Waltham Schools Aim To Return Students To Hybrid By Mid March

WALTHAM, MA — While some school districts are planning for ways to get their schools up and fully running with in-person classes by next year, Waltham is still working on getting all grades back into hybrid by mid-March.

"Since we have been mostly remote since September, our goal is to have all grades return in a hybrid format," Superintendent Brian Reagan said. "We are not discussing plans for a full return at this time."

The Department of Secondary and Elementary Education changed their recommendation to districts from a strict 6 feet to a 3 foot to 6 foot range of distancing between desks and students, in the summer before school started. Some districts, such as Marblehead, are taking this into account as they plan to fully reopen schools.

"Back in the summer, we were not comfortable with anything less than 6 feet and that still stands today," Reagan said. "I won't even consider anything less than 6 feet until we at least have all of our staff vaccinated. "

Originally, the district had planned to continue folding grades into the hybrid, or part online part in person learning program in the fall. But when the city was designated a high risk community for the spread of the coronavirus, that plan was put on ice. Later, the plan was to reopen in early December, but the number of cases of coronavirus and the infection rate stayed high.

It wasn't until last week that the city was removed from the state's list of high-risk communities.

Reagan said the plan is to have grades 2, 3, 6, 11, and 12 back in hybrid by March 1 and grades 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 back in hybrid by March 15.

"Once we achieve this, our focus will be on surveillance testing and vaccinations before discussing the potential for a full return," Reagan said.

President Joe Biden has said he plans to distribute at least 100 million vaccines during his first 100 days in the White House and will seek to reopen most of the nation's schools over the same period.

Previously: Waltham Schools Delay In-Person Reopening Plan

Jenna Fisher is a news reporter for Patch. Got a tip? She can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna). Have a something you'd like posted on the Patch? Here's how.