4.1% citywide positive COVID test rate forces delay of general education students entering BPS buildings

Highlights of the mayor’s press conference this morning and the BTU statement

— General education students will not start entering school buildings next week because the positive COVID test rate is now 4.1 percent.

— High-needs students can continue to come in if their parents choose to send them. 1,300 high-needs students a day have been going to school buildings, not the 3,500 who were reportedly expected. That’s anywhere from “a handful” to 50 for individual schools, according to Superintendent Brenda Cassellius. She didn’t say which schools have the highest numbers (or the lowest numbers).

BPS reopening page graphic still shows four-day-a-week in-school learning for highest-needs students starting October 13.

— It wasn’t clear whether the district will go to four days a week for high-needs students on October 13 as previously announced. That would presumably put 2,600 students in the buildings, 100 at the busiest schools. The BPS reopening page, which quickly reported the change for general education students, still has a graphic showing that highest-needs students will have four days a week in the buildings starting October 13.

[Update, later on October 7: The reopening page has now been changed with this new graphic showing students with highest needs may start four days, no sooner than October 13.]

— No mention of moving in-person students to the safest schools, as both the Special Education Parents Advisory and the Boston Teachers Unions have demanded.

— Roxann Harvey, chair of the SpEdPAC, spoke powerfully about the need that some students have for in-person learning. “This opportunity to be back in school has changed our children,” she said. “Just these two days of being in school, it’s almost like seeing different children, the way they are opening up … we know that in-person services need to remain for our high-needs students.” She starts speaking a little after 19 minutes into the recording.

— The BTU’s memorandum of agreement with the BPS administration says schools will go to all-remote learning if the positive test rate goes above 4.0. The union issued a statement saying that entering the buildings is now optional for staff, but “we do expect many educators will be opting to work in-person — despite the increasing risks — in order to support our highest-need students while we work with stakeholders to establish a framework for safe, rational scheduling.”