A parent group worried about worsening achievement gaps and increasing psychological strain on children forced out of schools by the coronavirus pandemic is pushing Gov. Charlie Baker and state education officials to bring students back into the classroom this fall.
Bring Kids Back MA — a coalition of local parent groups — sent a letter to Baker on June 15 slamming virtual learning over the past few months as “nothing short of a travesty” and urging him to allow students into classrooms “at full capacity” at the start of the academic year.
“We want our children’s education to be a priority and we don’t feel like it has been,” task force member Kimberly Collins said. “We are very concerned that other parts of the world and other parts of this country will be back and it will put our students at a disadvantage.”
Baker has not responded to the letter, Collins said Sunday. She expressed frustration that parents — and teachers and school districts — have been left high and dry by the state when it comes to planning for school in the fall.
A Herald inquiry to the governor’s office Sunday was returned by an Executive Office of Education spokeswoman, who said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education plans to release initial fall guidance for schools in the next week.
With the number of coronavirus cases declining in Massachusetts — and with the average age for deaths above 80 — members of Bring Kids Back said in their letter that “the academic, mental, and social costs from continuing virtual education far outweigh the risks of returning to school.”
Students are facing “fewer contact hours with their teachers than they would receive in a single day of in-person education,” the group said. “Hybrid” models that would combine in-person and virtual learning could still be disruptive both academically and psychologically, they warn.
The American Association of School Administrators released a survey last week that said 94% of superintendents nationwide are not ready to announce when schools will reopen. But officials in states like Vermont and Florida are pushing for their schools to fully open in the fall. Collins, the Holliston mother of both a middle-schooler and a high-schooler, said parents here fear their children will end up disadvantaged if students head back to the classroom in other states.
“What we’ve seen in the past three months is those 19-and-under are least affected by the virus but most affected by the policies,” Collins said. “We need to make a shift in education or every child will be left behind.”
DESE released — and later amended — guidance earlier this month capping classrooms at 10 students or less, requiring screenings for staff and children and encouraging face coverings for anyone over age 2. The department later clarified the guidance was intended for summer courses.
Collins knows some parents won’t want to send their kids back to school over health concerns. But education has to continue, she said, adding that waiting for a vaccine to reopen schools is not realistic.
“There may never be one,” she said. “To not send these kids back in case there’s another outbreak, it’s like saying, ‘It’s June, let’s cancel school in January in case there’s a blizzard. ‘“
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June 22, 2020 at 07:29AM
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Massachusetts parent group pushes Baker to get students back to school this fall - Boston Herald
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