MetroWest parents group pushing for physical return to school

HOLLISTON, Mass. — "What we're advocating for is a science-based plan," said Frank Sobchak.

The Holliston parent of two is standing in the desolate parking lot of the town's high school, which closed, like other Massachusetts schools, in mid-March.

“If you have infection rates increasing, then you shut down and you wait for infection rates to drop to a level that’s safe again,” Sobchak said. “But at the same time, it makes no sense for schools in North Adams to close if there’s an outbreak in Cambridge.”

Sobchak is a member of 'Bring Kids Back,' a parental task force formed in response to the threat that schools might not open in September due to the continued threat from coronavirus. The group believes continued reliance on virtual learning is setting Massachusetts students back academically.

Sobchak said the approach the group wants -- letting districts open depending on local infection numbers -- is the same thing advocated by Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and an advisor to President Donald Trump on COVID-19.

"We can go back to school safely," Sobchak said. "And if there's another outbreak we can shut down temporarily for two weeks, three weeks, however long is necessary for infection rates to subside."

Sobchak points out that children are far less likely to get sick from COVID-19 -- and if families fear they could bring it home to a vulnerable family member, the state could offer an all-day virtual classroom option.

That option would look much different from the few hours per day of virtual classwork many Massachusetts students completed this spring.

"Currently, in the virtual model, over an entire week of virtual learning kids will receive fewer hours of contact teaching than they would in a single day of in-person schooling," Sobchak said.

He will get no disagreement on the inadequacies of the current virtual model from Joan Shaughnessy, running for her fourth term on the Holliston School Committee.

"We would like nothing more than to come back to school in the fall without masks doing the normal thing," Shaughnessy said. "Having said that, it's highly unlikely that's going to happen."

Shaughnessy points to a memo from DESE, the state education agency, about summer programs, which also outlined required school district purchases for fall.

"And in that memo it talked about all the things they're doing in the summer, which is six feet apart -- the children have to be six feet apart. The children have to wear masks And there are carve-outs for special education and those children on IEPs and 504s," she said.

That memo caused a furor from parents, Shaughnessy said. “(Parents said) it’s not practical. It's not socially, emotionally or educationally appropriate."

That led DESE Commissioner Jeffrey C. Riley to release a follow-up memo, she said, reiterating the previous memo was about summer.

"So don't infer from that memo that this is what's happening in the fall. Although for us thinking people it's hard not to," Shaughnessy said. "Because why would you buy a bunch of PPE and masks and hand sanitizer if some of that prescription weren't going to be carried into the fall?"

As for what is coming in fall... Shaughnessy said guidance is expected in the short term... but right now, they just don’t know. But whatever DESE mandates, towns are required to follow -- or there’s a risk of losing funding and even accreditation.

For its part, Bring Kids Back hopes to influence DESE's decision.

The group just sent a letter to Governor Charlie Baker with its suggestions on how to open schools safely.

“We’re already kind of up against the wall in terms of planning. We have to make decisions and those decisions kind of take time,” Sobchak said. “And so I’m very worried that if we don’t take some action now that we’ll be kind of forced into courses of action that are going to let our children down.”

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