WATERVILLE — Waterville students will continue with remote learning until the end of the school year unless the Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention decides it is safe to reopen school buildings.

That was the word Monday afternoon from Superintendent of Schools Eric Haley, who last week said a decision had not yet been reached about whether schools would reopen this spring.

Haley made the announcement Monday in a recorded telephone call to teachers and staff, a transcript of which was later posted on the school’s website.

“After consultation with the School Board Chair, Joan Phillips-Sandy, and a weekend of thinking about the issues around continuing remote learning for the rest of this school year, I think it is time to say, yes, we are going to continue remote learning through the end of this school year unless we receive notice from the CDC that it is safe to re-open our school buildings,” Haley wrote in his message.

“Hopefully this will give each of you a better idea of what to plan for and how long to plan it for. Obviously that means we (the school) have a lot of planning to do as well and will keep you informed as decisions are made.”

Haley also notified teachers and members of the staff that during the week that would have been April vacation — April 20 to 24 — the schedule for delivering meals to students will change because Monday, April 20, is a holiday. The delivery schedule will change from Monday, Wednesday and Friday that week to Tuesday and Thursday, according to Haley.

“This Friday, April 17,  we will deliver meals for Friday, Saturday and Monday,” he said. “Next Tuesday, April 21st, we will serve meals for Tuesday and Wednesday and next Thursday, April 23rd, we will deliver meals for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The week of April 27 we will go back to our normal MWF delivery schedule.”

Waterville’s school department is working with the Maine CDC and actively monitoring the coronavirus pandemic, according to information posted on the school website.

“This page contains resources and communications designed to raise awareness of prevention and preparedness efforts in our district,” the online message reads. “This is a rapidly evolving situation and information will be updated as it becomes available.”

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