DESE Criticized ELPS Pandemic Learning Plan, Pushes for in-person attendance
Commissioner Jeff Riley ordered an audit of the ELPS.
ELPS Awaits Results of the DESE Audit of Remote Learning Plan
A week after the school year began, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) sent a letter to 16 school systems requesting more information about their decision to open remotely and asking for “a timeline” for providing an in-person return to school.
Referring to the letter as “adult bullying,” Glenn Koocher, executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees said, “There’s enough happening, and people didn’t need to get that kind of a scolding. Districts are very hard pressed to do what they think is best. They’re engaged in a very delicate relationship with their unions, some of which are more reasonable than others.”
Out of the 289 school districts in Massachusetts, sixteen received the DESE letter, including East Longmeadow, Amesbury, Bourne, Boxford, Gardner, Pittsfield, Provincetown, West Springfield, Gill-Montague, Mohawk Trail-Hawlemonte, Mohawk Trail, Belmont, Watertown, Berkshire Arts and Technology Charter Public, Hoosac Valley Regional Schools, and Manchester Essex Regional Schools.
East Longmeadow and Watertown were selected for audits by DESE on October 20.
“[The decision to go remote] ended up being defined as a local decision… and the school committees were the ones legally who were supposed to decide… the letter felt somewhat like a reversal on that, instead of a support,” said East Longmeadow Superintendent of Schools Gordon Smith, he was surprised by the letter,
Mr. Smith believes that the state was pressuring the administration and indirectly the school committee. due to the school committee’s duty to approve what the school administration chooses.
School Committee member Greg Thompson agrees with Mr. Smith.
Prior to the beginning of the school year, there wasn’t much input from the state or federal government as to what was expected from school districts, he said. Thompsons said the letter was “vindictive” and intended as a “threat” to discourage other schools from going remote.
DESE has completed data collection for its audit, though results have not yet been received.
The Spartan Spectator is continuing coverage on this story and will bring you the latest when we learn more.
