Keller @ Large: Mass. Lagging Behind In Summer School Planning
BOSTON (CBS) - As tensions heighten between parents, state officials and teacher unions over when to return most students to the classroom, add another concern – the slow start of planning for expanded summer school.
Summer weather allowing better indoor ventilation and access to the outdoors, far more widespread vaccination, a chance for students who've been stuck with remote learning to be with teachers and other kids; it's a step all the key players seem to want.
"Parents and families have been pushing for it and talking about it since school started in September," says parent advocate Keri Rodrigues, founder of Massachusetts Parents United.
"We have to have a sense of urgency about it to make it happen faster," says state Secretary of Education Jim Peyser.
"This can be a win situation for all if it's a thoughtful, inclusive process and the money is spent well," says Merrie Najimy, president of the state's largest teacher union, Massachusetts Teachers Association.
The Biden stimulus bill includes $29 billion to help pay for it. But while states from Virginia to Florida to Colorado and California are actively planning for a summer of recovery, Massachusetts is lagging.
"We can't continue to rely on remote learning as the way in which this educational process plays out, especially in the summer when we can be outdoors," says Sec. Peyser. But as Tuesday's angry union reaction to the state's demand for an April return to full in-person elementary classes demonstrates, summer school planning won't be an easy lift.
"The state will be mobilizing resources to support schools in doing that," says Peyser, who cited potential expansion of so-called "acceleration academies" the state has offered in Boston and Lawrence, a push for public/private partnerships between school districts and community based organizations and "expanded summer camp programs with learning enrichment."
Is there anybody who's not on board with this? Says Peyser: "I hope not and I don't see why they should be."
But Najimy, the union president, says "doing it right means we bring all the stake holders together…. The Department of Education has not reached out to us yet to talk about summer school."
And while Peyser insists this will be a mostly in-person format, Najimy says that's subject to further discussion. "Right now it's really hard to foresee what the model will look like," she says. "The goal is to be able to find spaces that are safe."
All of which leaves Rodrigues, the parent advocate, with a sinking feeling.
"Nobody is giving any direction or leadership," she says.
