Nearly a year into the pandemic, teachers unions are still concerned about their members' safety and are fighting for a say in schools' reopening plans, even as the presence of the coronavirus vaccine offers some hope.
In January, a number of schools reopened for in-person instruction, some for the first time since the pandemic shut them down in the spring of 2020. However, with coronavirus cases again surging across the nation, education unions still have concerns about reopening plans.
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten told Law360 that mask wearing, physical distancing, cleaning, ventilation and testing are among the measures needed for a safe reopening in addition to the need "to actually accommodate and protect those who are at risk."
However, some of the people making the decisions for school reopenings are "engaged in magical thinking and pretending that there's no pandemic or no risk," she said.
"There is a right way and a wrong way to reopen schools safely," Weingarten said. "And it comes down to the set of mitigation factors that the CDC put into its guidelines months and months ago that are as important today as they were then."
West Virginia Teachers Push Back On Impending Return Date
In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice announced at the end of December that elementary and middle schools in the state will reopen for in-person learning five days a week on Jan 19. High schools will also reopen unless the infection rate or percent positivity in their county is too high.
Justice said the state learned in 2020 that "COVID-19 transmission rates in our schools during the first semester was 0.02% among students and 0.3% among staff" and that the "outcomes are not good" when kids switch from in-person to virtual learning.
"We have got to get our kids back in school," the governor said.
But Fred Albert, the president of the AFT-West Virginia, told Law360 on Wednesday that the union feels the Jan. 19 date is "a little bit too soon."
"We think that, like we said in our letters, the administration of the vaccine gives us hope," he said. "But we have to let that work, and we have to encourage people to be vaccinated."
The AFT-West Virginia sent letters to the governor, state superintendent of schools, and all 55 county school superintendents on Jan. 6, saying its members agree that in-person learning is best for students, but want to return to school "ONLY when it is safe for staff and students."
In the letter, the union outlined a number of measures it said were needed to facilitate a safe return, including "strictly and consistently adhered to'' safety protocols, rapid testing and robust contact tracing. And the return should occur after the COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to school staff and the elderly guardians of students, the union said, among other things.
"Our concern has been the same that it's been since this pandemic started last March, or earlier," Albert said. "Our concern has been for the safety of our students and safety of our employees, our teachers, our service personnel — cooks, bus drivers, custodians. That's our number one concern."
The union said Thursday that it intends to "file injunctive action" against the West Virginia Board of Education, the
West Virginia Department of Education and several county boards of education after the state board adopted a motion on the reopening plan. The West Virginia Board of Education didn't respond to a request for comment.
Chicago Teachers Fight for Stronger Bargaining Voice
In Illinois,
Chicago Public Schools has been maintaining throughout the pandemic that it doesn't have to bargain over its reopening plans with the union, Chris Geovanis, the union's communications director, told Law360.
"For 10 months, they have been telling us they don't have to bargain with us, we're welcome to speak at our twice a week bargaining sessions, but they do not have to listen, they do not have to take anything that we say even under advisement, and they absolutely do not have to bargain with us to any form of consensus whatsoever about returning to school safely," Geovanis said.
One obstacle for the Chicago Teachers Union has been Section 4.5 of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, which generally prevents teachers and school staff in cities with 500,000 residents or more from bargaining on certain subjects, including staffing and scheduling.
But the union scored a win on Monday when the Illinois Senate
passed a bill that would repeal the provision if signed by the governor. According to the union, the provision only applies to Chicago Public Schools, which is the third-largest public school system in the nation.
However, for the Chicago Teachers Union, the most pressing concern is that members are contracting COVID-19 in schools and getting sick, Geovanis said.
"That is the immediate crisis at hand," the communications director said.
Geovanis noted that one of the proposals the union offered was to wait until people have been able to access both doses of the vaccine before requiring them to come back to the classroom and to let those who want to work in person volunteer to do so in the interim. Chicago Public Schools didn't respond to a request for comment.
Florida Educators Ask to be a Vaccine Priority
Even as some education unions look to the vaccine as a beacon of hope, others are fighting just to secure their members a place in line.
Down South, the
Florida Education Association has decried Gov. Ron DeSantis' decision not to prioritize educators in the administration of the vaccine, saying that the governor "decided to ignore the CDC's recommended vaccine priority list" and chose to "play politics instead."
After frontline health care workers and long-term care facility residents, the governor has said that the state's priority is Floridians who are 65 and older. The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that teachers and school staff be among the earlier vaccinations. The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The Florida Education Association has a page on its website where people can advocate for the governor "to follow the CDC recommendations and ensure educators have access to the COVID vaccine." And the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association and Pinellas Educational Support Professionals Association, affiliates of the FEA, also have a petition asking DeSantis to classify education employees as essential workers and "vaccinate us sooner rather than later."
On Wednesday, the AFT announced that it and the Broward Teachers Union launched a six-figure radio ad buy in English and Spanish following a lawsuit the union filed against Broward County Public Schools seeking injunctive relief in regard to online lesson accommodations.
Unions aren't only facing a fight against the pandemic but also against fear, Weingarten said.
"We are standing shoulder to shoulder with our locals in trying to fight for reopening schools safely and protecting the people who are most at risk. You can't reopen school buildings in an unsafe manner," Weingarten said. "Teachers cannot teach when they are frightened to death."
--Additional reporting by Braden Campbell. Editing by Haylee Pearl.
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