Riley granted power on learning models

An 8-3 vote by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education on Friday afternoon cleared the way for the state’s education commissioner to eventually take remote and hybrid learning models off the table for local school districts.

The board approved emergency regulations giving Commissioner Jeffrey Riley the authority to decide when full and partial remote schooling will no longer count toward student learning time requirements, taking a step towards the next phase of pandemic-era schooling in Massachusetts.

“We are at an interesting time. We have seen our numbers go way down,” Riley said. “We’ve seen the vaccines and the promise of the vaccines go way up, and we think now is the time to begin to move our children back to school more robustly. The medical community believes that, and I think now is the time to make that call.”

Riley has said he wants to pursue a gradual approach toward returning to full in-person learning, starting with elementary schoolers next month, and he acknowledged Friday that many districts have started making moves on their own to phase out remote and hybrid instruction.

“Next fall, we’re planning for a full return in-person across all grade levels,” Riley said.

As of Feb. 12, nearly 80% of Massachusetts school districts were providing at least some inperson instruction to students through an in-person or hybrid model. Many larger, urban school districts have not yet returned to in-person learning, and Riley has estimated that 300,000 students are enrolled in districts that are currently fully remote.

Parents will be able to choose to continue with remote instruction for their students through the end of this school year, and Riley said districts will be able to apply for waivers in certain circumstances. He gave the exam