MEDFORD, MA — Congresswoman Katherine Clark toured the McGlynn Elementary School in Medford Thursday, praising both local and nationwide efforts to get students back in class. Clark highlighted the education funding provided by the American Rescue Plan as being instrumental in returning to full in-person learning.

"I had the pleasure of touring the McGlynn school and seeing our students learning, together, in classrooms. It was a great sign of how far we've come thanks to the incredible dedication of our local leaders and teachers, and the investments of the American Rescue Plan," Clark said Thursday.

The congresswoman watched first-grade students administer their own coronavirus tests before speaking with Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Superintendent Marice Edouard-Vincent and several administrators and representatives from Tufts University. Through a partnership with the university, the Medford Public Schools was able to start individual swab testing of students and staff in September, well before pooled testing started in schools in February.

Edouard-Vincent said the partnership was "critical" in getting students back to in-person learning. District officials also shared that CARES Act funding allowed them to upgrade the HVAC systems and buy Chromebooks and PPE.

More relief is coming under the American Rescue Plan, which allots more than $3 billion to public schools in Massachusetts and more than $5 million directly to Medford schools, Clark said. The bill was signed into law by President Biden in March.

"[The American Rescue Plan's] helping to test, teach and feed our children and provide them mental and physical health supports," Clark said. "I'm so proud to say that help is here."

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