FRANKLIN, MASS. (WHDH) - Expressing great concern over the sharp spike in COVID-19 cases driven by the highly contagious omicron variant, the Massachusetts Teachers Association blasted Gov. Charlie Baker’s post-holiday testing plan for educators, calling it a “logistical nightmare.”
Baker and Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley on Wednesday announced the state had purchased 200,000 at-home testing kits that will be distributed to school districts throughout the state so teachers and staff can test for COVID-19 before they return to work after the holiday break.
In a statement issued Thursday, MTA President Merrie Najimy said the plan lacks a systematic, inclusive, and comprehensive approach to protecting public health and that it jeopardizes educators’ attempts to maintain safe in-person learning as schools reopen.
“This decision, made without consultation with educators’ unions and local stakeholders, is one more example of the failure of the Baker administration to get it right. Plans for testing of this magnitude should have been communicated well in advance of schools closing for the winter break,” Najimy said. “Baker and Riley have created a logistical nightmare all the way from distribution to testing oversight, placing the burden on school staff — particularly school nurses, who are already stretched beyond their capacity.”
Najimy added that Riley’s “incompetence” leaves school districts no time to develop a contingency plan if there is a local COVID-19 outbreak.
The state has said that tests are not required to return to school.
“If testing is going to be successful, the Baker administration must immediately create a much broader distribution mechanism and provide the proper staffing to ensure that the tests are being used,” Najimy said. “We are tired of Band-Aid approaches from Baker and Riley when it comes to facing the biggest public health threat of our time.”
Najimy also said the state needs to begin showing more flexibility in the event in-person learning is temporarily deemed too risky.
Last week, the state distributed more than six million KN95 masks to schools for employees.
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