Newton Schools Plan To Follow State Guidance To Reopen In April

NEWTON, MA — Newton may have to step up plans to bring students, particularly elementary students, back to school full-time, five days a week, if the state goes forward with a proposed plan next month.

"If I was on the Newton School Committee, I’d kick into high gear planing for elementary to return full-time soon, while also making plans for middle and high school to be back full time," said former Newton school committee chair Matt Hills, who sits on the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education board.

"The emergency regulations that allowed places like Newton to be hybrid or remote are gradually being rescinded," he said.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, the state education board enacted an emergency allowance so that districts could implement remote and hybrid learning to meet learning time regulations. DESE Commissioner Jeff Riley said he plans to ask the board in March to amend those regulations to give him the authority to determine when the hybrid and remote learning models no longer count for learning hours.

"This is good news for so many families around the state, I’m sure there are many that wish this had happened sooner," Hills said Tuesday, following the DESE board meeting, during which the commissioner announced his plan.

Shortly after, Gov. Charlie Baker said he fully supported the effort to phase out hybrid and remote learning models quickly.

Newton is among the districts that have been criticized by families and community members as being slow to come up with a plan to return students full time. In Brookline, for example, the district recently announced plans to send its youngest elementary students back full time, followed by the older grades.

In Newton, the teachers union has pushed for weekly surveillance testing. In January, Newton became one of the first in the state to operate its own COVID testing program. Patch has reached out to the teachers union for comment.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association was critical of the plan.

They're working on it

Newton School Committee Chair Ruth Goldman said in an email the guidance from the state mirrors what the district has been working on in Newton since late last month when it first created the spring planning group and the Medical Advisory group.

"Newton is moving ahead with a spring planning group that has been looking at the feasibility of more in person learning for NPS students this spring with a focus on elementary students," Newton School Committee Chair Ruth Goldman said in an email.

She said the district was looking at space and schedules as it affects the Distance learning Academy because they share staff with the in person students.

Fleishman said earlier this month the district had completed ventilation work at all buildings, updated the dashboards, and are beginning its surveillance testing for all students and teachers next week.

"We also convened a Medical Advisory Group which is helping us interpret all the guidance and studies now being released from the CDC and many other sources," Goldman said, noting the superintendent would share the group's latest update at the next committee meeting.

"NPS and the SC are committed to a safe, sustainable return to full in person schooling for all students as soon as possible," Goldman said. "Our immediate focus is on the K - 5 students."

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.