Telegraph file photo The front entrance to Alvirne High School, which is scheduled to reopen Sept. 8 with all Hudson schools.

HUDSON – Parents of school kids in grades pre-K through 8 can choose between sending them to school on a regular five-days-per-week schedule and signing them up for the Remote Learning Academy when the school year opens on Sept. 8.

As for Alvirne High School, the current recommended format involves splitting students into two groups, one for last names beginning with A-K and one for last names beginning L-Z.

The plan currently has two options on the table, one of which will eventually be selected.

Option A would send students in group A-K to school on Mondays and Thursdays, and they would learn remotely on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Group L-K students would do the opposite: go to school Tuesdays and Fridays and learn remotely on Mondays and Thursdays.

Students participate in last year’s Nashua Goes Back to School event, which still is on for this year. The 16th annual event is set for Aug. 20 at Elm Street Middle School, Fairgrounds Elementary School and Amherst Street School. Event officials have implemented safety precautions because of COVID-19.

The groups would alternate in-school and remote learning on Wednesdays.

If Option B is chosen, A-K students would go to school Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays one week, then Tuesdays and Thursdays the next week. The L-Z students, therefore, would go to school Tuesdays and Thursdays one week, then Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays the second week, with the rotation continuing every two weeks thereafter.

The district’s schools reopening task force, made up of roughly three dozen teachers, administrators, counselors and other school officials including Superintendent Larry Russell, spent the summer working on the plan, which culminated in its 25-page report of recommendations for the wide variety of scenarios.

The entire report is available at www.sau81.org. From the main page, scroll down to “school reopening task force” on the left side of the screen, then click on “hudson’s school plan 2020-21.”

The School Board, at its most recent meeting on Monday, voted 5-0 to approve the recommendations in the task force’s report.

The video of the board’s meeting can be found on Hudson CTV at reflect-hudsonctv.cablecast.tv/vod/9268-School-Board-Meeting-of-08-03-20-v1/vod.mp4.

The vote followed Russell’s presentation and subsequent discussion that included public input.

While everyone agrees the best plan would be to have all students return to school for regular in-person classroom learning, it’s obvious that can’t be accomplished at the present time, the task force acknowledges in the report.

The district, therefore, “decided early in this process that a robust remote-learning alternative should be available for all students.”

Early indications, according to the panel, show that between 20% and 30% of all students will choose to enroll in the Remote Learning Academy, which would create more space in school buildings and therefore help officials achieve proper social distancing.

It notes that the remote academy is also expected to open on Sept. 8.

The report states that teachers will start the year on Aug. 24 with their professional development commitments.

The task force emphasizes in the report that its recommendations “could change quickly,” based on factors such as new federal, state or local government orders, a spike in COVID-19 cases, especially among students, teachers or school staff, or unexpected “staffing or supply issues.”

“Families and staff should be prepared” by having backup plans in place, the report states.

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In the Nashua School District, remote learning also will begin at the beginning of September, with a tiered return for students in October that still will include remote learning.

In late November, the middle and high schools could potentially convert to 50 percent in-school learning, but that decision will be made closer to that timeframe.

See the Nashua School District’s complete plan online at www.nashuatelegraph.com, and see next week’s edition of The Sunday Telegraph for complete and up-to-date details.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.