The Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS) committee tabled a discussion on the modified schedule proposed at the last committee meeting due to the immense impact students have already felt on their learning time.
Part of the proposed modified schedule includes an early release day to provide teachers with collaborative development time at the end of the day.
At a meeting Monday, MVRHS Principal Sara Dingledy said the modified schedule is something she believes in deeply. She said consistent time during the school year for teachers to collaborate is a necessity if the school is to provide the best learning experience possible for students.
But after such a trying school year for kids, Dingledy said any sort of reduced learning time would be difficult for students and families to grapple with. “This year seemed particularly hard to make that kind of modification,” Dingledy said.
She suggested coming back in the spring with another proposal after seeing how everyone adjusts in the upcoming school year. “This is a tough year to sell that to kids, to families, and to the school community,” Dingledy said.
Committee member Skipper Manter said he is concerned that there is significant private discussion being had between school committee members and the principal outside public meetings.
Dingledy said she thinks it’s appropriate to keep the committee apprised of certain plans in advance.
In other business, Dingledy said the tents the high school rented last year were a major investment, and the school used a significant amount of their reopening grant funds.
Originally, officials were looking at not using tents this year, but with the Delta variant making its presence known on the Island, “tents are now back on the table for a number of places,” Dingledy said.
The high school is looking into bids from a number of different tent vendors, and if a bidder is chosen, the school could use Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to pay for the tents.
A decision on whether to approve an out-of-state travel request for the cross-country team scheduled for the fall was approved with the contingency that Superintendent Matt D’Andrea can cancel the travel based on the status of public health at the time.
“The numbers are going up, but we don’t know where we are going to be a month from now,” D’Andrea said. “I don’t think we can make that decision now, in either way, that yes we can go or no we definitely cannot.”