WORCESTER – Upset over Superintendent Maureen Binienda’s handling of the district’s remote learning amid the ongoing pandemic, the city teachers union on Tuesday afternoon said it planned on staging a protest Thursday.
Members of the Educational Association of Worcester intend to organize a “Caravan for Public Education” that will drive from the Immaculate Conception parking lot on Grove Street to City Hall on Thursday afternoon.
The union claims Binienda has “crafted an inadequate response to the impact that the coronavirus has had on public education,” referring to the remote learning model that has been in effect since physical schools closed on March 13.
“Superintendent Maureen Binienda is refusing to bargain in good faith with the EAW or to even set up joint management-labor committees,” union president Roger Nugent said in Tuesday’s statement. “The rapid transition to remote learning after schools closed in mid-March continues to present new challenges to students, families and educators. Instead of working collaboratively with those closest to the situation, the superintendent is issuing mandates that are doing more harm than good.”
Binienda on Tuesday afternoon said she had no comment about the union’s statement.
The EAW is calling on the administration to:
‒ Reduce the amount of time teachers are having to spend logging their work.
‒ Take better advantage of classroom support professionals, who the union says are being underused.
‒ More rapidly provide technology to students at home.
‒ Negotiate with the union through joint-labor management committees to find solutions to the schools shutdown.
The association said it has sent a letter detailing those requests to the superintendent.
