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Date: 8/25/2020
At 3:22 p.m. on Aug. 21, a Friday, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) saw fit to release a fair amount of “guidance” on a number of subjects.
Those topics ranged from the role of teachers in remote education, in-person instruction for high-needs children, children of teachers, health calculation methods for regional school districts and Student Opportunity Act plan deadlines.
Among those announcements was one that ended up getting a lot of attention from the media as well as the Massachusetts Teachers Association and local collective bargaining groups. It reads, in part, “It is the Department’s expectation that teachers and critical support staff working in districts that have a remote learning model will report to their schools to work from the classrooms and educational spaces each day.”
I have made my disdain for and distrust in Commissioner of Education Jeffrey Riley’s brand of leadership in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic known in the pages of this newspaper before, but the man and his department are proving to be the proverbial Jelly of the Month club – the worst kind of gift that just keeps giving the whole year.
First of all, Riley’s approach as a whole remains extremely troubling, highlighted by the fact that less than two hours before the close of business on a Friday, DESE saw it appropriate to release additional “expectations” when many districts were supposed to begin training their staff the following Monday morning. In fact, in some districts, new hires were already engaged in professional development.
The big-picture issue for me here is this: State leadership essentially sat on their hands for three months. Some might say even longer, but I am giving everyone the benefit of the doubt from about March to the beginning of June because it was, indeed, an unprecedented situation and, truthfully, we all were just trying to see our way to the end of the school year. But then after months in the dark, DESE and its commissioner opted to put the burden of developing three plans – only one of which was going to be used and another that basically every district said off the bat could not be accomplished – on underfunded and understaffed school districts.
Then, after all that, Gov. Charlie Baker and Riley brought out a great looking color-coded map in an effort to create a false sense of security in the public and strongarm districts into pushing children and educators back into the classroom. And now, once again, a mandate is coming down directing districts on how they should handle care of their employees, among other things.
Essentially, after hanging back while the heavy lifting was taking place, DESE leadership now feels it appropriate to repeatedly move the goal posts as local districts try to establish new safety protocols and procedures, collectively bargain with various units to ensure there can been employment agreements in these new working conditions, train their teachers in a new manner of instruction and coordinate with families to ensure access to educational resources, all in an effort to save as many lives as possible.
The bulletpoint on teachers in remote-only districts is a microcosm of the larger problem. In addition to being blind to the purpose of remaining remote, DESE is essentially saying it doesn’t trust teachers to do their work from home. While the state shied away from developing meaningful policy and forced that responsibility on districts, they want to police a district-level issue.
As I continue to watch the situation unfold as the spouse of an educator, my frustration level couldn’t be higher and faith in the support and guidance from DESE and its commissioner couldn’t be lower. I couldn’t imagine how educators feel.
This much I do know, however: If Riley isn’t going to actually lead, he needs to get out of the way.