MA Schools Say Reopening Mandate Is 'Unreasonable': Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Tuesday, March 9. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Some Massachusetts school districts are better prepared than others to welcome elementary school students back five days per week by the state's April 5 deadline.
• At the same time, more Massachusetts summer camps plan to open this year in the latest sign the coronavirus pandemic is waning.
• A wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard that could power 400,000 homes is close to getting federal approval.
• More than a dozen local groups have signed a letter asking Worcester to drop a bid to pay for a controversial software tool that purportedly helps police predict crime hot spots.

Scroll down for those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

School districts across Massachusetts are scrambling to draw up plans to welcome elementary school students back five day a week by April 5 after last week's decision by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education board to give Commissioner Jeff Riley the authority to determine when to end hybrid and remote models for school districts.

Waltham officials plan to apply for a waiver from the reopening mandate that would require them to phase out hybrid learning in favor of full in-person learning for elementary school students by April 5. The school district plans to have all students back in a hybrid model by March 22, but having all students in an in-person setting by April 5 is "unreasonable," Superintendent Brian Reagan said.

In Framingham, Superintendent Robert Tremblay said the district started working on a plan immediately following the board's vote on Friday. "While the District fully supports [DESE's] vote to return all elementary students to in-person learning as soon as possible, the logistical impact of this decision is far-reaching," Tremblay said. And in Reading, the mandate means possible schedule changes, extra lunches and early dismissal days.

The union that represents teachers in Melrose suggested teachers are being pushed back into classrooms before they can get vaccinated against the coronavirus. "Melrose educators have always wanted nothing more than to be safely in person with our students," Melrose Education Association President Lisa Donovan said. "The vaccine gets us one step closer to that reality. However, the vaccine is not a panacea."

Danvers school officials, however, said they expect to meet the April 5 deadline. And Burlington Superintendent Eric Conti said in a video message his district will meet the deadline and may bring students back "sooner, if possible."

Tuesday's Other Top Stories In Massachusetts

Police department pushback: More than a dozen local groups have signed a letter asking Worcester to drop a bid to pay for a controversial software tool that purportedly helps police predict crime hot spots. The 15 groups say research shows software like ShotSpotter Connect harms communities of color. Worcester police say the Connect tool would help deploy officers more efficiently, and Chief Steven Sargent described it as a crime forecasting tool in a memo to City Council. Worcester police signed an agreement to adopt ShotSpotter Connect in December before the issue was revealed to the public, documents obtained by Patch showed.

Happy campers: There are going to be more happy campers this summer as more camps choose to reopen despite the pandemic, providing millions more kids an opportunity to gather around a campfire. Most camp directors sat out last summer as the virus raged across the country, either because of state restrictions like those in Massachusetts that barred them from opening or because of concerns about keeping kids healthy. But with cases declining and more people vaccinated each day, many are feeling more confident about reopening this season.

Swastika in school: Sharon police are conducting an investigation after a swastika was found etched on a bathroom stall at Sharon High School, said the police department in a news release. The hate symbol was reported by a high school student last week and police believe it was written sometime before 1 p.m. on Thursday, March 4.

By The Numbers

400,000: The number of homes that could be powered by a wind farm off the coast of Martha's Vineyard that is close to getting federal approval. Vineyard Wind is significantly farther offshore than Cape Wind, a previous Massachusetts offshore wind project that famously failed amid opposition from the Kennedy family and businessman William Koch, among others, who considered it a bird-killing eyesore in their ocean views.

They Said It

"I can't understand why the MBTA has decided to ostracize the South Shore once again."

• Richard Prone, the MBTA Advisory Board member for Duxbury, on the agency's plan to extend weekend service cuts on the South Shore through spring and possibly longer.