Yesterday, Weston Public Schools Superintendent Midge Connolly sent an email to all public school parents about plans for the school year. According to Dr. Connolly, the overarching goal of the administration is to “safely open schools in the fall for the full 180 days.” This, as stated in the communication, would be the first time in three years that a full 180-day in-person school year would be achieved–the 2019-2020 school year was interrupted in March of last year, and the 2020-21 school year was, to editorialize, a s***-show. Yes, you still have time to subscribe to the Town Crier if you’re not fond of curse words.

The communication goes on to outline many of the plans and protections the schools already have in place. The following bullet points are taken in their entirety, and not at all edited, from Dr. Connolly’s message:

The following protocols will be in place:

• Robust testing strategy that includes both on-demand symptomatic testing and screenings
• Three-foot distance in school while indoors
• Weekly deep cleaning and more frequent cleaning of high touch surfaces
• Outdoor lunch and recess when weather permits
• Outdoor learning when appropriate and possible
• All HVAC updates that were put in place last year will remain, including Merv 13 or above filters and HEPA air purifiers in classrooms and offices spaces
• Hand sanitizer stations outside of classrooms and frequent handwashing protocols
• Faculty, staff, and students staying home when they are not feeling well
• Large gatherings outdoors when appropriate and possible

In addition, Dr. Connolly wrote about how Weston kicks *ss (not her exact words). As a town, we have one of the highest vaccination rates in the state (don’t even get me started on us versus a large part of the rest of the country). And as a school system, the Wildcats rule; there was zero school spread in Weston last year. Dr. Connolly attributes this to the dedicated efforts of students, faculty, staff, administration and families (her order was different: I am biased) through wearing masks and the testing of employees and students.

At this stage of the summer, the school administration is working through all of the guidelines by federal, state and other groups, and working with the Weston Board of Health to come up with the plan for mask-wearing and testing protocols for the school start. The priority remains on safely opening the schools and keeping them open.

Editorial comment: if you are eligible for a vaccine and haven’t gotten one yet, please do it for yourself, the students who would love dearly to be back for a “real” school experience, and for the Wildcats who truly hate wearing masks over their biters.

Weston Public Schools open September 1 for 1st-12th grades, and September 2 for kindergarten. More information about Weston Public Schools can. be found at https://www.westonschools.org/.

Go ‘cats!