Braintree Schools Hope For Full In-Person Classes In January.

BRAINTREE, MA — School officials want a return to full in-person learning in Braintree on Jan. 4.

Elementary school students also could see more time in the classroom as soon as next month, Superintendent Frank Hacket told the school committee at its meeting Monday. But for school officials to make full reopening a reality, the coronavirus situation in Massachusetts will have to improve enough that certain restrictions can be lifted.

Hackett said a full return to in-person learning would require the state to ease social distancing requirements in both the classroom and on school buses.

"At 6 feet, we cannot return to in-person full time," Hackett said.

He said a full return would also require that every school building have adequate ventilation, something the district is still working on

Over the last few months, the, ventilation, especially at Braintree High School, has been an important factor throughout the school committee's reopening discussions. Early in the process school committee chair Tom Devin said buildings built in the '50s, '60s and even '70 didn't account for air condition in their designs, so ventilation is a crucial factor when trying to lessen the spread of the coronavirus.

Hackett said any changes schools make in the meantime will be made with the goal of a January reopening in mind. Devin asked for the community's patience throughout this process.

"They're trying to get our children back as safely as possible," Devin said.

State education officials have also started encouraging as much in-person learning as possible. There's little evidence the rise in Massachusetts coronavirus cases has stemmed from schools with in-person learning, state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said Tuesday.

Riley wants public health officials to develop a better metric for measuring coronavirus outbreaks that takes into account isolated cases, which could allow schools to continue with some form of in-person learning. At Tuesday's meeting of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Riley said several towns were deemed "high risk" because of outbreaks at colleges, nursing homes and jails.

So far the notion of schools being "super-spreader places has been unfounded," Riley said.

The high risk designation has prevented some school districts from continuing in-person learning models.

Braintree was not among those communities at high risk. As of last Wednesday, the town was stilled deemed a "yellow" community, meaning it averaged between four and 8 daily cases per 100,000 people over the last two weeks. Braintree averaged 6.7 new daily cases per 100,000 residents.