Governor Charlie Baker’s new guidelines for the start of the academic year left parents, teachers, and school officials eager for more details — and anxious about what the fall semester will hold.
In an effort to reduce possible coronavirus infections, Baker’s guidelines — a mix of requirements and recommendations for school districts across the state — include some precise rules on everything from how students will eat lunch and how their classrooms will be arranged. But some big questions, including when schools will actually reopen and how much they will still rely on remote learning, remain unanswered.
Thomas Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, said that superintendents are still processing the guidelines and were scheduled to discuss them with state Education Commissioner Jeff Riley Thursday morning. He said many superintendents are intrigued by the guidelines allowing for as little as 3 feet of social distancing and have many questions about the data and research behind that measure and whether it will pass muster with teachers, students, and families.
But he added that school officials face a daunting challenge this summer in creating three different plans to provide education this fall that rests squarely on whatever unpredictable course the coronavirus takes: a full-scale return of students, a mix of students learning in school and at home, or a continuation of only remote learning.
Advertisement
“I’m not sure the general public appreciates how complicated this is,” he said. “The challenge is enormous. It will require a lot of conversation and sharing of ideas.”
Superintendents also appreciate that the guidelines acknowledge that reopening school will cost additional money and have identified some state and federal grant opportunities that districts can tap, including a new $25 million state fund for purchasing technology.
Baker officially unveiled the guidelines at a noontime press conference Thursday. He said that in developing the guidelines for schools to safely reopen in the fall, his administration considered the risks associated with COVID-19 for in-person schooling, but also risks associated with continuing to keep students out of the classroom.
Advertisement
“Continued isolation poses very real risks to our kids’ mental and physical health, and to their educational development,‘' Baker said. “This plan will allow schools to responsibly do what is best for students, which is to bring them back to school to learn and grow.”
In a statement sent out in advance Thursday morning, state officials announced the Baker administration would allocate approximately $200 million from the Commonwealth’s federal Coronavirus Relief Fund for costs related to reopening public schools. Schools can receive up to $225 per student for eligible costs incurred due to the COVID-19 public health emergency, such as training for school staff, supplemental social and academic services, reconfiguration of school spaces, leasing of temporary facilities, and acquisition of health and hygiene supplies, according to the statement.
Other potential funding sources to support school reopening include $502 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund that had previously been allocated by Baker to cities and towns, as well as $194 million in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund grants, the statement said.
Still, some teachers reacted with alarm.
My gut reaction is like, you just don't care about students,'' said Joellen Persad, a ninth-grade physics teacher at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School. "It just feels like restaurants have stricter guidelines than what you're sending kids back to school for."
Advertisement
Persaid criticized the plan for not setting a cap on the numbers of students in classrooms and not mandating COVID-19 testing. “This does not feel safe. And when it does not feel safe, the brain is not in a state to learn.”
Roberto Jiménez Rivera, a member of the Chelsea School Committee, said the guidelines fall short in addressing the disparities among school buildings statewide, which means some districts will be able to maximize social distancing while others will struggle to meet minimum standards. In Chelsea, for instance, the high school is already short on space, while its four elementary schools are located in a single building and two middle schools share a building.
“They assume all schools have rolling amounts of green space and large auditoriums, libraries, and cafeterias,” he said.
He also questioned the wisdom of allowing only 3 feet of social distancing in classrooms at a time when state and federal officials have been emphatically stressing the need for a minimum of 6 feet, noting the recommendation will likely create confusion and unease among families, especially in communities that have been hard hit by the coronavirus like Chelsea.
Natick Superintendent Anna Nolin said her district had been planning for a spectrum of return scenarios since May and had hoped for more state directive from the commissioner on the types models for reopening and whether or not they are negotiable.
She said that those details will come, but so will questions from the public.
Advertisement
“What’s going to happen now is every school system and every superintendent is going to be overwhelmed with questions that were not answered by the [state] documents, and it’s better to release everything with a lot of detail rather than little detail for that reason,‘' Nolin said.
“We’re going to be in the situation of telling everyone you gotta wait another couple weeks for detailed guidance and that’s not comforting to families who are really struggling to decide what to do for the health and well being of their families right now.”
Andover Superintendent Sheldon Berman the governor’s reopening plan is a good first step toward bringing students and staff safely back to school in the fall and praised “the level of detail and thoughtfulness” that went into the guidance. But he said the district will need further guidance on transportation and in-person schooling at the high school.
Somerville Mayor Joe Curtone said he has concerns that testing, as outlined in the plan, will not be mandated, that social distancing may be impossible to execute in some cases, and that the school reopening approach is akin to general reopening in the state.
“We’ve heard up until now that 6 foot distancing is the safest social distancing. In this report it refers to a minimum of 3 feet. I’m concerned that we’re trying to execute a delicate operation with a crowbar, forcing in as much physical attendance in school and that may really belie our efforts around, ensuring health and safety,‘' Curtatone said.
Advertisement
Noting that the nation is bracing for a "resurgence of the virus," Curtatone said he worried about how that will impact students in the fall.
“We are losing sight of the more important thing here -- that is we are preparing for a resurgence,‘' the mayor said. “How we reopen is our new normal and preparation for that resurgence. We know that the virus is contagious and people are going to continue to die. … I’m just concerned that initially we are trying to force this -- as in we do everything we can to get as much physical attendance as possible. That may not be realistic, if we’re trying to be really preparing for resurgence and avoiding continued community spread.”
Tanisha Sullivan, president of the Boston chapter of the NAACP, said getting children safely back into school buildings is a noble goal, but argued that COVID-19 must fundamentally change the way public education is delivered.
“Our children have not received the education they are guaranteed under the constitution over the last 90 days,‘' Sullivan said. “The reopening plan presumes we should just pick up business as usual like nothing happened. It does not address how we should fundamentally rethink how education should be delivered come September. "
Dacia Morales, a South End mother whose daughter Elianna is entering the sixth grade at the Eliot School, said that while she is proud of the state for being cautious in its reopening guidelines, she remains concerned for her daughter.
“I guess we have to follow [the guidelines] so we can be safe. But I’m a little worried because the classrooms in my daughter’s school are very small,‘' said Morales. She said research has shown that children are at lower risks of infections, but still she is worried.
“I don’t want her to get infected,‘' Morales said.
The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics endorsed the guidance.
“The Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education share the goal of bringing most students in the Commonwealth back to in-person learning this fall while minimizing the risk to them, the school staff, and their families,” said Dr. Lloyd Fisher, incoming president of the MCAAP. “We are quite pleased with the recommendations in these guidelines and impressed with how thorough the Department was in researching the current data and their understanding of the spread of illness, impact of the disease on children, likelihood of children infecting others, and the significant negative consequences that prolonged school closures have on the educational, emotional and social well-being of children.”
Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, stressed that when school reopen, the state must address not only the health and safety of students and staff but also effective teaching and learning, both in-school and remotely.
“The state also must take responsibility for providing the resources needed to accomplish both — including the funding needed for our schools to be fully staffed to serve the needs of all students,‘' Najimy said.
Michael Maguire, a teacher at Boston Latin Academy who also has two students at the school, said parents will need “clear and honest directions as to how schools will operate in the fall.”
Meghan E. Irons can be reached at meghan.irons@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @meghanirons. James Vaznis can be reached at james.vaznis@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globevaznis.
"plan" - Google News
June 25, 2020 at 11:41PM
https://ift.tt/3fWvyC9
State education reopening plan leaves parents, officials wanting more detail - The Boston Globe
"plan" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2un5VYV
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "State education reopening plan leaves parents, officials wanting more detail - The Boston Globe"
Post a Comment