NEWTON, MASS. (WHDH) - Teachers and parents are preparing for an unusual start to the school year. Some communities are now starting online because of a rise in cases but in other areas, parents are fighting to get their kids back into the classroom.
Dueling demonstrations were held in Newton Thursday as community members grappled with how to approach learning for the upcoming 2020 school semester.
Students and parents were on one side of the rally calling on the district to reopen its doors.
“We want education to be a priority. We owe it to the students,” protest organizer Gat Rauner said.
High school senior Keiran Leary said, “we need to be in school. Whatever it takes, if I have to go into class once a week and take a test I would do that just to see people.”
Their calls were met with honking horns and signs from community members calling for caution.
“We need to protect each other in order to survive, in order to thrive. It just makes sense,” Newton teacher Chrysolite Fitzgerald said.
These protests were held as Dedham and Lynnfield Public Schools announced a postponement of in-person learning before their semesters even began.
Lynnfield opted to push back in-person classes after 18 coronavirus cases in two weeks. Dedham, school officials said 37 people were diagnosed with coronavirus after two separate gatherings of young people — one of which was a party attended by high-schoolers.
Dedham Superintendent Micahel Welch addressed the school board in a virtual meeting Wednesday night and said, “This is a wakeup call for us as a community… We want to be in person, but we are not going to do it if the trajectory does not turn around and we can’t start to get a handle on this.”
In Newton, students and teachers said whether it be safety or education, they are worried about the sacrifices ahead.
I can’t sit in front of a screen for 6.5 hours and not interact with anyone,” Keiran said.
“Their health is in peril. And I can’t not do something about it,” Fitzgerald countered.
The school district defended its original plan which was to have a hybrid model for elementary students and remote models for middle and high school students.
They said they would be working on ways to improve social interaction for everyone and on a plan to get students back into their classrooms as soon as possible.
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