In 2019, Holyoke set out to build two new middle schools. But after months of heated debate, the ballot measure to fund the project was voted down by the community. Some say the outcome is a testament to how limited fiscal capacity, insufficient state funding, and local tax constraints work to prevent Gateway Cities from building equitable, modern school facilities.
schools
Posted inEducation
Poll shows strong support for school mask mandate
WHILE GOV. CHARLIE BAKER continues to resist imposing a statewide mask mandate for Massachusetts schools, new poll results show strong public support for such a measure. According to a new […]
Posted inEducation
Uncertainty continues to plague school reopening debate
ONE OF THE most disturbing of the shockingly wide range of symptoms experienced by people with COVID-19 is often described as “brain fog,” a lingering inability to think clearly that […]
Posted inEducation
Role of school rapid testing debated
IT WAS THE end of March when the state’s Department of Public Health began reporting more than 1,000 new cases of coronavirus daily. Schools were shuttered, students were home, and […]
Posted inEducation
‘Breakfast after the bell’ signed into law
WITHIN THE NEXT two years, it will become much easier for an estimated 150,000 low-income children in Massachusetts to eat breakfast in school. Gov. Charlie Baker on Tuesday signed a […]
Posted inEducation
Parents take stock of the school year that was (or wasn’t)
SCHOOL’S OUT FOR the summer. Is school out forever? Parents hope not, describing very mixed experiences with the remote learning experience that began in March. The MassINC Polling Group recently […]
Posted inEconomy
Massachusetts Phase 3 reopening plan is hardly ‘Vigilant’
ON MONDAY, MASSACHUSETTS entered Phase 3 of its reopening plan, which Gov. Baker’s people have code-named “Vigilant.” It includes movie theaters, gyms, entertainment venues, casinos, and larger gatherings. This is […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
In the Berkshires, a school crisis – and opportunity
IF NECESSITY IS the mother of invention, we are busy in the Berkshires figuring out new approaches to school challenges we are facing. Berkshire County has seen a decline of […]
Posted inEducation, Opinion
Missed meals
IN 2009, FIRST Lady Michelle Obama famously took a shovel to a plot on the White House lawn and turned it into a garden, announcing her intention that schoolchildren should […]