Mass. HS Students Required To Return To Fully In-Person Learning

Jeffrey C. Riley, Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, said on Tuesday that all high school students in the state must return to full-time, in-person learning by May 17.

WWLP/22 News Springfield reports that all high schools must return to fully in-person by May 17 unless the district receives a waiver from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Waivers will be considered only in a limited set of circumstances, and any district that does not receive a waiver will be required to make up any missed structured learning time.

Parents and guardians still have the option to choose remote learning for their child or children for the remainder of this school year. Elementary schools went back full-time on April 5 and middle schools on April 28.

Commissioner Riley was given the authority back in March to decide when remote and hybrid learning models would no longer count toward required Student Learning Time regulations.

Currently, there are 146 school districts already fully in-person in grades K-12. By May 17, a total of 198 school districts plan to be back fully in-person in grades K-12, representing two-thirds of all high schools in the state.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education had this to say in their statement:

Districts and schools should make every effort to have high school students with significant and complex disabilities or high school students who are English learners return to full-time, in-person learning prior to the deadline.

Also, schools and districts are now required to do a visual "live check-in" daily to support students whose parents have opted for remote learning. Students are required to have opportunities for interaction with a teacher at least once each school day under the DESE's remote learning regulations.

For more on the story, please visit WWLP's website here.