COVID-19 is still much on the minds of teachers and administrators in the Harvard school system. Superintendent Linda Dwight presented a newly updated set of guidelines at Monday’s School Committee meeting. The guidelines are based on the recommendations from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The guidelines encourage getting vaccinated against COVID-19 and ask families to keep students home and test them for COVID-19 if they have symptoms. Dwight noted that the schools still have about $15,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a testing program if one is needed this year.
As for masks, in most school settings they are recommended but not required, unless a student has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive or is returning after an absence due to COVID-19. Masks are still required in school nurses’ rooms and are recommended for visitors. School Committee member Sharlene Cronin suggested the schools keep a supply of masks in the lobby—as the public library does—for visitors or others who may decide they want to use one.
At lunch times, students can choose whether to sit at a group table or at desks that are distanced from others. Whenever weather and staffing permit, students will have the option to eat outside. Dwight suggested that families might want to discuss these options with students. And parents can still pick up their children at lunchtime by making arrangements in advance with the school principal.
As for field trips and extracurricular activities, the schools are moving back to pre-pandemic offerings, sometimes with some extra precautions.
