Salem Schools Taking 'Every Step' To Keep Classrooms Open

SALEM, MA — Salem Superintendent Steve Zrike said the district is taking "every step we can" to preserve in-person schooling as districts across the state face coronavirus-related staff shortages coming out of the holiday break amid the omicron spike.

Zrike reiterated that the state has determined "remote is not an option" during a Facebook Live session with the school community and that while individual classrooms might be sent into quarantine because of multiple positive cases, rolling school- or district-wide shifts to remote learning are not allowed.

"We believe strongly that kids need to be in school," he said. "We think students lost a lot by being out of school during the pandemic and we're going to take every step we can to have in-person school. But, as a district, we have a responsibility to keep everyone as healthy and safe as we can.

"If there needs to be a dramatic shift in what we do, we'll do that. We'll follow what science tells us and what our experts in the field tell us."

(Also Read: Gov. Baker Praises Salem's 'Terrific Job' On Keeping Schools Open)

Some schools across the state have closed for extra days this week so teachers and students can be tested out of the holiday vacation. But unless a state waiver is granted, those days must be made up at the end of the year to fulfill the 180-day requirement.

"This is a very clear requirement from the Department of Education that there is no substitute for in-person learning," Zrike said.

The Facebook Live session included School Committee member and Salem State professor Dr. Kristin Pangallo and Dr. Larissa Lucas of Salem Hospital to answer questions about masks, testing and school policies.

Pangallo said the district-recommended KN95 or N95 masks are better for students because they will attract droplets as opposed to letting them escape like a regular cloth mask might. If families cannot find or afford the higher-grade masks — the district has provided them to staff and is working on securing them for distribution to students — they should consider wearing the blue surgical masks — which are available at all schools — under the cloth mask for additional protection.

She added that the rapid antigen tests are actually the best way to find out whether students are safe to go to school because they stay positive only when someone is infectious, as opposed to the PCR test that is better at detecting low levels of the virus, but can return positive results for weeks after symptoms have subsided and people are no longer contagious.

She encouraged families to "opt-in" to the school testing programs to help keep students in school.

She added that students and families will continue to be supported if a particular student or classroom is cleared by the state to go to remote learning, but stated "the most important thing you can do right now to avoid having to quarantine is to get vaccinated."

Zrike said additional efforts will be made district-wide to push vaccinations for students in the coming weeks and to convince the parents or guardians of students who want to be vaccinated to allow them to do so. He said the district will consider a vaccination mandate for all students once the vaccines clear emergency-use authorization.

"We're going to start making calls in the next couple of weeks to any family who has a child who our records show is not vaccinated," Zrike said. "We're going to try to connect them to vaccination clinics that will be hosted in the community and hopefully in each school.

"Even though a child may want to be vaccinated it requires parental consent. We have many students who tell us they want to be vaccinated and either their family is not supportive of that or their parent has not brought the permission back to school."

He said rules against wearing hoods and hats will be relaxed as windows remain open in classrooms during the colder months and that outdoor lunches remain recommended.

(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.)

More Patch Coverage: 'School Is Safe': Gov. Baker Says Remote Learning Not An Option

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