Teachers and staff are already being tested every week. By testing everyone in the community every week, we can better protect everyone’s safety. More information will be available on Parent Square, and you can attend one of our community meetings for more information.

MEETING: Wednesday, February 17 at 9:00 AM

MEETING: Wednesday, February 24 at 6:00 PM

RESOURCES

1. Family Resource CLCS Online Learning Platforms

2. Food Access for Boston Students

BPS will continue to provide free breakfast and lunch meals to all Boston students. This includes our community based early childhood provider students, charters, Metco, and Catholic parochial schools. BPS will distribute the meals at several dozen locations throughout the City of Boston beginning on Tuesday, March 17. A variety of packaged meal options will be available for pick-up Monday – Friday from 8:30 am – 11:30 am. Visit www.bostonpublicschools.org/coronavirus for the full list. No child will be turned away.

Additionally, the City of Boston in partnership with Project Bread, YMCA of Greater Boston, Boston Centers for Youth and Families, and other community organizations will also be providing free meals to school-aged children at various locations and times across the city. Click here to view all the current meal locations and times. More locations will become available over the coming week.

The City of Boston has created pick up sites available throughout the city for families to access food. This is similar to the plan used during summer recess. You may review the map of available sites and share with families that you know may be in greatest need. This information will be sent out to all families.

3. Boston Internet Access

Comcast is offering free service during this time that everyone needs access to digital information. Please see information from Comcast below (you may contact them directly to arrange service) or read their corporate announcement here:

• Xfinity WiFi Free For Everyone: Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, consumers should select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then launch a browser.

• Pausing Our Data Plan: With so many people working and educating from home, we want our customers to access the internet without thinking about data plans. While the vast majority of our customers do not come close to using 1TB of data in a month, we are pausing our data plans for 60 days giving all customers Unlimited data for no additional charge.

• No Disconnects or Late Fees: We will not disconnect a customer’s internet service or assess late fees if they contact us and let us know that they can’t pay their bills during this period. Our care teams will be available to offer flexible payment options and can help find other solutions.

• Internet Essentials Free to New Customers: As announced yesterday, it’s even easier for low-income families who live in a Comcast service area to sign-up for Internet Essentials, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive broadband adoption program. New customers will receive 60 days of complimentary Internet Essentials service, which is normally available to all qualified low-income households for $9.95/month. Additionally, for all new and existing Internet Essentials customers, the speed of the program’s Internet service was increased to 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. That increase will go into effect for no additional fee and it will become the new base speed for the program going forward.