Braintree Schools Returning To In-Person Learning This Spring

BRAINTREE, MA — All Braintree students will return to full in-person learning by April 1, and high school students will return even sooner, following a unanimous vote from the school committee Monday night. The plan has high school students returning to school full-time beginning March 14.

The decision comes as the number of coronavirus cases continue their decline locally and statewide and as the vaccine becomes more widely available.

It also coincides with a plan from Jeff Riley, the commissioner for the Massachusetts Department of Secondary and Elementary Education. Riley wants to see at least elementary school students back in school full-time by as early as April.

School Committee Chair Thomas Devin said negotiations with the Braintree Education Association and other teachers unions will begin next week.

Mayor Charles Kokoros said the science supports having students return to schools. He said one of the biggest obstacles remaining is resolving bus transportation for high school students, but the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education recently relaxed capacity limits and social distancing requirements on school buses.

"I think the dates are reasonable, and we'll be heading into warmer months," Kokoros said. "I hope that based on the science that's out there right now, we do the right thing, and we bring our children back into the schools five days a week, so they can get the best education, the one that they deserve."

Marybeth McGrath, the town's health division director, also supported reopening schools.

"We need to dive into the deep end and see what will work," McGrath said.

Superintendent Frank Hackett said many classes will be able to maintain 6 feet of social distancing, and during lunch, that will always be the case.

This wasn't the first time the school committee set a reopening date. Originally, students were supposed to return to school full-time by Jan. 4. But that plan was postponed after a large spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in Braintree and across the state after Thanksgiving.