Scituate Superintendent William Burkhead says the South Shore community has pulled off reopening schools this fall in spite of Gov. Charlie Baker, not because of him.
By the time the state issued medical guidance metrics for students, Scituate's own Medical Advisory Committee was already at work on the problem. And recently, when two elementary school staffers tested positive for COVID-19 in Scituate, local leaders scrambled for answers, calling local pediatricians and public health officials.
Burkhead is among local educators who say Baker's leadership has been missing in the pandemic action surrounding public schools.
“If you’re a man of the people, get out and have Zoom forums," Burkhead urged Baker. "I don’t even know if the governor’s offices are open up there. The schools are. When will the governor do a forum for parents, educators? He hasn’t even had one for superintendents.”
For the record, Baker is in his office daily, although it remains officially closed to the public. The state's 289 school systems have not had that luxury. Many are in turmoil, trying to navigate the pandemic's many unknowns despite guidance that arrives too late to be truly helpful. Critics also wonder why the state hasn’t undertaken broad initiatives, like convening state experts to address aging school ventilation systems or establishing outdoor classroom programs.
Wrentham Superintendent Allan Cameron said he views teachers as essential workers, but that Baker hasn’t been sending that message.
“It’s frustrating for me that the governor has been able to issue guidance around restaurants, gyms and nail salons and not provide more state level leadership for education,” Cameron said. “I don’t know why that is.”
A spokeswoman for the governor's office said in a statement that the Baker administration since early summer has issued hundreds of pages of science-backed guidance to assist school districts.
Secretary of Education James Peyser also pointed to billions in federal aid administered by Baker's office to help communities cope. He told GBH News that if school guidance came too late for some districts, it was because the state was trying to offer the most sound information possible in a fast-changing landscape.
“It was very important for us, throughout this process, not to make a bunch of recommendations … prematurely before we had all the information,” Peyser said, “so that we weren’t in a position [of] providing recommendations or mandates and then changing our minds a couple weeks later.”
But local officials say that doesn't explain why in late June, state officials required districts to undertake the enormous task of submitting for state review three reopening plans: for in-person, hybrid and remote learning.
Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, an independent think tank in Boston, called it a “paper chase” and a move by a governor at odds with the state's teachers unions over issues like MCAS testing requirements.
"But that does not absolve the state of the confusion that they helped to create by not demonstrating leadership on some really key issues," Stergios said.
Then there were the “Friday bombs.” That’s how Tom Scott, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents, described state announcements that frequently came on Fridays from the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
The state’s color-coded map created to help districts plan, depending on the level of infection risk in their community, came out four to six weeks too late, according to Scott. Many communities had already created a plan or were in negotiations with their union about one.
Scott said he still thinks Massachusetts' education system is in better shape than those in others states and that the pandemic has strained everyone.
“But if you look back at the number of press conferences the governor had,” he said, "education wasn’t the major priority in these conversations.”
Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, agreed that the state is using the current crisis to challenge teachers unions. He said their agenda appears to include encouraging remote education as a way to stop MCAS testing this year.
“Everybody is trying to build political capital here,” Koocher said.
Baker and his administration have favored classroom learning, public health conditions permitting, as best for school children.
GBH News' Marilyn Schairer contributed to this report.
