Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday afternoon that all K-12 school buildings, public and private, will remain closed through the end of the school year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Baker made the announcement during his COVID-19 update at noon on Tuesday.
He said there has been no guidance that would allow schools to safely reconvene during the Coronavirus outbreak. Baker told students that the state order does not mean that students should stop laerning.
“Closing the actual school buildings for the year does not mean it’s time to start summer vacation early,” Baker said. “We’re making this decision to allow school districts to plan through the end of the year to offer remote learning for all students.”
Jeffrey C. Riley, the Mass. Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education, encouraged districts to continue to provide remote learning opportunities for students through the end of the school year.
“We want to minimize learning loss as much as possible,” Riley said. “I hope everyone will continue to work with their students to do the best they can on remote learning.”
Another order, which closed non-emergency child care providers, will be extended until June 29, Baker said.
Baker also briefly addressed the subject of loosening the social distancing requirements and reopening the state’s economy. He said, while the numbers of new cases are going down that Massachusetts remains “in the surge” of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Baker added that a few days of dropping cases does not make a trend.
Despite being in the surge, Massachusetts hospitals have beds available for both those with COVID-19 and patients with other ailments. Baker mentioned that hospitals have seen a drop in patients coming in for non-Coronavirus treatments, such as cancer, heart disease and kidney dialysis. He said that hospitals have taken steps to make sure they are safe for people to get treatment and avoid COVID-19.
Deferment of Payment of Higher Ed. Loans
The state will also be deferring the due date for paying the No-Interest Student Loans for four months. Bills due in April will not be due until the end of July. The deferment does not count toward the 36 months of available deferment allowed by the program.
Also, accounts that are currently 120 days past due will not be placed into collections.
See the announcement from the Governor’s office by clicking here.