Framingham Teachers, School Leaders Clash Over Reopening Safety

FRAMINGHAM, MA — With Framingham teachers set to return to school buildings on Monday, educators are questioning the safety of going back amid current coronavirus conditions — but school administrators are saying the concerns were largely addressed in an agreement signed at the beginning of this school year.

The dispute has played out in public this week, with the Framingham Teachers Association (FTA) publishing a letter on Tuesday outlining concerns. The letter described a recent Google survey and meeting where a majority of teachers voted to support a set of strictures they want to see before going into buildings — including mandatory pool testing, mandatory masks and the city's coronavirus rate dropping below 10 daily cases per 100,000 and a 4 percent positive test rate.

"Overall, 87 percent of the Google survey respondents indicated a belief that, under typical conditions, student learning is better in person than in a remote setting; clearly, teachers want to be back with their students," FTA spokeswoman Ilana Wyner said in a letter. "That said, 77 percent of respondents said that 'the level of COVID in the community' was their greatest concern about returning to the building."

In a joint letter Thursday, Superintendent Robert Tremblay and the School Committee responded to each point in the FTA's letter, largely saying the FTA's concerns had either been discussed with administrators or addressed in a memorandum of understanding (MOA) signed in September.

"While I understand the [FTA's] advocacy and encourage clarifying questions, the implementation of the MOA and the success of our district will only be effective when we work together, collaborating on new ways to better support staff and the education needs of our community’s children, many of whom have not seen the inside of a school since March 2020, or not at all as is the case for our kindergartners," Tremblay wrote in a letter, which was shared with the entire district and several media outlets.

Tremblay and the School Committee are under pressure from parents to bring students back to classrooms as soon as possible. The coronavirus situation in Framingham has improved in recent weeks, but the city is still on the state's list of high-risk communities for virus transmission.

On Thursday, Tremblay told parents in a letter teachers would return to school buildings on Monday. On Wednesday, groups of high-needs students will begin returning to classrooms. Those students were in buildings in the fall, but switched back to remote learning after coronavirus cases began creeping up in schools. A return date for general education students has not been set yet.

Here are the letters sent this week between the FTA and FPS administrators.

FTA Letter to Media - 1.26.21 by Neal McNamara on Scribd