Updated on March 6, 2021 at 9:09 am
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The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education has voted to give one person the education commissioner the power to reopen schools, and some teachers are worried that may give the state too much power.
The controversial vote came Friday, and gives Jeffrey Riley full power to require in-person learning for elementary school students. Students who are not comfortable returning to school will have the option of remaining remote for the rest of the school year. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather.
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Seitchik, who is a transfeminine non-binary person and uses “they/them” pronouns, would be among the first openly non-binary city councilors elected in the country, as more openly transgender people than ever run for local office in 2021.
They are a community organizer and two-term co-chair of the Boston Democratic Socialists of America, a group with nearly 3,000 members in Eastern Massachusetts and over 300 in Somerville. Nationally, DSA has grown to over 85,000 members since 2016, fueled by resistance to Trump and inspiring electoral victories from California to Chicago to New York.
In October 2020, Boston DSA member Erika Uyterhoeven won her race to serve as State Representative for Somerville’s 27th Middlesex District, with Seitchik serving as her campaign’s treasurer. Seitchik is currently seeking Boston DSA’s endorsement.
Wicked Local
Since it s February, and almost a year since nearly all of Somerville’s public school students have been in a classroom, we’re taking a look at how reopening plans have progressed – or not – in neighboring districts.
Over the summer, Somerville developed three plans to return to instruction as mandated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education: a fully remote, hybrid, and in-person model. This school year, Somerville has been fully remote, only recently bringing a select few high-needs students back in to classrooms a few days a week.
Since funding was approved in November, Somerville has been engaged in lengthy construction processes to update the HVAC systems in eight of Somerville’s 11 schools. Construction has been continually delayed and, along with negotiations with the Somerville Educators Union, has pushed back in-person reopening dates.