‘A herculean effort’: Some Boston students won’t start hybrid learning until Nov. under back-to-school plan
All Boston students began remote learning on Monday.
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Remote learning began on Monday in Boston, but it could be well into November before all students are back in school buildings for in-person learning — and that’s if everything goes according to plan.
Through the district’s plans for the new school year, students with the most need for in-person instruction will head back to school for hybrid learning — part remote, part in-person — first. Then, the district’s youngest students will return for hybrid learning, with the older students heading back last.
“We have spent the summer developing a strong, responsible plan to start the new school year in the Boston Public Schools,” Mayor Marty Walsh said in a video message.
Students to head back for in-person classes first include English language learners, those with disabilities, those who are homeless, students under the state Department of Children and Families’ care, those who attend a special education day school, and those “with limited or interrupted formal education,” the district’s website says.
The students with in-person priority will begin their hybrid learning on Oct. 1. Kindergarten is slated to begin Oct. 15 and 19, grades 1-3 on Oct. 22 and 26, grades 4-8 on Nov. 5 and 9, and students in grades 9-12 will begin their hybrid learning on Nov. 16 and 19, the district said.
“When I closed the doors with the mayor this past March 17, I thought that was going to be hardest decision I ever had to make. Reopening them is 100-fold harder, and more challenging and difficult,” Superintendent of Schools Brenda Cassellius told WCVB. “There’s just so many complexities that go into the decision, whether it’s facilities, transportation and getting kids to and from (the buildings) in a way (that’s) still ensuring social distancing.”
For teachers, there’s been “a lot of anxiety and stress,” Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union, told Boston 25.
“How do we best create a schedule that meets the needs of students, whether it be young students who really shouldn’t have that much screen time, and how do you both provide the education remotely, while not expecting students to sit in front of a screen for six and a half hours a day?” she said, according to Boston 25.
She called the preparation for the new year “ a herculean effort,” Boston 25 reported.
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