By Max Eidelman

Last Thursday, a virtual town hall meeting was convened to address the plan for reopening Somerville’s schools. Mayor Curtatone and several others discussed the progress of the plan by focusing on its components one at a time, ending with a Q&A session.

The common sentiment throughout the town hall was that the safety of students and staff is the priority in creating this plan. The goal is to create a sustainable school-environment where students can find a sense of stability during this pandemic.

Speakers from various departments discussed their respective efforts in contributing to the reopening strategy. December 1 remains the expected date for the phased reopening of schools to begin. In advance of this date, Doug Kress, the Director of Health and Human Services, urged parents to ensure that their children’s healthcare records are up to date with the schools.

Kress also advised how important it is for parents and students to get the flu vaccine as winter and flu season approach. This is advice the whole community should follow. The sustainability of the reopening plan depends on Somerville citizens practicing diligence and adhering to the recommendations for sanitation and hygiene that by now ought to be secondhand nature.

The departments have been developing protocol for the schools to implement routine and readily available COVID-19 testing for students and staff.

Amy Bantham, the CEO and Founder of Move to Live More, explained the details of Somerville’s partnerships with testing providers. One provider, Ginko Bioworks, will provide testing for school staff only. The other provider, the Tufts/Broad/Cataldo partnership, will provide testing for students.

School nurses will help administer the tests and coordinate the communication of test results. These partnerships reflect a fact that the mayor mentioned at the town hall: despite the unfortunate circumstances of this pandemic, we are fortunate to be located in an area with myriad experts who have been able to offer their help.

In addition to testing procedure, the reopening plan depends upon the infrastructure of the buildings. Rich Raiche, the Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management, discussed this topic in detail. The project of equipping the school buildings with the means to sustain student attendance has been underway since June and will continue into 2021.

The team has used metrics to measure buildings’ ventilation and HVAC systems in determining which buildings are eligible for students and staff to return to. There are three groups of buildings that are planned to be opened in phases beginning with Group One on December 1. This group includes the Argenziano, Capuano, and West Somerville buildings. Over the course of December, the plan is to bring ELL levels 1 and 2, Special Education, ECIP, Pre-K and kindergarten students back to the schools in this group. The plan for reopening the buildings in other groups and for other grades is still being developed.

All who spoke at the town hall reiterated the fact that the safety of students and staff remains the priority. The mayor is grateful to the community for practicing “patience and resiliency” as parents, staff, and students continue to contend with remote learning.

It was apparent at the town hall that the departments have been working hard towards creating a competent, long-term strategy as opposed to a plan that ultimately leads to a cycle of opening and closing schools, which other school districts have fallen into.

In spite of the difficulties that the community has dealt with and continues to do so, the town hall demonstrated how citizens have been collaborating to create the safest possible situation for students to return to. As superintendent Mary Skipper said, the Somerville departments “have brought out the best in one another” in their effort to get students back in schools safely.

For more information, the town hall meeting is available to watch on Somerville City TV’s page on YouTube.