BOSTON MAYOR MARTY WALSH said there will be a delay in a return to in-person learning for most Boston Public School students.
The decision comes after the city’s COVID-19 positivity rate climbed from 3.9 to 4.1 percent. The city had previously said that an increase to above 4 percent in the rate would trigger a return to fully remote classes.
Last Thursday, high-needs students returned to classrooms for in-person instruction, and the rest of the district’s students were scheduled to return, in phases, over the coming weeks for hybrid instruction, which involves a mix of in-person and remote learning.
The district is now pushing back the earliest possible start date for kindergarteners, first graders, and second graders from October 15 to October 22, with the possibility that it could be pushed back even further.
“We think it’s prudent at this point to pause the school reopening plan,” said Walsh during a Wednesday morning press conference.
The district plans to continue in-person classes, however, for the 6,740 high-needs students which includes those with disabilities, in Department of Children and Families custody, those experiencing homelessness, and English language learners.
About 1,300 high-needs students have returned to schools since last week, according to a BPS spokesman. Another wave of high-needs students is slated to return to schools on Thursday.
The total district enrollment is about 50,000 students.
Walsh said “not being in school presents a risk” for high needs students that can’t be mitigated in any other way.
Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said the decision to allow high-needs students back into buildings despite the higher positivity rate had been made in consultation with the Boston public health commissioner. She said parents are free at any point to change their decision and opt for hybrid or fully remote instruction by filling out a form online.
The Boston Teachers Union said it supports the delay in returning most students to classrooms. In a statement, the union’s president, Jessica Tang, said an agreement reached with the district makes it optional for teachers to provide in-person instruction once the weekly rate exceeds 4 percent. She said, however, that “we do expect many educators will be opting to work in-person – despite the increasing risks – in order to support our highest need students while we work with stakeholders to establish a framework for safe, rational scheduling.”
For the general population of students whose return to in-person learning will be delayed, Cassellius said the district will monitor the COVID-19 positive test rate to “evaluate if this is a trend and adjust current plans accordingly.”
Walsh declined to say what it would take to shut down schools completely.
“If we’re cancelling school completely, we’re in a whole different situation here in the city and the Commonwealth where businesses are shutting down again,” he said.
The 4.1 percent positive test rate is the highest weekly average since June, said Marty Martinez, chief of health and human services for the city.
“We need to see if this is a trend or a bump in the road,” said Martinez. He added it’s likely the city will be in “the red” category for the second week in a row, a reference to the highest COVID rates on a weekly map released by the state Department of Public Health that labels municipalities with colored indicators reflecting their virus positivity rates.
The largest upticks in COVID-19 have been in the population under 29 years old, and among Latinos, Martinez said. There are certain neighborhoods, like Mattapan, Dorchester, Hyde Park, and East Boston, that have seen higher rates than the rest of the city.
