Page 10 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2021 EMILY’s List endorses DelVento in Massachusetts Special Election WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Thursday, EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, endorsed Alicia DelVento in the special election for Massachusetts House District 19. Stephanie Schriock, president of EMILY’s List, released the following statement: “EMILY’s List is excited to endorse Alicia DelVento for the Massachusetts House. Raised on Winthrop’s water tower hill, the granddaughter of a union laborer and a war refugee, Alicia has deep roots in her community and strong ties to educators, nurses, and essential workers. After working for four SCHOOLS | FROM Page 1 input into the struggles the city has faced with the schools coming up quickly on one year of remote learning. Last month, after some heated debate, the School Committee approved a motion seeking to have at least some students return to classrooms by March 1. “I know people have questions about this, but we are still working with the Revere Teachers’ Association (RTA) on a plan to continue our impact bargaining to return to in-person learning in a hybrid model,” said Kelly. On the positive side, Kelly said she’s encouraged to see the COVID-19 positivity rates coming down for several weeks in a row. While Kelly said she knows there is anxiety in parents, students and teachers about the continued remote learning in Revere while nearby communities like Winthrop and Saugus are in classrooms, she noted that Revere is not the only community that has stuck with a remote learning model due to high COVID-19 rates. She also repeated that there has been a plan in years as committee staff in the Massachusetts House, Alicia has the critical experience to serve the people of Winthrop and Revere and will fi ght to increase public school funding, protect women’s access to reproductive health care, and advocate for working families.” About EMILY’s List EMILY’s List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates. With a grassroots community of over fi ve million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic place since August for when students are ready to return to the school buildings. “Our goal is to begin with our special needs students and get them back for in-person learning,” said Kelly. “We recognize that those are the kids who have been struggling the most in our remote environment. Then we will bring in more and more students until we are up to our roughly 50 percent capacity, with as many kids who want to participate in a hybrid model.” The hybrid model in Revere will diff er from that being used in some other school districts, Kelly said. “Our version of a hybrid model will be one week on and one week off ,” she said. “People should anticipate a more traditional school day similar to what we had pre-COVID.” To make the learning environment safer, Kelly said, the district is continuing to work with the state on a COVID-19 testing program for students and school employees. Kelly also highlighted the improvements to ventilation and fi ltration systems in the schools to help make classrooms safer. women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since its founding in 1985,EMILY’s list has helped elect the country’s fi rst woman as vice president, 157 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors and more than 1,300 women During the public speaking portion of Tuesday’s meeting, several Revere High students spoke about the challenges they have faced with remote learning and their desire to be back in the classroom. Senior Dillan Day said the remote classes are not as challenging as those in-person and there isn’t as much interaction between students and teachers with remote learning. “I’ve had classes that had only three students speak all semester,” said Day. “We are being deprived of the in-person relationships.” He said the isolation of remote learning has left him and many other students feeling like they have nothing to look forward to when they wake up to begin the school day. Ward 4 City Councillor Patrick Keefe praised the eff orts of teachers during the pandemic, but he advocated for a return to in-person learning to help those students and families struggling with remote learning. “How can we turn our backs on our highest-need learners?” Keefe asked, with English Language Learners and special needs students esto state and local offi ce. More than 40 percent of the candidates EMILY’s List have helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY’s List about running for offi ce – laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state and national offi ces. In an eff ort to elect more women in offi ces across the country, EMILY’s List has created a Run to Win program, expanded its training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women. pecially at risk. Keefe said that the school buildings belong to the City of Revere and that the mayor, superintendent and School Committee should have the authority to reopen the buildings. “I request the immediate opening of the schools for our highest risk populations,” said Keefe. However, several teachers spoke during the meeting to reiterate that while they want to be back in front of their students, it has to be done safely. Kristen Martin, a teacher at the Garfi eld School, said that she believed the March 1 opening date voted on by the School Committee was a fl exible date, but that there has been a hardline taken with regards to negotiations with the RTA. Martin noted that the state has delayed the vaccination dates for teachers and that there are still some troubling COVID-19 numbers in Revere. “What we are asking for is to return when it is safe and vaccines are available,” said Martin. “We are asking for transparency, honesty and consistency from our school offi cials.” JARAMILLO | FROM Page 5 those skills benefit the residents of the 19th Suff olk District? Our representative should understand our challenges from a personal level. I share the lived experience of many of our most marginalized residents, have served our community, and am proud that I have the experience to represent us eff ectively from day one. As Budget and Policy Director for State Senator Joe Boncore, I helped secure $150,000 to launch the Revere Substance Use Disorder Initiative, millions to expand access to the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center to Revere and Winthrop residents, and millions of dollars of funding for our public schools and afterschool programs for our youth. Teacher and coach Joseph Ciccarello said he has heard the frustrations from the students, and he said he believes there should be a way to get students and teachers who want to be in the classrooms back in the buildings. “What might be easier to get the ball rolling is athletics,” said Ciccarello. “There seems to be way less hurdles to let athletes start playing and then let the kids back in the building.” Kelly said the district plan is still to have some form of all three athletic seasons and that the athletic department has been in contact with the other schools in the Greater Boston League to help make that happen. Ryan Doucette, the School Committee’s student representative, has taken an active role on the Committee, advocating for his fellow students to return to in-person learning. “We want to remember this year not for the adversity that we faced, but for how we overcame it,” said Doucette. “I think there is still some time left the overcome this adversity, but we are running out of time.”
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