Statement from Jessica Tang and the Boston Teachers Union on Students Return 3/1:
“Throughout the pandemic, BTU educators have long advocated for and emphasized the importance and value of returning to in-person learning, especially for our highest-need students. We have worked extensively with the district and the City to reach several agreements that prioritize the health and safety of our students and educators, and as 8,000 more students return to the classroom today, we are confident and hopeful about the protocols that have been agreed upon. The U.S. Department of Education has cited BTU’s Collective Bargaining Agreement as a key example of a successful reopening strategy in the first volume of their ED COVID-19 Handbook and we conducted additional walk-throughs and independent air quality tests to ensure our schools are ready. BTU educators are excited that our early education students who have chosen in-person learning are returning to our classrooms and, also understandably a bit anxious as we continue to ensure the district is strictly enforcing the necessary mitigation provisions and protocols in place to promote health and safety as well as quality instruction. We know that what we have been advocating for is consistent with what science and research have taught us, and that our advocacy has enabled students to return today under the safest conditions possible, and we will continue to fight for what we know is best and safest for our students, educators and our communities. This includes our continued advocacy to vaccinate in-person school-based staff immediately, and vaccinating all educators as soon as possible.”