BOSTON (WHDH) - With the high number of coronavirus cases in Boston, Mayor Martin Walsh said Tuesday that fully reopening the city’s public schools for in-person learning likely won’t happen in 2020.
“I’m not anticipating our schools reopening fully before Christmas, Christmas break,” he said during a press conference, “but I’m expecting that we’ll be able to have some clarification on what the phased reopening is going to be after Christmas.”
Most of the city’s schools have been closed since March, with only a small number of the highest-need students returning for in-person learning last month.
Walsh says learning remotely is having negative effects on children’s education.
“I would love to have our kids in school right now,” he said. “I mean, the loss of education by not being in-person, we don’t know what the impacts will be right now. We probably won’t know for a year or so. I think they’re going to be pretty detrimental in some ways.”
Walsh added that he is hopeful Boston can come up with a plan in the next couple of weeks to reopen schools safely.
The Boston Teachers Union has said it is preparing for some form of hybrid learning in the near future.
Walsh says none of that can happen unless the city can get better control of the virus.
“As we continue to move forward, if we get these numbers downs and we set benchmarks and we’re below those benchmarks right now, we will begin the process of reopening schools right after the new year, hopefully,” he continued.
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