Framingham School Administration, Union, & Elected Leaders Met For 5 Hours, Still Negotiating Return-To-School Plan

The following is a press release from the Framingham Public Schools. It was issued by Superintendent Robert A. Tremblay, Beverly Hugo, School Committee Member, District 1, Adam Freudberg, School Committee Member and Committee Chair, District 4, Geoffrey Epstein, School Committee Member, District 6, and Jessica Barnhill, School Committee Member, District 8

****

[broadstreet zone=”52093″]

FRAMINGHAM – Today, August 7, the School Committee, Framingham Teachers Associations, and FPS met for more than 5 hours. During a robust, collaborative discussion, we feel that there was more common ground about a safe return to school, than there were differences. We recognize that this is pandemic bargaining and stress levels are naturally high, but the conversation was respectful and collaborative.

Progress continues to be made as we reviewed detailed health, wellness and HVAC/ventilation upgrades currently under implementation with $600K in new funding; PPE and other health related supplies; robust remote learning including live instruction; and prioritizing all students and the students most in need. 

We continued to discuss the idea of flexibility of physical locations during remote learning, while balancing the obligation to serve students with the highest needs.

[broadstreet zone=”54526″]

The original August 12 deadline for employees to submit their applications for work accommodations has been extended to August 17 at 5 p.m., while we continue to work through the details of the telecommuting agreement.  

Much more work is ahead of us. Overall, we believe that today was a promising step towards delivering education services to our community as safely and as equitably as possible.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday.

We thank the members of the Units A, S, and T bargaining teams for their time and commitment to the Framingham school community.