WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The rift between Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker and the state’s teachers unions deepened Thursday as the Republican bristled at calls to take additional steps to vaccinate educators before ending virtual education in favor of in-classroom learning.
On Wednesday, the administration announced that it was designating four days when the state’s seven mass vaccination sites will offer first doses only to K-12 teachers, childcare workers and K-12 school staff.
The special vaccination days are March 27, April 3, April 10 and April 11.
The state also announced that beginning this week, teachers are eligible to receive vaccination shots under state guidelines.
Labor leaders have also called for a program to would let firefighters administer vaccine shots to teachers at their schools.
Baler bristled at pressure from the unions, saying his administration has from the beginning targeted vaccines to those most vulnerable at getting seriously ill or dying, including older residents, those in congregate care facilities and medical workers battling the disease.
“I am not going to be in a position where I take vaccine away from people who are extremely vulnerable, who have multiple medical conditions, and are over the age of 65 to give it to a targeted population,” Baker said at an afternoon press conference. “We’re just not going to play that game.”
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LIQUOR LICENSES
Nearly two dozen Massachusetts businesses that temporarily lost their liquor licenses for violating state rules meant to slow the spread of the coronavirus also received a total of almost $1.4 million in state COVID-19 relief grants.
Of the 57 restaurants, bars, and other businesses whose liquor licenses the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission suspended over COVID-19 breaches, 23 received grants, The Boston Globe reported.
They included a Springfield strip club where state inspectors found maskless strippers giving lap dances, a Gardner hotel that hosted more than 400 guests for a pair of weddings, and a Weymouth bar where the owner when confronted by licensing officials responded “no government is going to tell me how to run my business.”
The grants were administered through the quasi-public Massachusetts Growth Capital Corp.
A spokesperson for Mike Kennealy, the state secretary of housing and economic development and the MGCC’s chair, defended the program, saying it is the largest of its kind in the country to provide direct aid to businesses.
“All businesses met eligibility requirements when applying for MGCC grants, and MGCC expects all businesses to adhere to all applicable safety protocols in place to minimize transmission of this virus,” said Michael Verseckes, the spokesperson. “The MGCC does not condone any behavior that would result in any sort of violation of the state’s COVID restrictions.”
State Sen. Eric Lesser, who co-chairs the Legislature’s committee on economic development, said many businesses that never violated the rules did not receive grants.
“The businesses that are not following the rules should be at the back of the line to get help,” the Longmeadow Democrat said.
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BACK-TO-SCHOOL WAIVER
The school superintendent in Massachusetts’ second-largest city says she will seek a waiver to rules announced earlier this week by state education officials requiring districts to move to full-time, in-person learning by April.
Worcester Superintendent Maureen Binienda told The Telegram & Gazette on Wednesday the district already has a plan for a return to the classroom and she doesn’t want to disrupt it.
The state is requiring a return to full-time, in-person classes for elementary school students on April 5 and for middle school students on April 28. The return date for high school students remains undetermined.
Binienda said she will seek a waiver to put off the start of full-time, in-person learning for kindergarten through eighth grade in Worcester until May 3. The district has plans to brings some high needs students to the classroom part-time later this month. Worcester is currently still in remote learning.
