BOSTON (AP) - Massachusetts’ education commissioner has been given the greenlight to compel districts to return to in-person classes, roughly a year after the coronavirus pandemic forced them to shutter schools and switch to online classes.
The Friday decision by the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education follows Republican Gov. Charlie Baker’s announcement earlier this week that teachers and other school employees will be eligible for coronavirus vaccinations starting next week.
“Now is the time to begin moving children back to school more robustly,” Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said before the board’s vote.
Riley has said he’ll take a phased approach to reopening schools full-time.
In-person classes for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 5 are expected to resume April 5. Middle school students will follow sometime after, and it’s not yet clear when or if high schools will be required to reopen full time.
In a related development, state education officials on Friday also postponed this spring’s MCAS testing to account for the return of in-person classes.
Instead of starting April 5, the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System testing for grades 3, 4 and 5 are being moved to May 10 to June 11, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education announced. Testing dates for grades 6, 7 and 8 are yet to be determined.
Teachers unions have called for the testing to be canceled entirely this year.
A look at other coronavirus developments in Massachusetts:
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MASS VACCINATION SITE COSTS
Massachusetts is paying a total of more than $1 million per week to the for-profit startup that is running coronavirus mass vaccination sites at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium, according to state records.
The more than $625,000 weekly price tag for Gillette includes a minimum weekly payment of $344,575, the Boston Herald reported Friday, citing state documents obtained in a public records request.
The Fenway site is costing the state more than $540,000 weekly.
Both are run by CIC Health. The company declined comment.
The state failed to provide complete contracts for two other vendors running mass vaccination sites in Massachusetts.
But contracts for Curative - which operates mass vaccination sites in Springfield and Danvers - show the state is paying $45 per shot in addition to covering expenses for security and traffic control. Curative also declined comment.
Some state lawmakers question whether the state is getting a good deal.
“I am extremely concerned that these private companies are being paid exorbitant amounts of our tax dollars instead of utilizing capable, local cities and towns to assist with distribution,” state Sen. Diana DiZoglio, D-Methuen, told the Herald.
She has called on the state auditor and inspector general to investigate a growing number of no-bid contracts handed out by the state during the pandemic.
Gov. Charlie Baker defended the decision to hire private companies.
“This is a race against time,” he said Thursday, noting local public health infrastructure “had a lot of catching up to do.”
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FIELD HOSPITAL WINDING DOWN
The field hospital set up at the DCU Center in Worcester could close within the next couple of weeks, but would remain ready to reopen again should it be needed, Worcester’s city manager says.
The 220-bed field hospital at the convention center and sports arena has averaged fewer than 10 patients a week since mid-February, City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. said Thursday, when it had just eight patients.
With coronavirus patient numbers declining at the city’s two hospitals - Saint Vincent and UMass Memorial - the field hospital isn’t needed, he said.
The DCU Center was used as a field hospital from April through June, then reopened in December as the state feared a surge COVID-19 cases would overwhelm hospitals.
A field hospital was also set up in Lowell.
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VIRUS CASES
State health officials reported 25 additional deaths and more than 1,600 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health also said there are currently more than 27,000 active cases of the virus, including more than 700 persons in hospitals across the state.
The state has reported nearly 16,000 deaths and more than 550,000 cases of the virus since the pandemic started.
Massachusetts’ average positivity rate hovers at around 1.6%, down from 2% two weeks ago, according to data from Johns Hopkins. The state is averaging about 1,470 new cases per day, down from nearly 1,800 a day two weeks ago.
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