No Plan For Waiver To May 17 Full Return At Andover High School

ANDOVER, MA — District officials plan to return Andover High School to full-time in-person learning by the May 17 state deadline, they said Wednesday.

State officials announced Tuesday that districts would have to request a waiver by May 10 if they wanted hybrid learning models to count toward learning time requirements.

Andover officials had previously prepared to request a waiver from the state, but that is no longer the plan, interim Superintendent Claudia Bach and Andover High Principal Caitlin Brown said in a statement first obtained by the Andover Townsman.

The "announcement requiring in-person leading for Massachusetts high schools was not a surprise," the officials said. "There are no current plans to apply for a waiver from DESE."

High school students are the final group to be required to return to in-person learning. In March, DESE's board gave Riley authority to force school districts to reopen for full-time, in-person learning. Elementary students returned April 5, and middle school students returned April 28.

"District administrators, staff and teachers have been working hard for many months to find a way to fully return students to in-person learning, including at Andover High School," Bach and Brown said. "The work is ongoing, and we appreciate the intense focus on finding the best solution for our high school students."

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.