PUBLIC EDUCATION in Massachusetts is at a crossroads. Amidst a deadly COVID-19 pandemic that has taken 15,000 Massachusetts lives, Gov. Charlie Baker and Education Commissioner Jeff Riley have called for full-time, in-person learning to resume in April for all elementary schools. Meanwhile, education leaders, teachers, and parents point out that educators have yet to receive […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Say no to ‘double-dip’ PPP tax break
STRUGGLING SMALL businesses are being used once again by anti-tax zealots to push legislators and the public alike into supporting a new and ill-advised state tax break. Advocates for this new tax break for sole proprietorships, pass-through businesses, and the like, are claiming that the COVID relief dollars that many big and small businesses received […]
Posted inOpinion
Biomass plant COO says science on his side
THE PALMER RENEWABLE Energy biomass plant in Springfield will generate 42 megawatts of firm, clean green power. We have stayed silent during the on-going debate about our project in the hope that the multiyear permitting process and seven years of unsuccessful litigation and appeals to that permit would speak for us. Unfortunately, the ongoing public misinformation about biomass and criticism of our municipal light department partners compels us to respond. First, some facts: Every […]
Posted inPolitics
‘Original old boys club’ on its way out
DESPITE ITS NATIONAL REPUTATION as a white, sports-obsessed, year-round iced Dunkin’ swilling city, it has been two decades since Boston officially became a majority minority city. Women make up 52 percent of Boston’s population, and 55 percent of Bostonians are people of color. And yet, Boston’s record of exclusively white male mayors has remained, like […]
Posted inOpinion
Support black-owned cannabis shop in Harvard Square
WE WERE THRILLED to hear about the proposal for a black-owned cannabis dispensary in Harvard Square. The location is highly suitable and the venture will be a boon for the local economy. It is wonderful to see local entrepreneurs capitalize on our attempts to create equity in an emerging industry, and we see this as a powerful […]
Posted inOpinion
Let’s make school meals free for all kids
LIKE MANY PARENTS in Massachusetts, Rebecca Wood was getting by on a tight budget that left her struggling with school meal debt, among other costs, well before the pandemic hit. The mother of an 8-year-old child, Rebecca describes her situation as feeling like she’s in a boat with a small hole in it. Then came […]
Posted inOpinion
Math learning taking a hit during COVID
AS WE NEAR the one-year mark of the unprecedented disruption to our public education system wrought by the pandemic, we are grappling with what we have lost and what we have learned. While it’s still too early to determine the total effects that remote learning will have on student learning, testing data from this fall […]
Posted inOpinion
Russell ‘Stringer’ Bell could move vaccines
GOV. CHARLIE BAKER has taken a lot of heat for the woeful performance of the state’s coronavirus vaccine distribution program. Given his claim to fame as an effective manager with experience in health care administration, the rollout should have been in Baker’s wheelhouse. Yet Massachusetts has lagged behind most other states in both efficiency and […]
Posted inOpinion
Making pods work for everyone
AS MANY STUDENTS struggle to keep up with schoolwork virtually, Julia Rios welcomed praise that two kindergarteners she is working with in a new community learning pod are thriving. Their parents and teachers from Blackstone Innovation School in Boston report that, unlike so many children trying to learn during the pandemic, these youngsters are keeping […]
Posted inOpinion
It’s time to bring transparency to the Legislature
IN 2016, when the Massachusetts Legislature updated the state’s public records laws, they chose to punt on the issue of how such laws should apply to themselves. Indeed, Massachusetts remains the only state where the courts, Legislature, and governor’s office all claim to be fully exempt from public records laws. In traditional Beacon Hill fashion, […]