Salem Teachers: 'No Safe Way' To Reopen Schools In September

SALEM, MA — The union representing public school teachers in Salem is urging the school committee to start the school year with a remote-learning plan.

"The members of the Salem Teachers Union - almost 700 dedicated educators throughout the City - desperately would like to return to school and return to life as normal. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus Pandemic has made this impossible," Salem Teachers Union Local 1258 said in a letter to the school committee and Superintendent Stephen Zrike. "At this point, we believe that there is no safe way to reopen Salem’s school buildings at the beginning of the scheduled school year and strongly recommend that the district focus all available resources towards developing a remote learning plan which can best serve all of our students."

The school committee is scheduled to vote on a reopening plan on Monday, the last day school districts can submit their plans to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The board will release its recommendation and listen to public comment during a meeting scheduled for Thursday.

DESE charged school systems in June with developing three possible reopening plans: one that would involve full-time, in-person learning, one that would involve full-time, remote learning, and a third, hybrid model combining remote and in-person learning.

The union said if the school committee does open for a full or partial reopening, the number of people in school buildings should be limited and its members should be allowed to opt out of in-building work assignments without penalty. The union also said the school system needs to develop protocols for handling confirmed coronavirus. "The protocols released by the State on this topic are insufficient to ensure the safety of our school community," the union said in its letter.

"If the district pursues a plan that does not take these points into account, and places students and staff in unsafe conditions, we will continue to fight for the safe and effective educational environment that our students deserve," the letter from the union's executive board concluded.

Dave Copeland covers Salem and other North Shore communities for Patch. He can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).