Matthew H. Malone, Ph.D., Superintendent
December 22, 2020

Dear Fall River Public Schools Community,

Parents, families, students, faculty, staff, and friends, I wish each and every one of you a healthy, safe, and blessed holiday
season and healthy New Year. Our reopening of schools in the hybrid model has had its challenges, but because of your
efforts, we have risen to the occasion and reopened our schools successfully. Last night, I met with the School Committee
to share my updated reopening plan on what the new year will bring in terms of our return to the full hybrid model from
the modified hybrid we are in now. As a result of the discussion and the data review (presentation posted on
https://www.fallriverschools.ore/ click on tab for "return to full hybrid transition plan"), the School Committee and I are in
agreement regarding the most prudent and thoughtful path forward for our student learning model in January 2021. That
plan is outlined in the following.
As we know from our experience following the Thanksgiving break, as well asfrom predictions made by pandemic experts
and public health professionals, to anticipate apost-Christmas Holiday spike in COVID-19 spread rates. This, coupled with
the current high levels of community spread and positivity rates in Fall River, indicates that a return to full hybrid on
January 4th is not appropriate for us at this time. As such, when school reopens on January 4, 2021, we will remain in the
current modified hybrid posture -serving (in-person) only students in Cohort A, while cohorts B & C/D remain in a remote
learning model. We will remain in the modified hybrid from 1/4/21-1/15/21, as doing so will allow us to monitor the
spread of the virus and manage the proper contact tracing and quarantine of affected individuals. We will return to the full
hybrid model for all grades PreK-8 on Tuesday, January 19, 2021 (the day following the Martin Luther King, Jr.
holiday), serving students in Cohorts A/D in-person while Cohorts B & C remain remote that week. The following
week (beginning Monday, January 25th), we will resume our alternating weeks of in-person learning and will serve Cohorts
A/C in-person, while Cohorts B/D learn remotely.
The 1st semester ends on January 29, 2021, and our Grades 9-12 students at Durfee and RPA will remain in modified
hybrid (in-person for Cohort A, only) until that date. Unlike Grades PreK-8, high school students at Durfee and
RPA will not return to the full hybrid until Monday, February 1, 2021, with Cohorts A/D in-person and Cohorts
B/C remote. At this point, we will be back to the model in which we began the year, serving approximately 3,600 students
in-person, each day. We will maintain our 6-foot distancing guidelines and will adjust to less than 6 feet (meaning more
students can return in-person) as future state guidance suggests and/or as spread rates substantially decrease asa result of
the administration of the vaccine.
To be clear - we will continue to be safe, we will continue to be smart, and we will continue to use the data metrics and our
understanding of virus conditions to adjust our planning. We will be prepared to modify our planned return if the spread
rates do not decline and/or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts makes any changes to their reopening. To summarize, we
will stay in the modified hybrid (in-person for Cohort A, only) until 1/19/21, at which time PreK-8 students will
return to the hybrid model in which we began the year. On Tuesday, January 19, 2021, PreK-8 students in Cohorts
A/D will return to in-person learning (followed by Cohorts A/C the following week). Grades 9-12 will remain in
modified hybrid (in-person for Cohort A, only) until February 1, 2021, at which time we will return to a fully
hybrid model, and we will welcome back for in-person learning all Cohort A/D students in Grades PreK-
12. Alternating weeks of in-person instruction for Cohorts C /D will resume the following week. We will communicate
again in early January but please begin preparing for a return to the full hybrid model as described herein.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you ail,
Cordially,
~a
Matthew H. Malone