UpdatedTue, May 25, 2021 at 11:56 am ET
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Parents protested the in-school mask mandate at the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education s Malden office Tuesday. (Shutterstock)
MALDEN, MA Protesters rallied at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education s headquarters in Malden Tuesday to call for an end to the in-school mask mandate.
The state will lift all coronavirus restrictions starting Saturday. The mask mandate will be replaced with federal guidance that fully vaccinated people don t need to wear face coverings indoors or outdoors, with a few exceptions.
This includes schools, where masks will be required for staff and students in K-12 and early education settings.
Nearly every public school in Massachusetts is offering full-time, in-person learning for students as the second school year shaded by the coronavirus pandemic winds down, Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Tuesday.
More kids are getting used to being back in the classroom with COVID-19 restrictions, and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on Tuesday released its Academic Excellence Roadmap as it looks ahead to summer and fall.
Meanwhile, parents and advocacy organizations Tuesday pressed the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to ease masking requirements and to take a wider view of student wellness. All elementary and middle schools in Massachusetts now are offering full-time, in-person learning, Riley said, and 99 percent of high schools met his deadline of May 17 to also offer full-time, in-person education.
Colin A. Young
State House News Service
BOSTON With nearly every public school in Massachusetts again offering full-time in-person learning, state education officials on Tuesday say they would offer a roadmap for future academic success, even as some parents remain worried about the impacts that mandated masking and other COVID-19 restrictions have on students wellness.
Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley said Tuesday that all elementary and middle schools in Massachusetts are now offering full-time in-person learning and 99% of high schools met his deadline of May 17 to do the same. I know that this was a split vote when the vote was taken in March to grant me the authority and we ll be voting on a final vote later, but I do think at this time that we made the right decision to move forward, Riley said.
QUINCY Educators from as far away as New Bedford gathered in Quincy s Merrymount Park Thursday afternoon to protest standardized testing in a year they say has been difficult enough for teachers and students alike.
The protest, which called for less testing, more learning was sponsored by the Quincy Education Association. Union members from Quincy, Braintree and beyond lined Hancock Street with signs encouraging families to exercise their rights and opt their children out of MCAS, the statewide standardized tests that will this year be given to students in elementary, middle and high school. In this year, when we ve had so little in-person learning, to dedicate so much to the MCAS doesn t make sense to us, Sean Greene, president of the Quincy Education Association, said. There has been a lot of talk about the social and emotional wellbeing of students . and to take these few in-person weeks and teach solely to the MCAS isn t in the best interest of teachers and their
After David Almond’s death, Massachusetts K-12 education commissioner Jeff Riley wants school grants to fix absenteeism
Updated 6:26 AM;
Seven days before David Almond’s body was found covered in feces in his father’s Fall River apartment, one of his teachers contacted the Department of Children and Families case management team. The teacher said on Oct. 14, and a week earlier on Oct. 5, David and his brother Michael hadn’t been logging in to remote schooling.
The DCF case management team did not probe the complaint after reaching out to Jaclyn Coleman, John Almond’s girlfriend, who denied the boys were absent. The next time they would dig deeply into the family’s ability to safely care for David and his brothers would be after his death on Oct. 21.