Andover Public School Moves To Remote Learning Beginning December 21

Press release from Andover Public Schools:

December 17, 2020

Dear APS families,

"As a result of the increase in positive cases within the Andover community, operational and staffing challenges and with guidance from the Andover Health Division and our APS Nursing staff, we have made the decision that all schools will move into remote learning effective Monday, December 21, 2020 in order to protect students and staff and to mitigate the threat of transmission.

While at home, students will be able to receive instruction remotely and maintain the emotional connection to the classroom during a time that we know will be challenging for our students and families. Some students participating in cohort C may continue to attend in-person learning; your child’s principal will communicate further details for students in cohort C.

Date

*Schedule

Monday, December 21, 2020

Remote Learning for all schools

Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Remote Learning for all schools

Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Remote Learning for all schools- as scheduled

*Some cohort C students may attend in-person learning during this time as recommended by school principals

*Some cohort C students may attend in-person learning during this time as recommended by school principals

Beginning December 24th, we begin our much needed winter recess.

Remote learning will continue on January 4, 2021 for students in cohorts A & B. Some cohort C students may return to in-person learning beginning January 4, 2021. We anticipate that students in cohorts A & B can return to their buildings the week of Monday, January 11, 2021.

The remote days on either side of school vacation offers us the greatest chance to protect our students and staff from possible in-school transmission. We saw an increase in positive cases following the Thanksgiving holiday break, and by making the decision to move to remote learning following the winter break allows the district an opportunity to reset from potential positive cases that have emerged over the holidays. This will also allow our nursing staff to follow-up as much as possible in the instance that positive cases develop over the winter recess, therefore reducing the risk of transmission in school.

Date

*Schedule

Monday, January 4, 2021

Remote Learning for all schools

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Remote Learning for all schools

Wednesday, January 6, 2021

Remote Learning for all schools- as scheduled

Thursday, January 7, 2021

Remote Learning for all schools

Friday January 8, 2021

Remote Learning for all schools

Monday, January 11, 2021

Cohort A students may return to in-person learning

*Some cohort C students may attend in-person learning during this time as recommended by school principals

*Some cohort C students may attend in-person learning during this time as recommended by school principals

We will be assessing the district’s ability to continue athletics, fine and performing arts programs and extracurricular activities and provide further information in the coming days.

Andover Food Services will continue through these weeks of remote learning, with pick-up at Bancroft Elementary on Wednesdays (except December 30th).

As you know, the town of Andover was designated as a high risk (red) community last week. We ask that you please continue to monitor yourself or your child for symptoms and keep your child home from other activities if they show any symptoms or are not feeling well.

This was a difficult decision to make. Our goals are always to keep our staff and students safe and healthy. While school is in session, our nursing staff has initiated all of the contact tracing to reduce transmission in school as the state funded Contact Tracing Collaborative has experienced significant delays.

We hope that by moving to remote learning until January 11th will allow us the time for contact tracing, maximize in-person learning and avoid future closures. This direction will give us the best opportunity to maintain these priorities and return our students to their classrooms through the months ahead."

Shelley Berman

Superintendent

This press release was produced by the Andover Public Schools. The views expressed are the author's own.