Good Morning, Reading Public School Community,

I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weekend.  Below is Spring In Person Update #5.

• Please sign up for pooled testing-As we transition to full in person learning, we are asking all staff and students to participate in the pool testing program.  This is an additional mitigation step that is critical to maintain a safe and healthy classroom environment.  Here is the link to give consent  https://bit.ly/3oXiiSa.  If families who are currently in pool testing want to remove their consent, please contact Julian Carr at Julian.Carr@reading.k12.ma.us.  Please note that any changes in consent made over the weekend may not be able to be addressed until the following week.

• This week’s health data-Here is this week’s health data:
  1. Birch Meadow remote student tested positive.  There were no in school contacts, but 7 outside student contacts.
  2. Wood End student tested positive with no in school contacts.
  3. 2  Coolidge students tested positive, 1 in person, 11 students quarantined, 1 remote with no in school contacts.
  4. 1 Joshua Eaton student in person tested positive, 18 students quarantined.
  5. 2 Parker students tested positive, 1 remote with no in person contacts and 1  in person resulting in 12 students quarantined.
  6. 1 Killam student tested positive,  in person resulting in 17 students 1 teacher quarantined.

• Pool Testing Results
  1. 1 positive RMHS pool, positive individual identified no contact tracing required because the person had previously tested positive within 90 days.
  2. 1 Inconclusive Killam pool, positive individual identified with antigen testing, class (17 students 1 teacher) quarantined.
  3. Totals this week
     1. 212 pools, 1 positive (previously + individual, no contact tracing)
     2. 1 inconclusive, identified +, 17 students 1 staff quarantined.
  4. Total overall testing: 1012 pools, 11 positive pools, 3 inconclusive pools with positive reflex results

• Updates on RMHS Principal Search-This week we will be finalizing our RMHS Principal Search by attending site visits of all three finalists and then having one final interview with each candidate.  A decision on the next Principal of RMHS will be made by this Friday.

• Updates on Assistant Superintendent for Learning and Teaching Search-The Screening Committee has been chose for the Assistant Superintendent for Learning and Teaching and they have had their first meeting.  There will be a follow up meeting to design the questions prior to the interviews.  The deadline for applications for this search is April 23, 2021.

• Updates on Birch Meadow Principal Search-We are in the process for choosing the Screening Committee for the Birch Meadow Principal Search.  Those who applied for the screening committee will be notified early this week.  Interviews will begin after April Vacation.

• Updates on METCO Director Search-We are in the process for choosing the Screening Committee for the METCO Director Search.  Interviews will begin after April vacation.

• SEPAC Meeting on Tuesday- Please join the SEPAC (Special Education Parent Advisory Council) at our next business meeting on Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 7:00 PM! New business to be discussed includes a presentation by Team Chair, Kelly DiCato, on the DESE Resource Guide to the MA Curriculum Frameworks for Students with Disabilities, followed by caregiver comments/questions; also a parent prepared presentation on local/regional community resources providing family education/advocacy, recreational opportunities, and summer camps, followed by a parent discussion regarding the same; and other items.  Please join us for these presentations and discussions 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

Have a great rest of the weekend!

FREE MEALS FOR STUDENTS BOTH IN AND OUT OF SCHOOL!

Through the extension of the Seamless Summer Meal program, started in response to COVID-19, we are able to offer all Reading Public School Children FREE meals until the end of June.

What this means for your family–

–  Your school-age children will receive a healthy breakfast (at Coolidge, Parker and RMHS only,) and lunch every school day, at no cost, in a safe and welcoming environment. This applies to students who are attending classes in school. 

–  Our other option for FREE meals for children, ages 0-21, in your home is meal distribution.  This may include remote learners, participating in a hybrid learning mode, or any other children in your home.  These meals will provide breakfast and lunch for each day, including weekends, at the bridge of Reading Memorial High School on Wednesdays from 2:30 – 3:30 pm or Friday from 11:00 am – 12:00 noon.

Your family may participate in BOTH options.  Students can eat at school and receive Meal Distribution for the remote days and weekend meals that your family is entitled to.

This program allows Reading School District to provide the most nourishing and appetizing meals possible for your children. When your children eat school meals, it helps the school system by providing federal funds to the district. The more meals we serve, the more funding we receive, allowing us to focus on providing wonderful, nutritious meals for your family. If your children have never participated in school meals, consider trying the program this year!

If you have any questions please contact Danielle Collins, School Nutrition Director, at Danielle.Collins@Reading.k12.ma.us or 781-670-2822

Good Morning, Reading Public School Community,

I hope you are doing well and enjoying this weekend.  Happy Easter to those families that celebrate Easter.

Here is our Spring In Person Update #4.

• We are getting there…Please be patient and continue to remain vigilant–We are all sensing it, we are getting closer to normalcy, but we are all experiencing pandemic fatigue.  Please continue to remain vigilant in all of mitigation steps.  If you are fully vaccinated, you must continue to wear a mask in the Reading Public Schools.  Thank you in advance for your support.

• Information from our nurses– We are looking forward to having more students back in the building this month. We ask your continued support in keeping all of our students and staff healthy and safe while at school. There has recently been an uptick in cases in Reading and in Massachusetts, and we know that COVID variants have been found locally. Please remember to review the health screening and screen your children for any symptoms before coming to school. 

Remind your children to wear masks properly and supply them with extra masks if needed. 

Finally, as April vacation approaches, we ask you to follow the MA travel advisory.

• Elementary Students return full in person on Monday–Our elementary students will be returning full in person for the first time since March 13, 2020.  A special thanks goes out to our teachers, staff, Principals, Directors, and Central Office Staff for their amazing work in preparing for Monday.  Some normalcy is starting to return to our lives!

• Middle and High School Students return full in person on April 26^th–We are busily preparing for our middle and high school students to return full in person on April 26^th.  Your building principals will be sending out further reopening information as we get closer to the day.

• Cafeteria and Snack Health and Safety Guidelines–Please impress upon children the following health and safety measures in the cafeteria for lunch and the classroom room for snack:

• If at all possible, please keep students in their same classroom cohorts for lunch. 
• Even though we have plexiglass shields in the cafeteria, we need to keep students as socially distant apart as possible. 
• When students are not eating, they need to have their masks on.
• Snacks should be eaten outdoors as much as possible.  Students need to stay 6 feet apart if they are having snack indoors.  Masks should be on when they are not eating snack.

•   Positive Cases for This Week–Below are the positive cases from this past week.

• 1 Parker student who was remote, no close contacts.
• 2 RMHS students who were remote, no close contacts.
• 1 District staff member who was in person, there were no close contacts.  The positive case was detected during pooled testing.
• 2 Wood End students who were in person.  As a result, 36 students and 8 staff have been quarantined.  These cases were detected during pooled testing.

• Pooled Testing–We are pleased to announce that DESE has agreed to fund the pooled testing for the remainder of the school year through a federal grant program.  Below are the latest updates

• Total pooled tests this week: 155, 2 pools were positive, and 1 was inconclusive which resulted in a positive on a PCR retest. 
• Total pooled tests since February 22^nd: 798 pools tested 10 positive, 2 inconclusive.

As we transition to full in person learning, we are asking all staff and students to participate in the pool testing program.  This is an additional mitigation step that is critical to maintain a safe and healthy classroom environment.  Here is the link to give consent  https://bit.ly/3oXiiSa.  If families who are currently in pool testing want to remove their consent, please contact Julian Carr at Julian.Carr@reading.k12.ma.us.  Please note that any changes in consent made over the weekend may not be able to be addressed until the following week.

• Allergy Symptoms versus COVID Symptoms–As we enter allergy season, we wanted to inform parents and staff of the differences between allergy symptoms and COVID symptoms.  Below is a diagram from CDC which shows the similarities and differences.

• Updates on Travel and COVID–There have been some changes in the CDC and Commonwealth of Massachusetts COVID recommendations.  Below are two links that help you with this information.  The first link is an FAQ that was developed by our school nurses for staff and families.  The second link is travel information from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.  Please note that remote learning via livestreaming may not available for those students who are quarantining due to travel. 

FAQs for Reading Staff and Families

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Travel Information

Good Afternoon, Reading Public School Community,

On Monday, April 5th, we will hold an open microphone for the community for the RMHS Principal Finalists on Zoom.  The link is below:

https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/82774063242

The times for each candidate are as follows:

6:00 p.m.       Stephen Sierpina, Principal, Windham High School, Windham, N.H.

6:35 p.m.       Kevin Tracey, Principal, John Glenn Middle School, Bedford, MA.

7:10 p.m.       Sara Yuen, High School Principal, Phoenix Charter Academy, Boston, MA

The community will have an opportunity during each 30 minute forum to ask questions of the candidate.  In addition, community members may give feedback on the google form below.  This form will be opened on Monday.

https://forms.gle/Xur3bZqjNRZo1Gry8

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Superintendent of Schools John Doherty at john.doherty@reading.k12.ma.us.

Thanks and have a great day!

John Doherty

Superintendent

Reading Public Schools

Good Afternoon, Reading Public School Community,

There will be a meeting of the Reading School Committee this evening at 7:00 p.m. on Microsoft Teams.  If you have a public comment, please use the live chat version on Teams.  Emails during the meeting will be put in the next School Committee packet.  The link for the meeting is below and the packet, which was posted yesterday is attached.

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZmI0NmJhN2EtOTg5OS00NmUyLWFhMTctOWYxNzJlNTU0ZWU4%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226b81bca4-cd59-4341-a904-ea2ff758fe2a%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%222531492d-d04e-4fd5-be5b-3d8d1db00fbb%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d

Thanks!

Good Afternoon, Reading Public School Community,

We are pleased to announce that we have three finalists for the position of Reading Memorial High School Principal.  The finalists are as follows:

1. Stephen Sierpina, Principal, Windham High School, Windham, N.H.
2. Kevin Tracey, Principal, John Glenn Middle School, Bedford, MA.
3. Sara Yuen, High School Principal, Phoenix Charter Academy, Boston, MA.

Their resumes are attached to this email. 

There will be a virtual community open microphone session on Monday, April 5^th, beginning at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom.  Links will go out later this week for the community sessions.

I would like to thank the two screening committees of staff, administrators, parents, and students who participated in the process. 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Reading Public Schools Administration Offices at 781-944-5800.

John Doherty

Superintendent

Reading Public Schools

Good Morning,

There will be a meeting of the Reading School Committee this evening at 7:00 p.m. on Microsoft Teams.  The link is below.  If you would like to give public comment during the meeting, please use the live chat feature on Teams.  Emails sent during the School Committee meeting will be included in the next packet.

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NmQwMjc5MmQtZTVmNS00YWQyLWFkMzYtZWMxOGY4OThiNWEx%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226b81bca4-cd59-4341-a904-ea2ff758fe2a%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%226ba7ff3f-8843-4420-abef-cb31933a3bf1%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d&btype=a&role=a

The packet for the meeting, which was posted on Friday, is included as well.

Thanks.

John Doherty

Superintendent

Reading Public Schools

82 Oakland Road

Reading, Massachusetts 01867

781-944-5800

John.doherty@reading.k12.ma.us

Good Evening, Reading Public School Staff and Community,

I have a few updates on the items that I reported out earlier today in Spring In Person Update 3.  The updates are highlighted in yellow.

I apologize for the confusion that this may have caused.

1. COVID Cases This Week-This week we had some positive pools from our Monday pooled testing program.  All other pools this week were negative.  Here are the positive results of our pooled testing on Monday:
   1. 1 positive pool at Birch Meadow, reflex testing identified individual. One staff and fourteen students quarantined (three of the students rode a bus with the student).
   2. 1 positive pool at RISE. One was the class of the sibling of the Birch Meadow student. that student was symptomatic and presumed positive, all others in the pool antigen tested negative. 2 staff and 12 students were quarantined.
   3. 1 positive pool RMHS/RISE, positive individual (district staff)  identified. One staff quarantined.
   4. Total positive cases so far this week all close contacts have been notified.
      • 3 RMHS students, 2 remote, 1 in person.  1 staff member was quarantined as a result of the in person exposure.
      • 1 Parker student, in person.  12 students and 1 staff member were quarantined.
      • 2 Coolidge remote students.  No close contacts.
      • 2 Birch Meadow students, 1 remote 1 in person.  One staff and fourteen students quarantined.
      • 1 Barrows remote, no close contacts.
      • 1 RISE in person.  2 staff and 12 students quarantined.
      • 1 Wood End student remote.  No close contacts.
      • 1 RISE student remote.  No close contacts.

Good Morning, Reading Public School Staff and Community,

I hope that you are enjoying this beautiful weekend.  Here is our third spring, reopening update.

1. Returning to School in Person-The Reading Public Schools has been busily preparing for our return to full in person learning.  We are on track to a full return for all of our students.  Elementary students will be returning full in person on Monday, April 5^th and middle and high students will be returning full in person on April 26^th.  Building principals will be providing more information in their newsletters.

2. Please continue all mitigation steps- Kristine Harris, our public health nurse for the Town of Reading, reported the following “I was contacted by Dr. Catherine Brown from DPH today to inform the Reading Health Department of the UK COVID variant B.1.1.7. in our community.”  Dr. Brown continued that it is critically important that we all continue all of the Covid preventive measures (distancing and masking) so as to prevent these variants, or any other mutations, from taking hold and creating their own outbreaks.  Variant B117 seems to be covered by vaccines, but Variants B1135 and P1 are not. And all three are present in MA.

3. Mask Wearing In Effect Until Further Notice-We wanted to remind all staff and students that mask wearing continues to be in effect for the foreseeable future, at least until the end of the school year.  Even though more and more staff are getting vaccinated, masks protect those who have not been vaccinated because vaccinated individuals can still carry the virus and transmit it to others.  The only time that staff are allowed to not wear masks is when they are alone in their classroom, at lunch with proper physical distancing, or office setting or on a mask break outside.  Students can have their masks off at lunch (with proper physical distancing) or outside on a mask break.

4. Windows and classroom doors-As we enter warmer weather, please open your windows and keep your classroom doors open to improve air flow.  This is an additional mitigation step to keep our students and staff safe.

5. COVID Cases This Week-This week we had some positive pools from our Monday pooled testing program.  All other pools this week were negative.  Here are the positive results of our pooled testing on Monday:

• 1 positive pool at Birch Meadow, reflex testing identified individual. One staff and fourteen students quarantined (three of the students rode a bus with the student).
• 1 positive pool at RISE. One was the class of the sibling of the Birch student. that student was symptomatic and presumed positive, all others in the pool antigen tested negative. 2 staff and students quarantined.

• 1 positive pool RMHS/RISE, positive individual (district staff)  identified. One staff quarantined.
• Total positive cases so far this week all close contacts have been notified.
  • 3 RMHS students, 2 remote, 1 in person.  No close contacts.
  • 1 Parker student, in person.  No close contacts.
  • 2 Coolidge remote students.  No close contacts.
  • 2 Birch Meadow students, 1 remote 1 in person.  One staff and fourteen students quarantined.
  • 1 Barrows remote, no close contacts.
  • 1 RISE in person.  2 staff and students quarantined.
  • 1 Wood End student remote.  No close contacts.
  • 1 RISE student remote.  No close contacts.

6. Pooled Testing-  As we transition to full in person learning, we are asking all staff and students to participate in the pool testing program.  This is an additional mitigation step that is critical to maintain a safe and healthy classroom environment.  Here is the link to give consent.  https://bit.ly/3oXiiSa.  If families who are currently in pool testing want to remove their consent, please contact Julian Carr at Julian.Carr@reading.k12.ma.us.  Please note that any changes in consent made over the weekend may not be able to be addressed until the following week.

7. Parent Training-Behavioral Health Coach Lauren Sabella will be presenting a parent training (see flier) on returning back to school.  This training is on Monday, March 29^th, from 4:00-5:00 p.m. on Zoom.  The zoom link for the presentation can be found here.  

John Doherty

Superintendent

Reading Public Schools

82 Oakland Road

Reading, Massachusetts 01867

781-944-5800

John.doherty@reading.k12.ma.us

Good Afternoon, Reading Public School Staff and Community,

I hope that you are enjoying the beautiful weekend.  Here is Spring In Person Update 2.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

1. COVID-19 Information-This week, we have seen an increase in student cases and quarantines.  All close contacts have been notified and quarantining has begun for those students and staff impacted.
   • 2 positive RMHS remote, no close contacts or students quarantined
   • 1 positive RMHS in person from the girls swim team, resulting in 13 students on the team quarantined.
   • 2 positive Coolidge students from pooled testing, both in person, 22 students quarantined.
   • 3 positive cases at Parker, 2 remote, 1 in person (sports contact of Coolidge cases)
   • 4 positive Killam students, 2 in person and 2 remote, resulting in 20 students quarantined.  This was an in school transmission.
   • 3 Birch students remote, no close contacts.

2. Return to In Person School-I have attached, for your information, the presentation that I made at the School Committee meeting and the forums on returning back to school in person.  Elementary students will be returning back to school full in person on Monday, April 5^th and Middle and High School students will be returning back full in person on Monday, April 26^th.  Your child’s building principal will be communicating additional information as we get closer to those dates.

3. SEPAC/Reading Public Schools Event on March 23^rd at 7:00 p.m.-The Reading Public Schools and the Reading SEPAC will be hosting the first of several workshops on reading in Reading trainings on Tuesday, March 23^rd at 7:00 p.m. at the Zoom link below.  The flier for the training is attached.

Join Zoom Meeting
Phone one-tap:	US: +13126266799,,87037078496# or +16465588656,,87037078496#
Meeting URL:	https://readingpsma.zoom.us/j/87037078496
Meeting ID:	870 3707 8496

4. Pooled Testing-Below is the current data for our pooled testing program.  As we transition to full in person learning, we are asking all staff and students to participate in the pool testing program.  This is an additional mitigation step that is critical to maintain a safe and healthy classroom environment.  Here is the link to give consent.  https://bit.ly/3oXiiSa.  If families who are currently in pool testing want to remove their consent, please contact Julian Carr at Julian.Carr@reading.k12.ma.us.  Please note that any changes in consent made over the weekend may not be able to be addressed until the following week.

7. Food Service Employees Needed-As we transition back to in person, our food service department is in need of food service employees to serve and prepare lunches for our students.  If you are interested, please contact Director of School Nutrition Danielle Collins at Danielle.Collins@reading.k12.ma.us.