WORCESTER, Mass. — In Massachusetts, the first day of the new school year is still about six weeks away, but it is still not certain if students will be returning to class, or returning to their Chromebooks and laptops, and learning from home.
The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the school districts to prepare for both possibilities and that’s leading to some unexpected issues.
In Worcester, for example, this week plumbers began turning off school water fountains.
If schools re-open that could lead to an expensive problem as schools must still make water available to students.
>> Previous: Worcester School District learns from past as it prepares for new school year
“How are we going to get kids access to water?” Worcester Superintendent Maureen Binienda asked. “We can’t use the big gallon, same hand on the same gallon. So, that means we’re going to buy water bottles. What’s the funding for water bottles?”
In Framingham, issues surrounding going back to school dominated Wednesday night’s school committee meeting, held over Zoom.
Superintendent Robert Tremblay said transportation issues over how to bus students while still maintaining social distancing requirements are not easy to solve.
“If you put fifteen students on a bus and maintain one-third capacity, how many buses do you have to run to accommodate 7,000 students?” Dr. Tremblay said. “I’ll tell you- you’d have to add 150 buses at $80,000 apiece. Without drivers.”
School districts must submit their plans for Back to School to the state by July 31 for approval.
And that means students and parents are not likely to find out what the first day of school will look like, for another month.
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RESOURCES:
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