As the second week of the year ended, schools not just in Boston but across the US. Reported numerous students and teachers infected with COVID. Against this backdrop of remote learning vs in-person learning: Boston students stage walkout, some important issues came to the fore for consideration.
The Backdrop for the Walkouts
Similarly, students in schools located in biggest school districts in the US. have organized their own walkouts in the week. For instance, students in New York held a similar walkout on Tuesday. Likewise, Public school students in Chicago conducted a walkout on Friday afternoon.
The walkouts come against the following backdrop.
First, the highly contagious Omicron variant has led to an unprecedented number of record cases. Hospitals and schools have been strained in terms of staffing. Little surprise then, that the need to return to remote learning is coming to the fore.
For example, on Thursday, the report from state health officials specified 18,721 new confirmed cases, 3,180 patients hospitalized with the virus, and 36 confirmed deaths.
Meanwhile, records show that some schools see up to a 40 percent staff absences.
Boston Students Stage Walkout
Specifically, up to 600 students from 11 schools across the city of Boston staged a walk out of class on Friday morning (14th January, 2022). They did this to urge the administration to use remote learning options as well as implement strong COVID-19 safety measures in public schools. In other words, they wanted to have the option of remote learning rather than risk contracting COVID-19 and falling behind on the mandatory in -person learning.
Similarly, a petition online to bring back remote learning garnered over 8,000 signatures as of Friday morning.
Furthermore, the Boston Student Advisory Council expressed themselves in a letter to public officials. Essentially, they demanded for remote learning for a period of two weeks. In addition, proper personal protective equipment had to be provided for teachers. More so, proper COVID testing had to be implemented for students and teachers. Meanwhile, there should be excused absences, cancelled testing, and other measures.
For instance, according to the council, teachers receive expired home testing kits and non-medical KN95 masks, and the crowded lunchrooms and small classrooms do not allow for social distancing.
As such, they are pushing for improved safety protocols and the option of remote learning.
Likewise, the demand is for Boston Public Schools to go remote for two weeks. More so, the period should be counted to be within the state’s mandatory 180 days of in-person learning.
Further concerns from the students
Student leaders in Boston express their feelings. They are the ones in schools daily and they relate with numerous kids in classrooms and lunch rooms each day. Ultimately, the environment is very unsafe and risky for them.
The administration’s position
The administration is reluctant to return to remote learning. For instance, Governor Charlie Baker mentioned in-person schooling as the safest place for students. Similarly, Mayor Michelle Wu described remote learning as a “last resort.”
However, at her news conference on Thursday, she proposed that the state should be more flexible in providing options for individual hard-hit schools. Although, staffing shortage due to COVID-19 did not necessitate a complete switch to remote learning, individual schools in the public school systems may need the option of remote learning.
The bottom line
Overall, United States are having a record number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Meanwhile, the country records nearly 800,000 new infections per day.
Understandably, this new wave of infections has renewed the debate. The remote learning vs in-person learning: Boston students stage walkout incident traces its roots to the rising rate of infections. Ultimately, officials have to balance the grounded fears about the Omicron variant with the possibility of students falling behind academically after roughly two years of interrupted learning.
Nonetheless, states in the U.S may have to at the very least, provide options for individual schools that are hard-hit. After all, they may not have a choice if the COVID and pandemic challenges create staffing and other issues that are beyond control.
