Boston, the state's largest school district with more than 55,000 students, has yet to publicly announce its plan for reopening schools.
School districts across the state have to submit their plans for reopening in the fall to the state on Friday, but they may not all be released publicly. The state's education department directed school districts to prepare plans for three different reopening models: in-person, remote or a mix of the two. Several districts have already announced online-only or hybrid versions of in-person and remote learning.
Boston has already ruled out 100% in-class learning, and said its model would likely be a hybrid of remote and in-class learning.
A spokesman for Boston Public Schools confirmed Friday that its final plans "will be a similar version of the draft plan shared last week, and will focus on both the hybrid and all-remote options that have been discussed."
But he said no formal announcement about Boston's plan is scheduled for Friday.
"For BPS, this is an operational decision that will be made by the Superintendent and will not be put forth before the Boston School Committee. BPS and the City of Boston continue to monitor public health metrics and engage our teachers, faculty, staff, parents and community at large."
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Boston Public Schools announced Thursday that they had moved the first day of school from Sept. 10 to Sept. 21 after teachers asked for more time to plan.
Educators from across Boston held a rally Thursday evening at City Hall as they continued urging city leaders to start the school year remotely to keep teachers, students and families safe.
"We should not be trying to go into the school buildings at this point in time," said teacher Becca Maclean. "We simply are not prepared."
The group is also calling for more personal protective equipment, safer building set ups, and other precautions to protect against COVID-19.
"For example, my school's air quality is coded as poor. I have colleagues that teach in windowless classroom. We do not have soap in the bathrooms ever and we do not have drinkable water," Maclean said.
When he last spoke on Wednesday, Mayor Marty Walsh said he remains hopeful that there will be at least some in-person learning in Boston schools this year despite a recent uptick in coronavirus cases in the city.
"We know there's going to be remote learning this year," he said. "We hope there will be in-person learning this year. We're planning and preparing to make sure both of them work and it's high quality."
