Salem Schools Preparing New Coronavirus-Related Protocols

SALEM, MA — Salem Superintendent of Schools Stephen Zrike plans to unveil a series of recommendations on masks, social distancing and coronavirus testing this week aimed at making sure this school year gets off to as consistent a start as possible after the massive upheaval of the last 18 months.

Zrike told Patch on Wednesday that he met with school, city and health officials after the latest state guidance came out on Friday and was putting together a series of recommendations he plans to reveal and then present to the school committee during its special meeting scheduled for Monday.

Noting the revised state guidance includes "a fair amount of gray area" intended to allow for local district control, Zrike said the hope is that Salem will put in place guidelines that "minimize disruption" for the school year set to begin later this month.

"We want to be educating kids," Zrike told Patch. "Our mission is teaching, learning, instruction. We don't want to be in the position of policing (virus protocols).

"Last year was super, super disruptive. We had people quarantining 10, 14 days. Then you had to follow up with contact tracing with everyone and they were out. That takes away from what we're committed to, which is having a strong, stable and meaningful school year for kids."

Zrike said policies have to be geared toward keeping students in the classroom and avoiding the uncertainty and constant change from the past two academic years.

"Our kids can't afford another year of missing out on experiences, missing out on key learning and all of the things that are part of a traditional school experience,” he said.

The state Department of Elementary Education and Department of Health issued guidance last week that differed from that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommended universal mask-wearing for everyone in K-12 public schools to start the fall regardless of vaccination status.

The state guidance left those decisions up to the districts – stating that it "strongly recommends" those 12 and under should wear masks indoors because they are not yet eligible for the vaccine, and those in grades 7 through 12 — as well as faculty and staff — have the option whether to wear masks or not if they are vaccinated.

Salem Public Schools held a vaccination clinic in June aimed at students and will hold another one at the Saltonstall School on Aug. 7 and Aug. 28 (second Pfizer shot) designed to get eligible students (12 or older) vaccinated before the start of the new school year.

"We clearly want as many students and staff who can get vaccinated to get vaccinated," Zrike said. "Whatever it takes to make sure kids come to school and stay in school.

"I never want to repeat the experience over the past two years."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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