BOSTON (WHDH) - A teacher is pushing back on new state rules requiring educators to go into their classrooms to host remote learning, instead of leading lessons at home.
The new rules, laid out in a memo sent Friday from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, require teachers in districts that allow remote learning to host those sessions from their classrooms, instead of teaching from home. Melanie Allen, a language arts teacher at the Hernandez School in Boston, said the rule made no sense.
“It’s just absurd, if the argument is I can’t concentrate when I’m at home because I’m distracted by my children, can you figure how much you’ll amplify it by asking me to bring my children into a classroom where they don’t have snacks?” Allen said. “It boggles the mind that’s a solution, particularly because the reason I have children at home is that as a parent I opted for remote learning because I don’t believe it’s safe [to be in the classroom].”
In the memo, DESE officials said they were telling teachers to work from their classrooms because they had more reliable internet access, it creates more consistency for students and it allows administrators to monitor instruction more easily. Allen said she hoped DESE would change the rule.
“I hope it’s simply a misunderstanding about where we can work best, not mistrust that we won’t work our best,” Allen said.
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