(BOSTON) — A top education official in said Tuesday he wants all Massachusetts elementary school students back in the classroom for in-person learning five days a week in April.
Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said during the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education monthly meeting he would ask the governor next month to give him the authority to instruct districts statewide to open their classrooms full time, five days a week.
The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases has been dropping since vaccinations have started.
“At some point, as health metrics continue to improve, we will need to take the remote and hybrid learning models off the table and return to a traditional school format,” Riley said.
He also said the state’s pool testing program — with 157 districts and schools opting into the program as of last week — will also keep students and teachers safe.
Under the pooled testing program, 10 nose swabs from one classroom or cohort of students and staff will go into one tube to be tested together. If the pooled sample is negative, all the individuals are presumed negative. If the pooled sample comes back positive, all the individuals will be retested with the rapid test.
Remote and hybrid learning models are having an adverse affect on the state’s students, he said.
“We continue to see issues with our children who are not in school or only partially in school and the mental health challenges they are facing,” he said. “We know that it’s critical to have those connections between our teachers and their students.”
Parents would retain the right to keep their children out of school and learn remotely, he said.