MA Ed Chief Gets Power To Force Local Districts Back To School

MASSACHUSETTS — Most school districts will have to return elementary school students to in-person instruction by April, after the state board voted a proposal that would effectively force them to do so.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education board Friday voted to give Commissioner Jeff Riley the authority to determine when to end hybrid and remote models for school districts.

"The time has come to think about bringing our students back to school," he told the board, pointing to transmission numbers going down and vaccine rates going up.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, the state education board allowed districts to go to remote and hybrid learning models to count toward the state's regulations for learning time. Riley announced his plan to amend those regulations Feb. 23, to allow him the authority to end those allowances, and effectively help districts pick up the pace on implementing a return to in-person learning five days a week.

The board voted to have the amendments begin immediately, under an emergency basis. They'll revisit the amendments in three months.

His initial focus is to bring all elementary school students back to in-person learning five days a week this April. The proposed regulation provides accommodation for families who wish to have their students learn remotely for the rest of this school year, as well as a waiver process for districts.

"We have seen our numbers go way down. We've seen the vaccines and the promise of the vaccines go way up, and we think now is the time to move children back into school more robustly. The medical community believes it, and I think now is the time to make that call."

Riley said nearly half of the state's schools have made pooled testing available for students and staff and pointed out that vaccine rollout is set to begin next week for teachers. Many districts are already beginning to bring more students back from the North Shore to Brookline, especially at the elementary level, he said.

DESE and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended keeping students and teachers 3 feet to 6 feet from one another when masked. Riley said there hasn't been evidence the distance has made a difference in COVID-19 virus exposure. More than 300 doctors signed a letter supporting that 3 feet distance return, Riley said.

As of Feb. 12, he said, nearly 80 percent of districts were providing some in-person instructions to students, but many larger, urban school districts, accounting for about 300,000 students, have been fully remote the entire time.

The plan will come in the form of a phased-in approach, beginning with elementary school students on April 5, before moving middle and high school students. He also noted the plan would include a waiver provision to allow districts to make a compelling case that they need to take a more incremental approach.

Parents and guardians will be given a survey to see what they think is best for their child for the remainder of the school year, he said. The goal is that anyone who asks to have their child attend in person, will have that happen, according to DESE.

"As we have stated repeatedly throughout this pandemic, we know there is no substitute for in-person learning, especially for younger students, students with disabilities, and English learners," he said in a memo to the board ahead of Friday's meeting.

Riley said a detailed guidance and support teams and staffing support would be ready next week to help districts.

The vote came Friday after the board heard from parents, teachers and a panel of physicians. Doctors told the board repeatedly that transmission rates in schools were extremely low and a combination of masking and other mitigation efforts at schools left them confident in a return to school.

Support
Dr. Vishakha Sabharwal, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Boston Medical Center has volunteered with Brookline expert advisory Panel 4 to help establish guidelines to reopen schools safely for the past 10 weeks. She said Brookline, as other districts nationwide, has seen very low rates of coronavirus transmission, thanks to the multi-layered mitigation plan.

She said she was more concerned about the physiological effects of not sending students to in person school. The rates of increase in rates of suicidal ideation, and depression because of lack of in person school, is cause for alarm, she said.

"Act in the interest of our kids by bringing them back to school full time as quickly and as safely as possible," Sabharwal said.

"We need to move on from this," said DESE board member Matt Hills, who is a former school committee member in Newton. "I would just encourage you to be as cautious and gradual as you want, in as expeditious as manner as possible."

Pushback
Representatives from teachers unions spoke out against the vote, saying that putting the decision in the hands of one person was a mistake. Others asked that the districts should decide for themselves when they were ready to return to in-person learning.

"I'm not at all comfortable with mandating that schools go back in person," said DESE board member Ann Stewart, of Lexington. "Let's give them the support and resources they need, but let them make the determinations."

DESE members Jasper Coughlin, a student member from Billerica, Darlene Lombos, of Boston, and Stewart voted against the measure. The other eight members voted in favor.

Previously: Education Chief Wants To Bring Students Back To School