Mass. allows two-week delay to start of school year

School districts in Massachusetts will be allowed to delay the start of the new school year by up to two weeks without a waiver. This is the result of an agreement between state education and union leaders that was signed Monday.

While a waiver may be obtained to allow for additional time, the agreement immediately grants districts the right to start the school year as late as Sept. 16. The minimum learning time requirement for the 2020-21 school year has been lowered from 180 days to 170 days.

“When we fight, we win!” wrote Merrie Najimy, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA), in a note to members.

“This is just the first major victory, however. We need much more from DESE [the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education] to ensure that our school buildings are safe when in-person learning [becomes] feasible.”

Teachers may be relieved to have the extra time but that doesn’t mean families share the feeling.

“My daughter was actually crying,” said Vivian Birchall of Acton.

Birchall’s daughter, Amy, who is 5 years old, thought the delay meant that she wouldn’t return to classes in the fall and would miss her friends.

“We are struggling with whether to put our kids in school full-time,” Birchall added.

She and her husband must also adjust work schedules into mid-September because of the new delay.

“Trying to plan for a schedule as working parents is also a little complex because of the uncertainty of what the environment is going to be,” she said.

Acton-Boxborough Regional School District Superintendent Peter Light said the added time will allow for more health and safety protocol preparation, and the ability to work on key strategies for meeting the social and emotional needs of students.

In Worcester, school committee member Tracy Novick said there is a budget component to the newly negotiated delay.

“The state actually making the provision that you can have the professional development and do that within the context of your professional contracts, shifting the time on learning allows for that to happen,” Novick said.

MTA also wants the state to cancel the requirement that districts submit a complete in-person learning plan, cancel MCAS and tie school-building re-openings to public health benchmarks. But the state has not budged on those points, Najimy wrote.

The next step for districts is to finish and submit their three scenarios for a return to school, which include an in-person, a remote and a hybrid model. The proposals are due on Friday, according to a DESE spokesperson.

Cox Media Group