tuesday being a snow day instead of a remote day.  Each school district is wrestling with this decision and several surrounding districts did call a snow day last Tuesday.  Here is my rationale:
  • First, we have several students (high needs, preschool, and kindergarten) who are unable to access remote learning because of their disability or developmental age.  Essentially, we would be excluding these students from a day of school.  This is denying them much needed services and learning opportunity.  We also have some employees that would lose a day’s pay if we went remote.  In the past, with a traditional snow day, those days would be moved to the end of June and they would not lose pay.  Unfortunately, now these employees need to be in person to work and would not be able to make up the opportunity because of the remote day.  For this particular snow day, I was also concerned that the forecast called for a noreaster with damaging winds, which could create power outages.  If students and/or teachers did not have power, we could not have a remote day of school and it would have been shifted to a snow day.  Finally, I am still optimistic that we will be in person at the end of the school year.  By having a traditional snow day, it potentially increases our in person days at the end year of the year not only for half the students, but perhaps all of the students.
  • Currently, we have had two snow days, so the last day of school is scheduled for June 21^st.

• SEPAC Meeting- Please join the SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council) at our next business meeting on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 7:00 PM! New business for this meeting includes an update from our reading/literacy subcommittee and a brief presentation by Alice Gomez, School Psychologist, on community resources, followed by a parent discussion regarding the same. Please join us for this presentation and discussion and feel free to share any additional resources that you think other parents may find helpful. All are welcome!  This meeting will be held virtually, via Zoom at the following Meeting link: Join Zoom Meeting

• Doc Wayne Update- Thank you to everyone who joined the Reading Coalition for Prevention & Support and Doc Wayne at an information session earlier this week to learn more about Doc Wayne’s youth therapeutic programs. If you were unable to attend an information session but are still interested in learning more about Doc Wayne’s services, please contact Maggie Yuan, Doc Wayne Program Director, at myuan@docwayne.org. If you have additional questions about adult and youth therapeutic options available to the Reading community please contact Sammy Salkin, Reading Coalition Outreach Coordinator, at ssalkin@ci.reading.ma.us.

• Food Distribution-This is a reminder that we are continuing our popular food distribution for all students and families.  Food distribution days are Wednesday, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. and Fridays from 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. at the bridge at Reading Memorial High School (near the east side of the field house)  Families are given 7 days of breakfast and lunch per child in their family.  No identification is necessary.  Please note that we will not be distributing food during February vacation week.