Will Needham Schools Close? Other Schools Might Tell Us the Answer

As parties and other out-of-school gatherings cause the number of cases at Needham High to fluctuate (check out the exact number on the COVID dashboard here), both students and teachers have begun to wonder if closings are not a matter of if, but when. School districts near Needham have made a variety of choices about virtual or in-person learning. Some districts chose to only close their high school, others have no plan to open any of their schools, and some, like Needham, still remain open. Needham does not have a number of cases that they would close at or a public plan for how closing and re-opening would work, although it seems that they would only shut the schools down if there had been reported cases of transmission within the buildings. While Dr. Gutekanst is not known for following nearby schools, these districts' choices on when to close and what schools to close gives interesting insight into what might happen in Needham.

Wellesley: High school closed through Thanksgiving; all other schools open

Wellesley started their school year completely remote and moved to a hybrid model at the beginning of October. Over the past few months, Wellesley has received lots of publicity for their voluntary testing program. Through grants from the Wellesley Education Foundation, the public school system has been able to test all their students and teachers multiple times this year, regardless of being a close contact or having symptoms. Unfortunately, despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars of private donations that poured into Wellesley Public Schools’ Coronavirus response, a spike of six cases on November 11 at the high school forced the school to close through Thanksgiving. Unlike other school outbreaks, which were centered around outside of school parties amongst students, their outbreak of 13 positive cases in 11 days were majority staff members and there was evidence that it was spreading within the school. One Wellesley junior, Angela Watts, commented that “It’s been really isolating but at the same time kind of a relief. I wish I could see people in person, but in my opinion, at home school is definitely less stressful.” 

Framingham: All schools closed w/hope to move to hybrid in January 

Unlike Needham or Wellesley, Framingham, as a town, has struggled keeping their number of cases and positivity rate low. For most of the fall, the town was “red,” though they moved into “yellow” for parts of November.  Though the majority of students remain fully remote, Framingham’s highest need public school students returned to classrooms in October, then another group of high-needs students returned in November. The final group of high-needs students were supposed to return to the schools in December, but this move has been postponed. The superintendent hopes to return to a large-scale hybrid plan in January. On November 16, students and parents of Framingham Public Schools held a rally to campaign for a return to in-person learning. One interesting activity the school system has offered is the “Explorers Program,” which allows a small group of young students to come into the building and attend remote school from there, as well as play games and do art projects. 

Newton: High schools closed w/plan to open in January; all other schools hybrid

Newton made the unique choice to bring back elementary students in September in a hybrid model, then middle schoolers in November, but have yet to open their two high schools. Recent School Committee meetings have featured tension with the teachers union and, eventually, a plan to bring hybrid learning to the high schools in January. Following failures of Wellesley and Milton to keep their high schools open, many in Newton worry about bringing high schoolers back without testing. Fortunately, Newton was selected as one of 134 Massachusetts school districts to be part of a 15-minute rapid testing program to help identify cases before they cause outbreaks, similar to Wellesley’s pool testing program. 

Brookline: All schools opened in hybrid model

Brookline, similar to Newton, has brought back students of different grades at different times. Kindergarten students have been fully in-person since September. At the end of October, first graders, second graders, and ninth graders started hybrid learning, followed by third through eighth graders. At the beginning of November, the rest of the high schoolers entered the building. Brookline has been the site of tension between parents and teachers, as members of the teachers union in the town have protested openings of the school. The teachers were upset about the lack of six feet of distance in the building, though administrators disagreed that this was an issue. Members of the Brookline Educators Union picketed outside polling locations on election day. 

Milton: high school closed until Thanksgiving; all others hybrid

Though Milton started the school year with all grades in a hybrid model, the high school has faced numerous closings. Originally, the high school had students attending school two mornings per week. However, in late October, the school switched to two weeks of remote classes following the high number of staff that needed to quarantine because of positive cases. Unfortunately, just days after high school students returned to school, the high school was closed again following six new COVID-19 cases. The high school plans to resume in-person learning after Thanksgiving. Henry Schwarz, a senior at Milton High School, sees the second closing of schools as “depressing.” He further explained that, “It took a lot of hard work to open back up the school, and if we keep following this pattern of opening for a couple days, and then shutting down for a few weeks, it’s going to be a long winter.”

Natick: all schools are open w/ hybrid model

Natick has mainly stuck to their original hybrid plan for all grades. Like Needham, students were in school for one week and then out of school for the next one.  Also like Needham, Natick has had a few small clusters of cases throughout the fall, but they have only had to close the high school. In late September, the high school was closed for two weeks because some students chose to attend parties and other gatherings, despite being under quarantine orders because of exposure to a positive case. Alice Kosterin, a senior at Natick High School commented positively that“It’s been hard to keep adjusting my schedule, but it’s still better than being online for the whole year.”

Boston

With more than 54,000 students, Boston Public Schools dwarfs any other district on this list. Like most other large cities, Boston has kept their schools remote, except for programs for high-needs students. No non-high needs students have been let into the schools at this point. At the end of October, Boston switched back to fully remote learning following an increase in cases throughout the city. Last week, four schools that work specifically with high-needs students were reopened. The superintendent, Brenda Cassellius, hopes to bring back more high-needs students as the number of cases across the city decreases. Taylor Anderson-Clemente, the Director of School Climate and Operations at Ellis Mendell Elementary, explained that “To work in the system has been rough. Constantly getting mixed messages and living in the unknown is very challenging, especially when you are dealing with students and families in the middle of the pandemic.” She continued that personally, she misses the “old normal” and “getting to know students” and  “sitting at the lunch table laughing as they make jokes.”