Baker expects school rebound
Says classes will look a lot like normal in the fall
Students can breathe a sigh of relief this fall.
In a Friday afternoon press conference in Worcester, Gov. Charlie Baker said classrooms across the commonwealth will look remarkably similar to those of prepandemic times.
“Unless there’s some development associated with COVID between now and then,” he said, “we should expect when kids go back in the fall, they’re gonna be going back to the school that looks and feels a lot like the one they went to before COVID.”
Baker said his reasoning for the move was the high vaccination rate — the third-highest in the country — and the low infection rate in schools and communities.
“We have no communities in Massachusetts anymore where there’s a significant presence of COVID, and the data is overwhelming at this point that schools don’t spread COVID,” he said. He then cited data from the state’s pooled testing program which found that no school has ever had more than 1% of infected samples in a given testing period, and is often well below that threshold.
“We don’t think kids should be wearing masks in summer school, either,” he added, though the State House News Service reported that he later clarified that masks are still required indoors and on buses this summer.
The Herald reported Thursday that 53 students and five staff members tested positive for COVID-19 this week — the lowest staff total since tracking of this number began.
Currently, Americans aged 12 and over are able to get vaccinated. Clinical trials are currently underway from both Pfizer and Moderna for children between the ages of 6 months and 11 years.
Current Massachusetts Department of Education guidelines require that all students and staff wear masks indoors, though they do not have to outdoors. Fully vaccinated teachers do not have to wear masks as of guidance issued May 29.
As of June 15, when the state of emergency lifted in Massachusetts, the DESE wrote that physical distancing requirements will be lifted for the fall, and districts will also not be able to offer remote learning as an alternative to in-person instruction.
In contradiction to Baker’s comgoal ments Friday, DESE guidelines state that the organization “will collaborate with the Department of Public Health (DPH) to issue any additional health and safety recommendations (e.g. masks for elementary school students) over the summer, and will provide any updates to districts and schools as we receive them.”
Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius said at a Wednesday school committee meeting that “given that federal, state and city guidance continues to evolve, it is too early to definitively confirm the health and safety measures that will be in place around mask-wearing and COVID19 testing this fall. But for now, the is to work with our families, educators and school leaders to ensure we’re ready for the new school year in September of 2021.”
Baker also announced that five new early college programs were approved this week: Gardner Academy for Learning and Technology and Wachusett Community College; High School of Commerce in Springfield and Springfield Technical College; North Quincy High School and North Quincy High School and Quincy College; and Waltham High School and Framingham State and Massachusetts Bay Community College.
‘ ... We should expect when kids go back in the fall, they’re gonna be going back to the school that looks and feels a lot like the one they went to before COVID.’
CHARLIE BAKER Massachusetts governor