Newton Parents Protest New Return to School Model

NEWTON –Newton parents came with signs to protest outside of Newton South and then City Hall Wednesday, a day after the school committee announced it was considering voting on a new reopening plan.

The Newton School Committee met Tuesday night to consider the school reopening plans once again. The committee voted a little over a week ago to give families the option of choosing either some in-class learning known as a hybrid model, or fully distanced learning online.

After that, the district sent out a survey and the information it got back from parents on their preferences and from teachers on their ability to teach in-person, lead officials to rethink capacity at the high school level.

In response, the district is adjusting its plan, mainly for the high schools.

The mayor announced Tuesday night that rather than offer some in person learning at the high schools, all high school students will begin exclusively online and stay that way "for the foreseeable future."

It's that change that caught many parents off guard, said Trista North a mother of a 10th grade student at South.

"People are just really confused and upset and [think] the city let them down," said North.

North said the decision seemed to come out of nowhere for her and a number of others who had been banking on in person learning, at least at the start.

"We felt completely blindsided," she said.

North said she understands health concerns and doesn't think anyone should be forced to go to school in person if they don't feel comfortable but she sees that there are ways to have in-person school and be safe.

"There has got to be another way to do this," she said. "It's like they just basically threw up their hands."

School will start for all students, whether they chose the hybrid model or distance learning, on Wednesday, Sept. 16.

For those elementary students who chose in-person learning, the hybrid model will be phased in beginning day 1, with students spending two mornings a week in-person and eventually expanding to two days a week in the classroom on Nov. 1.

The Middle Schools will begin the year with all students working online. The plan calls for students who chose the hybrid model to transition into some in-person classes at the start of the second marking period on November 16.

The mayor has said that there will still be opportunities for high schoolers to connect in-person with adults and fellow students at the school buildings ̶ to have orientation activities, to create community and connections, to connect with councilors and to participate in extracurricular activities (such as theatre, sports, music and clubs), with health and safety protocols in place.

Students in all grades identified as high need will have in-person opportunities for learning, if they prefer, four or five days a week.

Outside of city hall students rising juniors at Newton South, Brady Epstein, brothers Mitchell and Sam Gordon and Dan Schwartzman said they just wanted to go back to school.

"We want to build relationships with our teachers and classmates - and learn something - and it's just harder to do that sitting on our beds," said Epstein.

The three said after having school online at the end of the last school year, they're afraid of a repeat.

"It's kind of difficult to learn remote," Mitchell Gordon said.

"We weren't learning anything," agreed his twin Sam Gordon.

The three said that they were among the large number of students who had been able to successfully and safely socialize in-person during the summer and wanted to know why that couldn't happen in schools, too.

"If some people don't want to go to school, that's fine, but why stop us from getting the education we want?" asked Schwartzman.

The School Committee was set to meet again Wednesday night.

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