NA School Committee Votes Remote Learning For Fall

Parents get ready the School Committee In North Adams on Tuesday rejected a hybrid school reopening model to vote 3-2 to go full remote.

IBerkshires.com reports that the decision to start school with the remote option was apparently influenced by a letter the School Committee members received from the North Adams Teachers Association expressing concern over re-entering the schools because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Superintendent Barbara Malkas last week had presented a detailed hybrid option, along with in-person and remote, based on data and capabilities of the school system. (Students and teachers who did not want to attend in person would have the option to do remote.)

The superintendent said she has been in close touch with the city's Director of Health Michale Moore on understanding the best ways to provide safe learning. North Adams has a COVID-19 rate of 0.6, well below the 5 percent that had originally been the state goal. That's compared to Georgia at 10.9 and the state of Florida at 17.2.