Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley. (State House News Service)
More than 100 local teachers unions have taken a vote of no confidence in Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley over concerns about his leadership during the pandemic, union representatives told the state education board on Tuesday.
Haverhill Education Association President Anthony Parolisi, a civics teacher, read a declaration he said was signed by more than 50,000 members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. He described the votes and declaration as a grassroots effort that originated from several union locals, not the MTA.
Parolisi said the signatories want to see Riley changes his practices, listen more to educators, and stop trying to overrule local decisions and strong-arm them into reopening schools.
COVID high-risk communities in Mass. had a mix of in-person and remote school models
Updated Dec 13, 2020;
Most schools in Massachusetts have been maintaining some form of in-person learning for students this fall, but some districts are making temporary changes as coronavirus cases surge.
Education officials have stressed that in-school spread of coronavirus is low, but there is transmission in classrooms. In Framingham, students are learning remotely until next month after Superintendent Robert Tremblay reported instances of in-schools transmission of the virus, as well as reports of parents sending symptomatic children to class.
With 158 Massachusetts communities now considered at high risk for spreading COVID-19 - up from 97 the previous week - some districts have decided to switch to remote education through the holidays.
WOBURN - Schools Superintendent Dr. Matthew Crowley ordered the suspension of in-person learning at WMHS after 14 students and staff members tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend.
In a letter addressed to local families on Sunday afternoon, the superintendent explained he is temporarily implementing a full remote-learning model for all high schoolers for a period of one-week out of an abundance of caution.
Per his directive, WMHS is scheduled to resume its hybrid learning model on Dec. 14.
The action by the district s top administrator marks the first time the community has closed an entire educational facility due to COVID-19 cases since the September start of the 2020-2021 school year.