SALEM — The school district is giving residents more time to review its reopening plans for the fall.

The School Committee will meet Thursday, Aug. 6, to go over the district's plan for reopening schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Then on Monday, Aug. 10, the committee will vote on the final plan. 

Districts must submit their reopening plans to the state by end of day Monday.

The committee met with school administration last Wednesday and outlined a three-pronged approach to reopening the school system: a plan for all in-person classes, another that's entirely remote, and a third that serves as a hybrid of the two. This outline is posted on the Salem Public Schools' website. 

Discussion focused heavily on the hybrid approach, in which most students would get two days of in-person instruction and three remotely from home. But officials admitted it was likely the district would have to go fully remote at some point, as a second wave of the pandemic is predicted to hit midway into the semester.

The committee had originally planned to review the final plan Tuesday and vote on Thursday, but they delayed the meetings. In a statement posted on its website and on social media, the district said officials "realized that we needed additional time to incorporate this input (from last week's meeting) as part of our final recommendation for our return to school."

"We will delay the school committee vote from Thursday, Aug. 6 until Monday, Aug. 10, the day that our plan is due to the Department of Education," the district announced. "This will afford the Salem community two opportunities to offer public comment on the recommendation (School Committee meetings on Aug. 6th and Aug. 10) and provide the school committee additional time to consider the interests of the Salem community."

The meetings will be held remotely via the video-conferencing platform Zoom and covered live by The Salem News on Twitter through @DustinLucaSN. Meeting agendas and virtual attendance information weren't yet posted as of Monday morning.

Contact Salem reporter Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.

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