In a push to get students back into the classroom, the Framingham Public School District is hiring additional staff to accomodate coronavirus needs.
The city is looking to hire as many as 40 new people to fill positions in classrooms where teachers can’t return to school because of health concerns. Teachers would continue their instruction from home, but new staffers would work as classroom aides, serving as student supervisors.
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"They will be ensuring that students remain six feet apart, that students maintain the hygiene protocols that we've established and promoted as a district," Assistant Superintendent Inna Kantor said. "They will be taking kids, for example, to specials, to lunch; they will be passing out papers."
The teacher’s union isn’t convinced this will work, calling it "unsustainable."
"It's not as simple as standing in a classroom and making sure the kids are safe," Teachers Association President Christine Maroney said. "That position - to be effective - would have to be interacting with kids in a way a teacher would. The district doesn't see it that way and I think the position is unsustainable."
In addition to the classroom supervisors, the school district is looking to hire people to care for the children of teachers.
