MA Teachers Could Start Getting Vaccinated By Mid-March

MASSACHUSETTS — Comments by Gov. Charlie Baker Friday indicate a potential win for teachers in the conversation around reopening schools. Baker said teachers could start getting vaccinated by mid-March, but the plan is "supply dependent."

The governor's remarks came as he visited a "pooled testing" program at Nock Middle School in Newburyport, Boston 25 reported.

Widespread vaccinations for teachers and school staff has been a sticking point in the fight over resuming in-person learning. The Massachusetts Teachers Association has advocated for the state to add teachers to the priority group receiving vaccines in the first few phases of the rollout.

The Massachusetts Teachers Association is doubling down on its call for teachers and school staff to be vaccinated as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention add educators to its list of recommendations of high priority groups to receive the vaccine.

"We have submitted our own union-created plan to the Department of Public Health that would facilitate the rapid vaccination of school staff by firefighters and EMTs in their own communities," the MTA said in a Feb. 13 statement. "Unions are playing an important role in making pandemic education work, whether remote, hybrid or fully in person. We have a mandate to make sure our schools are safe for our members and their students. We have been a driving force behind making sure that school districts make the necessary repairs to ventilation systems and implement other safety measures."

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said this week the goal is to start bringing back elementary students for full-time, in-person learning as soon as April.

"It continues to be vital to get as many students back in school as possible, preferably before the end of the year," Riley said.

When the coronavirus pandemic began, the state education board allowed districts to implement remote and hybrid learning to meet learning time regulations. Riley said he plans to ask the board to amend those regulations to give him the authority to determine when hybrid and remote learning models no longer count for learning hours.

It's part of his broader plan to return more students to in-person learning this spring, assuming coronavirus cases continue to decrease, Riley said. The return plan would be in phases, starting with the youngest students.