As educators ponder fall, parents worry

MEDWAY, Mass. — The school year is drawing to a close in typically atypical fashion in Medway. A line of cars decorated with balloons and banners and good wishes for a guy named Zack is lining up for what has become the stand-in for just about every celebration during the Covid-19 era: The drive-by.

"This is a graduation slash birthday celebration for a student," said teacher Jonah Faigle.

That Zack won’t have to return in fall at least spares him some uncertainty. With COVID-19 declining, but still, a threat, school systems across the state are in a holding pattern as they await guidance from the state Department of Education and Secondary Education (DESE).

That agency sparked controversy last week when a memo about reopening schools included recommendations that students wear masks and stay physically distant from one another. Initial fall guidance is expected in a week or two, according to department spokesperson Jacqueline Reis.

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“It’s disappointing because it doesn’t fit with how kids really interact with each other,” said Chris Borradaile of Medway, the father of two young boys. "But if we have to take those precautions I don’t know what other options we really have.”

Renee Carlson has two children in the nearby Medfield school system. An educator for 15 years, she thinks taking virus precautions in classrooms this fall would not just be disappointing -- but damaging.

“We are not OK with our kids 6 feet apart,” Carlson said. “We are not OK with our kids behind plastic partitions. We are not OK with our kids in masks for seven hours.”

Carlson said what kids have been immersed in these past few months has been fear.

“I’m more concerned about the mental health of our next generation than I am about this virus,” she said. “I mean, this is such an important time to teach kids about compassion and empathy and how can we do that if they’re not even near each other?”

Carlson's efforts are aimed at the elementary school level. But older kids aren't wild about the idea of returning to school with masks and distancing rules in place, either.

"Some of your attention would definitely be on the mask," said Eli Schachter, a 7th grader from Holliston. "You'd spend a lot of time adjusting it. You'd spend a lot of time moving it."

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Classmate Dylan Woodhouse agrees comfort would be an issue.

“I think it would be hot when you talk a lot,” he said. “Cuz the air in your mouth is just gonna get sucked up.”

And after months of not seeing friends, neither relished the idea of more of the same in fall.

“For a whole year, you wouldn’t be able to be close to your friends? That would be kind of hard,” said Woodhouse.

"Certainly it would be tough because you're used to sitting next to your friends at lunch, talking to them... shoving them if they make fun of you in an okay way," Schachter said. "I'm sure people would eventually, accidentally, not knowing what they were doing, they would probably shove someone or sit next to them to look at something they were doing."

Of course, there is another possibility for fall: that school could be as virtual as spring.

"What I've personally seen with virtual learning, and I know a lot of other mothers can speak to this, is that it's not working," Carlson said. "Our children are regressing. I cannot stress this enough: We cannot do the jobs of the amazing teachers we have in this town and other towns."

In Holliston, a group of parents formed a task force to pressure schools into opening in fall. One concern the group has with high school students is the potential they could fall behind their peers academically if nothing but virtual learning continues.

"There are no good answers," Carlson said. "That's the problem."

But she is offering a solution. In a petition, Carlson proposed parents have the choice of whether to send their children back to a physical classroom in fall -- or, if there’s a high-risk exposure situation in the family, to have them learn remotely. So far, about 200 others have signed it.

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