MA Teachers Refuse To Give Standardized Tests: Patch PM

MASSACHUSETTS — It's Tuesday, May 25. Here's what you should know this afternoon:

• Worcester police arrested a 30-year-old man following a machete attack late Monday night.
• New Hampshire's largest airport was evacuated and shut down for more than two hours after a bomb threat was reported on Monday.
• Protesters rallied at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's headquarters in Malden Tuesday to call for an end to the in-school mask mandate.

Scroll down for more on those and other stories Patch has been covering in Massachusetts today.

Today's Top Story

A group of 53 Massachusetts public school teachers —including 52 from Cambridge and one from Hull — are calling themselves "conscientious objectors" as they refuse to administer the state-mandated MCAS exam.

The teachers say the tests, which impact state funding for local school districts, are causing undue stress and have a history of categorizing students by race and class. Those problems have been made worse with the limited in-person learning time students have had during the coronavirus pandemic.

"I've asked to be a conscientious objector because it was clear to me that these tests were causing undue harm," Hull fifth grade teacher Deb McCarthy said. McCarthy was sent home on administrative leave when she refused to administer the test.

Read the full story.

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Tuesday's Other Top Stories

Machete attack: Worcester police went to a gas station near Chandler and Irving streets just before 11:30 p.m. Monday after a report of a fight. At the scene, they found a 23-year-old man who had been stabbed and slashed several times, police said. Police later arrested Courtney Mallory, 30, of Worcester, on a charge of armed assault with intent to murder.

Activists target 'corridor of death' in Somerville: Activists will walk what they call the "Corridor of Death," from 530 Mystic Avenue to Broadway and McGrath Highway, at 5 p.m. Wednesday. They're calling for accelerated safety improvements on McGrath and Mystic Avenue, a crosswalk on Blakeley Avenue, traffic-calming measures and sound barriers along I-93. The area has seen several hit-and-runs in recent years.

Melrose man looks for third kidney: John Wright, 51, is on his second transplant and seeking a third. The first one came when he was 17 and lasted until grad school. His current transplant has lasted about a quarter-century — close to "unheard of" territory, his wife says — but it's time for a change. So the hunt is on again, as it has been to varying degrees for much of his life.

Airport bomb threat: New Hampshire's largest airport was evacuated and shut down for more than two hours after a bomb threat was reported on Monday. The incident was first publicly reported on Twitter by a passenger on a plane that had landed from Florida just before midnight. During the next 30 minutes, a number of people posted notes on Twitter about the shutdown — including the captain of an American Airlines flight from Chicago that was kept away from the terminal.

Eat fresh: Patch's 2021 Massachusetts Farmers Market Guide

Picture This

Work Out World robbery: On May 20 someone broke into several lockers at Work Out World in Waltham. Now, police are asking for the public's help in identifying the man in the image (Waltham Police Department photo).

They Said It

"We are excited to welcome athletes back to Falmouth for this summer tradition, and we look forward to welcoming a full field for our 50th running next August."

• Falmouth Road Race President Scott Ghelfi. The popular race will return in August with 8,000 in-person runners and a virtual event after being canceled last summer.

In Case You Missed It

Protest delays state ed board meeting: Protesters rallied at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's headquarters in Malden Tuesday to call for an end to the in-school mask mandate. The state will lift all coronavirus restrictions starting Saturday. The mask mandate will be replaced with federal guidance that fully vaccinated people don't need to wear face coverings indoors or outdoors, with a few exceptions. This includes schools, where masks will be required for staff and students in K-12 and early education settings.

7 Massachusetts Movies You Can Stream Right Now

Massachusetts punches above its weight when it comes to landing production for Hollywood feature films. The films on our current list are some of our favorites that were available for streaming on popular subscription services as of May 25, 2021 (films come and go from streaming services, so they may no longer be available by the time you read this).

We've limited the list to films that were shot and set in Massachusetts, meaning we've excluded a film like "Joy," which used Wilmington and other Massachusetts towns as a stand-in for suburban Philadelphia. We've also nixed films from the list that were shot someplace else but set in Boston.

See the list.