Boston

Boston Teachers Raise Concerns About Back to School Plans

With the start of school in Boston drawing nearer, so is anxiety about what the school year will look like. 

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With the start of school in Boston drawing nearer, so is anxiety about what the school year will look like. 

In a school committee meeting Wednesday, it was announced Boston schools could possibly reopen under a “hopscotch model” which is a hybrid model, calling for bringing kids back in groups...two days of “in person” learning at school, and three days at home.

Kyle Gichuru is an elementary school teacher for Boston Public Schools: 

“That is my understanding on the current proposal that is out there, that we are simultaneously teaching students in the classroom and online at the same time, and that’s the part that I don’t see how that is remotely possible,” she said. 

And while Gichuru thinks, for the younger kids, it’s important to get them back in the classroom, she says it’s not possible to safely teach both in person and online: 

“Six and a half hours is really a very a long time for children to be expected to stay in one place. It’s not healthy for the body, so we’re going to have to come up with movement breaks. To have our eyes on that and a computer where you just have these little squares or rectangles or faces in a chat along the side, you can’t give your attention to both places at once.” 

Jessica Tang, the Boston Teachers Union president says she would prefer that schools reopen in phases. 

“We may have to go slower in order to get this right because if we go too fast and rush things were literally putting peoples lives at risk,” Tang said. 

Mayor Marty Walsh says the final decision on the school plan may be weeks away, especially with the COVID numbers still fluid.

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