'Grocery Workers Could Say The Same Thing,' Reville Says of MTA Vaccine Frustration

On Wednesday’s Boston Public Radio, former Mass. education secretary Paul Reville offered his thoughts on contention between the Mass. Teacher’s Association and Gov. Charlie Baker, after teachers were slotted down in the state’s COVID-19 vaccine priority list.

On Monday, state officials announced they’d be prioritizing residents 65 and older, and bumping educators to second priority in phase two of the vaccine rollout. Despite the delay, Gov. Baker is continuing to pressure schools to bring students and teachers back for in-person learning.

"Grocery workers could say the same thing,” Reville said in response to frustrations expressed by MTA representatives. "Postal workers could say the same thing, or people that work in pharmacies – everybody feels that way.”

Also on Monday, a report from officials at the Centers for Disease Control was released, indicating that schools with proper safety precautions are a low-risk for COVID-19 transmission.

Reville said there are "lots of tradeoffs,” but added that he fully supports bringing back certain groups of at-risk students.

"I think it’s time to move back with children who are most disadvantaged, and in the youngest age groups,” he said, “where we know transmissibility is low, and the vulnerability is low, and the symptoms tends to be more mild.”

Paul Reville is the former Mass. secretary of education and a professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education, where he also heads the Education Redesign Lab. His latest book, co-authored with Elaine Weiss, is: "Broader, Bolder, Better: How Schools and communities help Students Overcome the Disadvantages of Poverty.”