Methuen school leaders vote to bring kids back to school despite city’s high risk for COVID-19

METHUEN, Mass. — Methuen Public Schools superintendent Dr. Brandi Kwong says it’s time to bring students back into the classroom.

“I do feel strongly about getting kids back into school,” said Dr. Kwong during the school committee meeting Monday night. “I think parents and kids are starting to fall apart completely.”

School leaders voted this week to bring the rest of students, who are still remote, back to a hybrid model starting next week.

“Red doesn’t automatically mean remote here,” said Dr. Kwong.

Even though Methuen is in the red with a high transmission rate for COVID-19, Kwong says that’s not the case for the school community, and now she’s more worried about the mental health of the children at home.

“They want to just see their friends, you know they’re really struggling,” said Dr. Kwong. “So we’re starting to have a lot of families reach out to us about just that struggle.”

Amanda LaFlamme sees the struggle firsthand with her two children in high school.

“If they can get it going and keep these kids and their mental state in a better place, please do,” said LaFlamme.

She says luckily her kids play sports and get to see their friends, but learning remotely just isn’t the same.

“They’re very excited to be back, they’ve been saying all summer, all during COVID, they just will wear a mask all day long they don’t care – they really need the in-person learning,” said LaFlamme. “The remote is good and it’s a lot of work for everybody, but it’s very difficult for them.”

Some parents still worry about the virus when kids go back.

“I believe they should be always remote,” said Martin Gutierrez, who has a son in Methuen Public Schools.

But school leaders say most families in Methuen support in-person learning.

“About 28% of our population is in full remote, has chosen that, so you know 70% of our students, they chose hybrid,” said Dr. Kwong.

Dr. Kwong says safety is the number one priority as they follow the case numbers within the school district.

That’s why only a few grades will go back to school next Monday November 2, and then the rest will return two weeks later.

“It gives us that full quarantine time, kids in school for two weeks to see if there’s any effect,” said Dr. Kwong. “If we have to slow down, we keep going.”

Some younger grades have already been back in school for a hybrid model these last few weeks, and Dr. Kwong says so far, they haven’t had any evidence that COVID-19 is spreading within schools.

If that happens, she says they’re prepared to move back to remote learning.

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