Schools

Joint School Committee opens up about in-person plan

The Old Rochester Regional School District has continued to come under fire over its unwillingness to shift to full in-person learning. Stephanie Clark, representing parent group Mattapoisett Concerned , which aims to return younger elementary...

21st school covid case reported at Sippican School

MARION — Another individual at Sippican School has tested positive for coronavirus, making this is 21st case in the Old Rochester Regional School District since opening on Sept. 16. In a press release, the district said the person has not been in...
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Three new covid cases in schools, ORRHS preschool closed until Nov. 23

The Old Rochester Regional School District has now seen 20 cases of coronavirus related to students, teachers and staff since opening on Sept. 16, with two new cases reported at Old Rochester Regional High School and one new case at Sippican School...

New covid case reported at Old Hammondtown School

MATTAPOISETT — A new case of covid was reported in Old Hammondtown School on Nov. 11, the fifteenth case found in the Old Rochester Regional School District since schools opened on Sept. 16. It’s not clear whether the person who tested positive is a...

Five new covid cases reported in Mattapoisett schools in three days

MATTAPOISETT — Four new cases of covid have been reported in Mattapoisett schools over the last two days according to Old Rochester Regional School District press releases put out on Nov. 8, 9 and 10. There are three cases at Center School, one case...

ORR district offers free meals for anyone ages 0 to 21 for school year

MATTAPOISETT — The Old Rochester Regional School District has announced it will be offering free breakfast and lunch to any student in the district from now until June 30, 2021. All children and teens ages 0 to 21 can get free meals, whether they...

ORRHS Class of ‘23 selling custom Tri-Town memorabilia for fundraiser

MATTAPOISETT — The Class of 2023 Student Council at Old Rochester Regional High School is selling high quality custom ribbon belts, flip flops, key fobs and leashes made in Maine by the Belted Cow Company for its largest fundraiser of the year. The...

Rochester 10-year-old donates $700 worth of diverse books to school

ROCHESTER — Stop us if you’ve heard this one — how does a fourth grader from Rochester turn greens from the ground into hundreds of greens to purchase racially diverse books for his school library? Well, ‘lettuce’ tell you. Kelcey Roberston donated...

Fifth school covid case reported in Mattapoisett

MATTAPOISETT — A fifth case of covid-19 has been reported at the Old Rochester Regional School District campus in Mattapoisett. Contact tracing is being conducted by the Mattapoisett Board of Health. Thus far, one close contact related to the school...

Mattapoisett parents seek in-person return for elementary students

MATTAPOISETT — After hundreds signed a petition to return Mattapoisett’s youngest students to in-person classes, the Mattapoisett School Committee held a special meeting on Oct. 22 to hear parents’ calls for better transparency and planning. The...

First positive covid test reported at Center School

MATTAPOISETT — A positive case of coronavirus has been reported at Center School in Mattapoisett, town and Old Rochester Regional School District officials said in an Oct. 21 press release. This is the fourth positive case in the district since...

Sippican School Council reflects on reopening

MARION — Just a little over a month into the school year, the Sippican School Council took time at an Oct. 19 meeting to assess how reopening the building has gone during a pandemic. The school was lauded for its ability to keep students on the same...

School committees address potential case procedure, pre-existing conditions

MARION — How do you tell the difference between an asthma cough and covid? The answer at Sippican School is to send the cougher home for a covid test. But one parent from the school isn’t happy with that answer. Kathleen Welch, who has three...

First covid case reported at ORR Junior High School

MATTAPOISETT — The Old Rochester Regional School District reported the first positive case of covid at Old Rochester Regional Junior High School in an Oct. 15 press release. The individual has not been in school since Oct. 8, tested positive on Oct...

Two Sippican School individuals test positive for covid, cases unrelated

MARION — Two individuals in the Sippican School community have tested positive for covid, according to press releases issued this week. The first individual who tested positive has not been in school since Oct. 7. The second person has not been in...

ORHS graduate selected as Yaeger Music Scholarship recipient

Maxxon Wolski, a 2017 graduate of Old Rochester High School, has been selected as one of the recipient of the Clement L. Yaeger Music Scholarship awards. This award helps music students further their education in music performance, music education,...

ORR district to start preschool student screenings

The Old Rochester Regional School District will be holding its annual screening clinic for three and four year olds of Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester on the following dates and locations: Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020 at Center School, Wednesday,...

New sod playing field underway at OR

MATTAPOISETT — Though athletes aren’t taking to the fields quite yet at Old Rochester High School, that doesn’t mean they’ve been forgotten Quite the opposite, actually. Field renovations began on Sept. 25 to lay down a new playing sod field inside...

Wear a proper mask, not a gaiter, ORR district says

Students wearing a mask was always a part of the Old Rochester Regional School District’s school reopening plan. But the district adopted a formal policy at a Sept. 24 Joint School Committee meeting that fine tuned the rule, including a measure that...

ORR district looking for more substitute teachers

Due to coronavirus cautions, the Old Rochester Regional School District lost some of its substitute teachers for the 2020-2021 school year. To help fill the positions, the district’s Joint School Committee voted at a Sept. 24 meeting to increase the...

ORR district opens schools smoothly despite changes

Educators from the Old Rochester Regional School District managed to work through technology hiccups and planning logistics to make a smooth start to an unusual school year “Overall, we are all relieved to get back to what we do - and that’s...

District to continue free breakfast and lunch for those in need

MATTAPOISETT — Through the final semester of the 2019-2020 school year, parents were able to pick up free meals for their students while staying in their cars to help out those who needed assistance for food. With students returning to school in a...

Chromebooks, tablets on back order for ORR district

MATTAPOISETT — Currently, the Old Rochester Regional School District has 1,700 Chromebook laptops for students to use, with approximately 550 more Chromebooks and about 550 tablets on the way. Superintendent Michael Nelson said at a Sept. 14...

ORR district works on final preparations for covid school year

Teachers, faculty, staff and administration are coming into the home stretch before the school year starts on Sept. 16 in a hybrid format that will split student’s time between learning at home and in buildings, depending on the day of the week. For...

ORR district moves towards creation of anti-racism committee

MATTAPOISETT — Over the last several months, the Old Rochester Regional School District has been taking steps to becoming a more anti-racist school district. At a Sept. 2 Marion School Committee meeting, Superintendent Michael Nelson told of plans...

Tabor Academy welcomes students back with covid tests

MARION — Coronavirus testing started this weekend for Tabor Academy students who plan to return to campus this year for in-person learning. The school is partnering with Southcoast Health to provide rapid antigen testing. Day students were tested on...

Tabor Academy recognized by Special Olympics

MARION — Special Olympics Massachusetts awarded Tabor Academy a national banner of recognition for its efforts to provide inclusive sports and activities for students with and without disabilities. Tabor Academy had to meet ten national standards of...

With more clarity from the state, ORR sports await district approval

The sports league that covers most high school sports in Massachusetts and state education officials released guidance this week on how sports will proceed amid coronavirus restrictions, adding an additional season into the school year. In the Tri-...

Old Rochester Regional school district delays school year by 10 days

The school year will begin on Sept. 16 for the Old Rochester Regional School District, giving teachers an extra ten days to prepare three radically different classroom setups. After four of the district’s school committees approved the school year...

ORR school district fills key administrative positions

The assistant superintendent of teaching and learning position for the Old Rochester Regional School District has been unfilled for more than a year, since its former occupant Elise Frangos retired. But on Aug. 12 the Joint School Committee voted in...

Hybrid plan fully approved with ORR school committee OK

MATTAPOISETT — In a unanimous vote, the Old Rochester Regional School Committee approved of the district’s hybrid plan to return to school in the fall at an Aug. 10 meeting. This marks the final approval from all four school committees in the...

ORR students praised at graduation after tough senior spring

MATTAPOISETT — Students and administrators alike celebrated the grit and determination of the Old Rochester Regional High School class that lost its senior spring at a delayed Aug. 8 graduation ceremony. Students sat with their parents on the...

School reopening plan gets third approval in Marion

MARION — In discussions between Old Rochester Regional School District administrators and the School Committee, flexibility and compassion emerged as two key elements in enforcing the district’s new reopening plan, which the committee formally...

Old Rochester Regional High School releases senior awards list

The Old Rochester Regional High School senior awards list is as follows: CLASS OF 2020 AWARDS Recipients English Language Arts Certificates of Excellence: Advanced Placement English 12 Emma Gabriel Creative English 12 Sascha...

Old Rochester Regional releases full reopening plan

MATTAPOISETT — The Old Rochester Regional School District released a detailed, 49-page draft plan of how it will implement a hybrid learning model for the 2020-2021 school year. Students will be broken up into two cohorts by last name. On Mondays,...

After hearing varied opinions, Mattapoisett committee OKs school plan

MATTAPOISETT — The Mattapoisett School Committee approved a draft reopening plan from the Old Rochester Regional School District after hearing a wide variety of opinions from parents and committee members. The plan, as released on Aug. 5, quickly...

Rochester School Committee approves ORR reopening plan

ROCHESTER — Almost a day after the Old Rochester Regional School District released its 49-page draft plan for a hybrid return in the fall, members of the Rochester School Committee unanimously approved the protocols and to adopt a Sept. 16 start...

ORR district proposes hybrid learning, awaiting approval

MATTAPOISETT — Plans are still being solidified for reopening, but Old Rochester Regional School District Superintendent Michael Nelson said in a July 31 letter that the district is submitting proposals to town school districts and workers’ unions...

Old Colony to use hybrid learning for reopening

ROCHESTER — After working on a plan since May with over 70 people involved in the process, Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School announced that it will resume classes in the fall online and in-person. The July 30 announcement included...

Tabor Academy releases reopening plan

MARION — Tabor Academy plans to bring boarders and day students back to campus and will require every student who returns to campus to have a screening and antigen test upon arrival. The private school will change its rules, campus limits and...

ORR students, families share stories of racism on Instagram

On the Instagram account @blackatorr, a godparent of a preschooler posted “My godchild is in preschool at Sippican [School] and she’s mixed [race]. They were doing portraits and she didn’t know what color to use, so she used brown. A teacher said to...

ORR families should register now to attend graduation

MATTAPOISETT — The Old Rochester Regional High School Class of 2020 Graduation will be held on Aug. 8 at 10 a.m. Per local health guidelines, all graduates and family members who will attend must register before July 31. Contact the school at (508)...

Sippican School launches new Kindergarten website

MARION — Sippican School has launched a new website for its students entering Kindergarten this year. The website features videos from teachers introducing themselves and sharing stories, a video tour with Principal Marla Sirois, a story with...

Marion School Committee appoints member after election mixup

MARION — The school committee met on July 23 with the Board of Selectmen to appoint one new member, Mary Beauregard, for a three year term, fixing a June 26 election mixup. Marion's School Committee saw three write-in candidates run for two open...

Caps, gowns, masks: Old Colony holds socially distanced graduation

ROCHESTER — “This has been one hell of a year to say the least,” Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School Principal Michael Parker said in his welcoming remarks to the Class of 2020 at the school’s first-ever socially distanced...

Sippican School hires new assistant principal

MARION — Sippican School has chosen a new Assistant Principal for this coming school year, Marion resident Sean Persico. Persico is currently the assistant principal at Donovan Elementary School in Randolph and will replace Kyle Letendre who...

ORR begins preparations for the new school year

The Old Rochester Regional School District Joint School Committee hired a new Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations and has started committee meetings to brainstorm on reopening plans for next year. Superintendent Michael Nelson said...

Tabor Academy to change class schedule because of virus

MARION — Tabor Academy may temporarily alter its academic schedule and physically alter buildings and movement patterns around campus as coronavirus prevention measures when students return. The school has been communicating with students every two...

Sippican Woman’s Club names 2020 scholarship winners

The Sippican Woman’s Club will award 18 scholarships this year. The club’s hard work throughout the year and the success of its House Tour meant it was able to give almost 20 awards (totaling $10,000) based on scholarship, service to the community,...

Tri-Town schools respond to state reopening suggestions

Principals and superintendents at Old Rochester Regional School District and Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical School District don’t entirely know what school is going to look like next year — after all, the state only released its initial...

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