Graduation rate hits record
Mayor announces reopening plans set for Monday
Boston Public Schools saw the highest four-year graduation rate on record in 2020, despite the challenges caused by the coronavirus, officials said on Friday.
The graduation rate rose from 73.2% in 2019 to 75.4%, and was up nearly nine percentage points since 2014, according to BPS.
The district saw increases in four-year graduation rates for multiple student groups, including between two and three percentage points for Black, Latinx and white students, officials said.
“I am incredibly proud of the Class of 2020, who encountered obstacles that graduating classes before them never had to overcome,” Mayor Martin Walsh said. “The resiliency of our students is evident from these promising numbers, and I am so thankful to the wonderful BPS educators who redefined their practice to support our students through an incredibly challenging senior year.”
The mayor’s remarks came before he gave a briefing on COVID-19 in Boston, which as of Friday had infected 61,746 residents and killed 1,322.
Effective Monday, the city will move into a modified Phase 4, Step 1, of the state’s Reopening Massachusetts
plan, Walsh said.
All private gatherings and events will remain subject to current capacity limits of 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors, he said.
Public gatherings in Boston may increase to 60 people indoors and 100 people outdoors — lower than the state’s limits of 100 and 150 people, respectively.
And the following industries in the city may reopen or resume on Monday, subject to certain capacity limits and safety measures:
Indoor performance
■ venues, such as concert halls, theaters and other seated indoor performance spaces, may open at 50% capacity, with a 500-person maximum.
Indoor recreational
■ activities with greater potential for contact, such as escape rooms, laser tag, roller skating, trampolines and obstacle courses, also may open at 50% capacity.
Approved live entertainment
■ may resume in restaurants, except for singing. Brass and woodwind instruments also are discouraged.
Indoor and outdoor
■ stadiums, arenas, ballparks or venues with capacity of 5,000 people or more may host spectators at 12% capacity after they submit a COVID Response Plan to the Boston Licensing Board.
Overnight summer
■ camps will be allowed to operate.
Exhibition and convention
■ halls may reopen, subject to gathering limits and event rules.
And dance floors will
■ be permitted at weddings and other approved events.
Boston will not advance beyond these reopening steps until the citywide testing positivity rate stays below 2.75% for two consecutive weeks, the mayor said.
For more information about the city’s reopening plan, visit boston.gov/ reopening. For more information about the Massachusetts reopening guidelines, visit mass.gov/ reopening.