1,700 ‘high-needs’ students return to in-person learning at 28 Boston schools

BOSTON (WHDH) - About 1,700 Boston Public Schools students returned to in-person learning Monday.

Twenty-eight additional schools reopened for students with disabilities and those learning English as a second language who had limited or interrupted formal education.

Roughly 5,000 air purifiers have been installed in classrooms and the schools have been equipped with 90,000 surgical-grade masks, according to school officials.

The Boston Teachers Union argues that these precautions against the coronavirus are not enough, adding that they still need working sinks in bathrooms and access to COVID-19 testing.

“We will proudly be there for our high-needs students when they arrive at schools in the morning, but it is very disheartening that the superintendent has refused to officially ensure equitable and uniform safety provisions and instructional practices at the additional schools slated for reopening on Monday,” Boston Teachers Union President Jessica Tang said. “Our educators, as always, are doing their part to ensure our students have what they need for safety and for quality instruction, whether learning in-person or remotely. We are simply asking that the superintendent do her part, as well.”

Members of the Boston Teachers Union passed a vote of no confidence in Boston Public Schools Superintendent Brenda Cassellius on Sunday.

Mayor Walsh said the vote does not help the schools move forward with the reopening.

“I am sympathetic to their concerns about covid safety, they are all of our concerns and we are responding to all of those concerns,” he said at a press conference Monday. “100 percent of the safety measures that the Teachers’ Union requested are implemented in all of the schools we reopened.”

He went on to say that reopening the schools was a great accomplishment for all involved and that he plans to continue working with the union to address the teachers’ concerns.

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