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Last night our Board of Trustees voted to approve my recommendation to extend our Remote Learning Model for one week, from January 4 through January 8, and return to our Hybrid Learning Model on Monday, January 11.

At the meeting, the Board of Trustees reviewed and discussed the available public health data and Rising Tide’s internal data. The Board of Trustees also discussed the likely travel and gatherings of community members through the holidays, and determined that returning to the Hybrid Learning Model on January 11 will provide a 10-day period after the holidays to enable all school community members to stay vigilant to the health and safety guidelines and monitor symptoms before returning to the building. By extending the Remote Learning Model for one week, we are reducing the potential strain on in-person school operations due to potential increased contact tracing and quarantining.

For the remainder of the Winter Recess, please remember to follow the guidelines that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has established for the holidays, safe travel, and gatherings.

If you have traveled at all during the Winter Recess, please review Governor Baker’s travel order, which requires travelers to complete a travel form, and quarantine for 14 days upon return or OR get a negative COVID test result from a sample obtained 72 hours or less prior to arriving back in Massachusetts or after arriving in Massachusetts. This must be a molecular PCR test.

 

For this school year, Rising Tide has planned for a consistent structure, staffing model, technology platform, and approach to teaching and learning that provides a continuity for learning for each student, regardless of any shifts between a Hybrid Model and Remote Learning Model. This structure enables us to maintain the current synchronous learning schedules for all students in grades 5-12 from January 4 through January 8 in the Remote Learning Model.

In the discussion last night, our Board of Trustees and I emphasized the importance of returning to the Hybrid Learning Model for the well-being and growth of the students, setting Monday, January 11 as the date to return to the Hybrid Learning Model.

Our students, staff members, and families have exemplified a culture of health and safety for our school community, and we have successfully navigated the first several months of school with low numbers of positive COVID-19 cases and no evidence of transmission in school. We look forward to returning to our Hybrid Learning Model on January 11 with confidence in our effective practices in safety as well as teaching and learning.