BOSTON (WHDH) - Mayor Kim Janey and Boston education officials promoted in-person learning as the U.S. secretary of education visited schools Tuesday as part of a push to bring students back to classrooms.
Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona toured Tynan Elementary School and praised city officials for making in-person learning happen in Boston.
“There is no substitute for in-person learning. And you’ve shown you can do it,” Cardona said, saying he wanted to take strategies from Boston back to Washington. “We have to hit the reset button on things that didn’t work. We have to expect more of ourselves that we ever did in the past.”
The state granted the Tynan and all Boston schools a waiver that gives them two extra weeks before they have to bring all students back to the classroom in April. Principal Leslie Gant said their success with hybrid learning has convinced families to sign up for in-person learning, but officials have to overcome distrust.
“We had to convince families was safe, families that don’t trust the system already,” Gant said. “One of the great things that’s happened is when kids started to come back, so the kids that are home, they see the kids in school and then I’m starting to get the phone calls, ‘We want to come back.’”
Cardona said President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan will send aid to improve schools in underserved communities, and Janey said those funds can’t come soon enough.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)