Coalition led by Holyoke officials press Baker to vaccinate educators earlier
Holyoke School Committee member Devin Sheehan is leading a coalition of school committee members statewide to encourage Gov. Charlie Baker to vaccinate teachers and other school personnel earlier. SUBMITTED PHOTO
Holyoke High School GAZETTE FILE PHOTO
Published: 1/19/2021 6:57:59 PM
HOLYOKE As students and teachers in Holyoke prepare to soon head back to school under a hybrid learning model, a coalition of school committee members from across the state is calling on Gov. Charlie Baker to prioritize vaccination for educators in urban and low-income school districts, like those in the Paper City and Springfield.
Early ed virus testing pilot in the works, Peyser says
Massachusetts Secretary of Education James Peyser AP FILE PHOTO/STEVEN SENNE
Published: 1/13/2021 9:36:05 AM
State officials are working to develop a COVID-19 testing pilot program focused on early education and care, Education Secretary James Peyser said Tuesday.
Peyser’s comments, during a Board of Early Education and Care meeting, came as Massachusetts is rolling out a new pooled testing initiative in K-12 schools and a day after more than 250 early education, care and out-of-school time providers, advocates and associations wrote to the Baker administration, blasting their sector’s exclusion from the plan.
COVID testing pilot in early education underway in Massachusetts
Updated Jan 13, 2021;
By Katie Lannan | State House News Service
State officials are working to develop a COVID-19 testing pilot program focused on early education and care, Education Secretary James Peyser said Tuesday.
Peyser’s comments, during a Board of Early Education and Care meeting, came as Massachusetts is rolling out a new pooled testing initiative in K-12 schools and a day after more than 250 early education, care and out-of-school time providers, advocates and associations wrote to the Baker administration, blasting their sector’s exclusion from the plan.
In a Monday letter to Gov. Charlie Baker, Peyser and other officials, the group called it “unconscionable” that the pool testing program would not be open to early education and care providers, arguing that “if there are funds available for weekly, preventative Covid-19 testing for K-12 educators, there are funds available for us.”
Gov. Charlie Baker announced Friday that the state will make weekly COVID-19 pool testing available to Massachusetts schools within the next month to help bring.
Baker announces coronavirus pool testing to be made available to all Massachusetts public schools
By James Vaznis Globe Staff,Updated January 8, 2021, 1:13 p.m.
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Governor Charlie BakerSam Doran/State House News Service
Governor Charlie Baker unveiled plans Friday to begin wide-scale testing on students and educators in public schools across Massachusetts to detect the coronavirus, a move the governor hopes will entice more districts to reopen classrooms.
The testing program, which will kick off in about a month, will be voluntary and available to any district operating classrooms so they can routinely test students and staff. The program will be free for the first six weeks, and students and staff can decline to participate.