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COVID-19 Parent and Student Resources
A Message from the Superintendent
Members of the Haverhill Community:
Today, Governor Baker’s office and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released their initial guidance about reopening schools this fall. We applaud the level of thought and care that went into the development of this guidance, and share its goal of the safe return of as many students as possible to in-person school settings in order to best meet students’ academic, social, and emotional needs.
Over the coming days, we will be reviewing the guidance to begin to understand how it impacts what we can do in Haverhill. We also acknowledge that these initial guidelines do not address every topic and that there will be additional guidance coming throughout the summer. The full document can be found at http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/return-to-school/guidance.docx, but here are some key components:
- Current medical research supports a safe in-person return to school – with preventive measures in place – as infection and transmission rates are lower for children than adults.
- Preventive measures include masks/face coverings, physical distancing, handwashing, and cleaning frequently touched surfaces
- Masks/face coverings will be required for all students in Grade 2 and above and for all adults; they are recommended for students in Grade 1 and below
- Based upon current medical research, and in conjunction with other preventive measures, a minimum physical distance of three feet has been established
Districts will need to develop three separate plans – one for return to full in-person instruction with safety requirements, one for full remote learning, and one for hybrid learning that combines in-person and remote learning. Based upon the current medical situation, the expectation today is that students will return to full in-person instruction in September; however, that is subject to change based upon how the medical situation develops.
We acknowledge that there are likely to be more questions than answers at this time, and we will continue to communicate with you in the coming weeks and months. We also encourage you to read the full document at http://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/return-to-school/guidance.docx, and if you have questions to please send them to our dedicated email address: 2020reopen@haverhill-ps.org
Thank you for your patience and understanding,
Margaret Marotta Superintendent
Recent Updates:
06/04/2020 – HPS Education Update | Week of June 1-5, 2020
05/22/2020 – HPS Education Update | Week of May 25-29, 2020
05/22/2020 – HPS Education Update | Week of May 18-22, 2020
05/19/2020 – HPS District Newsletter for May 2020
05/11/2020 – HPS Video Update | Week of May 11-15
05/11/2020 – HHS Newsletter
05/08/2020 – DESE Letter to Families from Commissioner Riley
05/04/2020 – HPS Video Update
April 2020
04/27/2020 – HPS District April Newsletter
04/03/2020 – Opt-out Form for Electronic ToolsMarch 2020
03/06/2020 – HPS District March Newsletter
HPS District Home Learning:
Click here for resources that can be used for HPS district home learning
Haverhill Community Resources:
Click here for Haverhill Community Resources and Information – updated regularly
March 28 Letter to Families Regarding Remote Learning
This communication was sent to families following the second week of school closure due to COVID-19. Read the full letter here: Letter From the Superintendent – 03-28-2020
HPS Grading Information during COVID closure:
Please follow this link for information on HPS Grading Information during the extended closure
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Related to COVID-19
Haverhill Public Schools and the Haverhill Education Association reached an agreement to “address issues pertaining to the closure of schools caused by the COVID-19 pandemic” as they “agree that the highest priority is to support the motional and physical health of students, parents, and educators.” Read the full document here: MOU Related to COVID-19
Other HPS Information:
Food Support for Students: We have worked with food services to develop essential services for students experiencing food scarcity and food insecurity to have access to food stations (during this closure) that will comply with social isolation expectations but still allow kids to eat. We are committed to providing access to the nutrition our students need during this extended emergency districtwide closure. We will be offering meals for pick up at 4 sites. We will run them daily from 11:00 am. – 1:00 pm beginning Monday March 16. We The locations are:
- Consentino School – 685 Washington Street
- Nettle School – 150 Boardman Street
- YMCA – 81 Winter Street
- Boys and Girls Club – 55 Emerson Street
All children of Haverhill (age 1 – graduation) – regardless of the school attended (HPS, Hillview Montessori, Whittier Vocational Technical, Sacred Heart etc.) will be served. Each child may take a lunch and a grab and go breakfast for the following morning each day. For the most up to date information visit the district website, haverhill-ps.org
In addition, please note Comcast is taking immediate steps to help connect more low-income families to the Internet at home. Effective Monday, March 16, 2020, new Internet Essentials customers will receive two free months of Internet service. After your first two free months expire, you can either cancel the service (which you can do at any time) or keep it as a regular paying Internet Essentials customer. You will receive an easy to use self-install-kit that includes a cable modem (to receive service at your home) with a WiFi router (to connect your devices without wires). There is no term contract or credit check and no shipping fee for equipment. https://www.internetessentials.com/covid19
How to Talk to Children about the Coronavirus
Support for Children in Understanding COVID-19
Talking to Teens/Tweens about Coronavirus
**Here is a pamphlet from the article
A Comic Created from NPR Based on Interviews with Experts
The NASP released a resource for parents:
Please know that we have provided guidance below for residents, families and students, and staff to help in practicing social isolating, monitoring symptoms, and avoiding typical student events and large gatherings during this two-week period. The intent is to isolate and therein calm the spread of the virus. If you do not assist us in this manner, we may be staying out of school for no effective result. This is a public health strategy to reduce community illness, and please take our requests seriously.
Community Health & Prevention: When a new illness is circulating, it’s natural for people to ask what they can do to protect themselves and their families. For our community health actions to be effective, we need all community members to do their part by staying at home as much as possible during the school closure. Our best prevention guidance is:
- Practice social isolation—only leaving home as necessary.
- Avoid large social gatherings.
- Cover coughs/sneezes with tissues, or cough/sneeze into the inner elbow.
- Practice proper hand washing with soap and water, as often as possible. Use warm water, with soap, scrub for 20 seconds, rinse and dry.
- Use alcohol-based hand sanitizers ONLY if soap and water are not available.
What We Know About COVID-19: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) is a strain that is part of a large family of coronaviruses that usually cause mild respiratory illnesses, such as the ‘common cold’. COVID-19 is a disease caused by a new coronavirus that was not previously identified in humans before December 2019.
Quarantine and Isolation: Patients with COVID-19 have had mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath. It can take between 2 to 14 days after a person gets the virus in their body to become (outwardly) ill.
If you think you have been exposed to COVID-19, and develop a fever and symptoms of respiratory illness, such as cough or difficulty breathing, call your healthcare provider immediately. Your healthcare provider can assess whether a test for COVID-19 is required. Depending on your contact and/or travel history, you will be asked to stay home for 14 days from the time you had contact with a positive or presumptive positive person.
During the isolation period, you should not have visitors in the location where you are isolating. If you must share living quarters with another person, then that person will be subject to quarantine as well. As noted above, we are asking students not to congregate and to remain as isolated as possible within their families as they can so assist in slowing the virus spread.
Plan for Parents/Guardians that need to pick up daily medication: We recognize that some families may need to pick up their child’s daily medications to assure consistency in dosing. There will be a school nurse available at your child’s school from 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday if you would like to come in and pick up the daily medication. Many of you have already communicated with your school nurse and made a plan.
We will plan to give you the remainder of this medication, in the event, the dismissal is longer than the two weeks (reminder that we only keep up to 30 days on hand). Please understand that we can only return the medication to a parent/guardian or trusted adult, and will not be handing off medications to children. We ask that you leave “as needed medications” such as Epi-pens, inhalers, etc., for now, if you do not need them currently, so we are sure to have them on hand when school reopens.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your school nurse, or Katie Vozeolas, Director of Health and Nursing Services (kvozeolas@haverhill-ps.org).
Follow-up and Next Steps: This is an unprecedented public health situation that is rapidly changing. We hope that if we all work together, we can reduce the spread of this virus, protect our most vulnerable residents, and resume normal activities shortly.
I thank you all in advance for your patience and cooperation. I thank our community partners for their support in these unprecedented times.
Please follow this link to information on Supportive Home Learning Resources
