Good Afternoon Everyone,
I hope that this email finds you and yours happy, healthy, and enjoying these final days of summer. It is hard to believe that we will be starting a new school year in just a couple of weeks! We look forward to seeing everyone back at school again soon!
I am writing because, unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic is still with us; and I want to inform you of precautions we are taking to ensure student and staff safety this fall. After the past 18+ months, everyone was hoping to leave pandemic-related health and safety measures behind us and return to pre-pandemic normalcy. We will get there…
Earlier today, the Commissioner of Education Jeffrey C Riley indicated that as a pre-emptive health and safety measure, he will ask the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education in Massachusetts to return all schools to indoor mask wearing through October 1st, 2021. Should the Board of Education vote in support of his request, effective the first day of school, all students, staff, and visitors — regardless of vaccination status — have to wear masks indoors while in any Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District facility and on school transportation vehicles. Between now and first day of school, we are strongly recommending the wearing of masks while indoors and will have masks available for students, staff, and visitors, particularly our staff who will be joining us in the building and assembling for our start-of-school year professional days.
Face-masks are not required when outside, nor while eating and drinking.
Please see the Back-to-School FAQs document to learn more about how we intend to implement the current guidelines. As we learned last year, the guidance from the Department of Public Health and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education pivots often; and our team of professionals here in the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District will be sure to communicate changes along the way.
The COVID-19 pandemic will continue to challenge us in many ways, but the health and safety of our students and staff has been and remains our number one priority. Safety measures such as masking, hand sanitizing and frequent hand washing will help ensure that we educate our children in person and without interruption this year, and we are confident that the coming year will be a marked improvement on the challenges of the past, based on what we have learned. I look forward to welcoming you back soon, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer! As always, thank you for your continued partnership and support of the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District! #Innovate #Inspire #Achieve
Sincerely Yours,
Paul S Haughey, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools