Haverhill High School students finally know when they will be returning to the classroom.
The Haverhill School Committee and the school administration came to an agreement at last night’s meeting that will have high school seniors returning to full-time, in-person learning on Monday, April 12, while freshman, sophomores and juniors return two weeks later on April 26.
Superintendent Margaret Marotta told the Committee because of the large number of students at the high school, staggering their return is the best course of action.
“We’re having the seniors back on Monday. The assumption is that the vast majority of seniors are going to come, senior year and they’re all going to come. We’re hearing that at the younger grades, more of the kids are likely to be remote, so that would stagger the number of students that would be returning all at once,” she explained.
Marotta noted the 1,800 returning high school students raises overcrowding concerns with three feet of social distancing. Solutions may be some students watching classes remotely from the school library or cafeteria. There are also struggles assigning seats on NRT buses.
The superintendent originally proposed seniors return on April 26 followed by grades 9-11 on April 28. Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr, however, suggested moving up the seniors’ return date, which was approved by a vote of 6-1 with Committee member Toni Sapienza-Donais opposed.
Marotta also announced plans are in the works to bring some form of normalcy for the seniors as they prepare to graduate after a very different year.“ We’re looking at a senior week, safe, socially distanced, some sort of a prom. I don’t know what that looks like yet,” she said.
The superintendent said there will also be a graduation ceremony which will be held at the stadium Friday, June 4.