MA Sets Full-Time Back-To-School Date For High Schoolers

MASSACHUSETTS — Public high school students will return to classrooms full-time by May 17 unless their district applies for a waiver, according to a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education order released Tuesday.

"The updated Guidance on In-Person Learning Requirements requires grades 9-12 to use a full-time, in-person learning model for instruction hours to count toward structured learning time as of May 17," a letter from DESE said.

Public school districts have until May 10 to request a waiver. However, in a letter announcing the decision, DESE Commissioner Jeff Riley said waiver would only be granted to schools with serious "operational constraints" or "feasibility issues."

Hybrid learning models, where students attend class in-person part-time and online part-time, will not count toward student learning time hours after Monday, May 17.

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.

As with elementary and middle school students, guardians will have the option to choose full time, in-person learning or remote learning for their students for the remainder of this school year.

Union reaction

Massachusetts Teachers Association President Merrie Najimy said educators have been looking forward to being back in class with students, but remain concerned about new variants of the virus in the state.

"[Educators are feeling] a sense of relief that more and more school employees are vaccinated and that students as young as 16 are now eligible, while at the same time there’s still the anxiety about building health and safety, the new variants that have arrived in Massachusetts, and the potential for the general population to feel more relaxed and be lax on general protocols," Najimy said. "It’s critical to follow the CDC measures that we’ve worked hard to follow all year."

With students having just about a month left of school, she said educators' priority is to use that time to reconnect tend to their social, and emotional needs not testing.

"It’s reckless to for them to insist on taking the MCAS," she said. "The last six to eight weeks of school are so important to bring everybody back together and to reconnect."