The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted today to give Commissioner Jeffrey Riley the power to force local districts to reopen their schools full-time. Riley said he’ll take a phased-in approach starting April 5th with elementary schools.“Now is the time to begin to move our children back into school more robustly,” Riley said. “The medical community believes it and I think now is the time to make that call.”
The education commissioner said parents will be given the choice to keep their children learning remotely for the rest of the year.
“Parents will be given a survey in the coming days to make a determination of what they think is best as the elementary school-level,” said Riley.
Riley said waivers from the return-to-school full-time mandate will be considered on a case-by-case basis. State education officials also announced Friday that the standardized MCAS tests, scheduled for April, will be postponed until May.
