Cummings: All elementary students may be back to school by early April

Superintendent of Schools Jay Cummings has sent out an update on the state’s plans to return elementary school students to the classroom by April, as unexpectedly announced Tuesday.

Grafton schools have been using a hybrid model since classes returned in the fall, with students attending one week in school, the next remote to control social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic. K-1 students returned in full to North and South Grafton elementary schools just before February vacation and had been planning out how to full open Millbury Street and North Street elementary schools.

Cummings’ update is below:

This week, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced a plan to begin phasing in students’ full return to school. The first phase of the return to school is focused on the K-5 level.

The plans are only partially defined at this point, and information will be shared as it is received.

Based on the news and information shared by the commissioner this week, I can report the following information:

It sounds like the elementary return (of students currently in the hybrid model) will occur in early April. My guess is that they will target the first full week of April, but that has yet to be announced.

Remote Learning Academy will continue to run through the remainder of the school year. There will be no impact on the Remote Learning Academy this year.

The mandate is almost entirely focused on the elementary level at this point. Once elementary students are back full time, DESE will consider the upper grades.

DESE may move MCAS dates, as the federal government announced that they would allow for that on Tuesday night. DESE is supposed to decide on this by next week.

The state will be using 3-foot distancing as the minimum distancing requirement with a continuation of 6-feet of distancing for mask breaks and eating.

The elementary return is not optional. DESE has made that clear. The only control we will have is to figure out how to make the return work given our space, student population, and staffing. It will be a significant challenge for sure and will keep us all very busy over the coming month. This mandated change will be a huge challenge on top of the mountain of challenges that we have already faced this year. Again, expect continual updates as we receive direction from the state.