Schools Across Massachusetts Prepare For Return To Class
REVERE (CBS) - "Take care of teachers. Teachers take care of you!" That was the chant in Revere, where teachers demanded administrators back-off from pressuring their coworkers with medical conditions to return in-person.
"Teachers have been told that their option is to take unpaid leave or to come back into the classroom," said Rose Barrett.
"Districts need to be honoring medical notes from doctors," said Patrick Hughes.
With teachers eligible for vaccinations this week, Massachusetts' goal of getting more kids in school is in sight. In Worcester, there is new air filtration in all 53 school buildings. "I just want to get back to school," said Worcester mom Tyana Le, who says her daughter talks about it often. "I mean she misses school. She's been missing a year already."
It's that sentiment that prompted the city to invest $15 million into cleaning the air.
"Those ions, when they're in the airstream, they combine with particulate in the air making it larger and easier to filter," explained Alix Odell from Honeywell. "And they neutralize and kill pathogens," he said.
John Odell, Worcester's Director of Energy and Asset, said he's confident in the quality of the air in Worcester schools. "It's just great," he said. "This isn't a cure for anything. It's like the mask, or vaccine, or all the precautions you take. It's another tool."
State Education officials are pushing for all school districts to return to in-person learning for students from kindergarten to 5th grade by April. Teachers unions are asking the state to bring vaccine to local districts to speed up teacher vaccinations.
