Last week, the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) said it had issues with 15 school districts statewide that have opted for remote-only education at the start of the school year despite low numbers for COVID-19 cases.
Those districts include the Gill-Montague Regional School District, Mohawk Trail Regional School District and Hawlemont Regional School District. Hawlemont, located in Charlemont, teaches elementary schoolchildren who live in three of the nine towns in Mohawk Trail’s district.
DESE Commissioner Jeffrey Riley expressed his “concerns” in a letter to the districts. It seems he couldn’t fathom why the districts, which have rates well below the 5 percent threshold set by the World Health Organization, wouldn’t be sending their students back into the classroom.
Riley requested a timeline for these districts to provide in-person instruction for most of their students.
We believe it’s easy for someone in Boston to look at a color-coded map showing the numbers of cases from the state Department of Health and decide students from those districts should be inside a classroom and not learning from home.
DESE required school districts to submit three plans by Aug. 10: a fully remote model, a fully in-person model and a hybrid that combines the two.
We believe DESE should respect the plans those school districts chose.
Martha Thurber, who chairs the Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee, and Sheryl Stanton, that district’s superintendent, noted in a joint statement that the health and safety of students and staff are the top priorities.
“Each district made their decision based on the context of what was happening in their local communities, and we were no different,” their statement says.
The Mohawk Trail Regional School Committee voted last month to begin the year with remote instruction, with plans perhaps to change to a hybrid model in November.
Despite the challenges to learning remotely, Mohawk Trail officials were wise to proceed with caution. Certainly, in November we should have a clearer picture of whether a surge in COVID cases has indeed materialized, as predicted by public health officials.
Yes, the cases currently low, but those numbers might inspire people to be lax about safety precautions. Kids will be kids and hang out together without masks. COVID-19 is not just an older person’s disease, but we bet a lot of young people don’t believe that.
Gill-Montague Superintendent Brian Beck noted in-person teaching would require additional staff training, new equipment and safety audits. Another issue is ventilation in the district’s schools, which was undergoing an audit.
Is the state prepared to assist school districts for such costs so Gill-Montague could return to in-person instruction sooner? We seriously doubt it.
We agree in-person is the optimum experience for learning and developing relationships with teachers and other students. But this unusual time requires unusual practices.
Certainly, the teaching staff is better prepared for remote learning than they were in the spring when Gov. Charlie Baker suddenly ordered schools to shut down and for teaching to be remote only.
Our message to state DESE: Trust local school officials to decide what is best.