concerns for safe schools and a survey for our MOU
MNEA has spent much of this past week seeking to understand and respond to the plan presented by Dr. Battle at last Tuesday’s school board. We feel the strengths of this plan are:
Reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection by reducing the number of people in a building
Offering remote learning options for families and staff that are either unable or unwilling to risk exposure to COVID-19
Dedicating funding for PPE and cleaning materials
However, we also have several major concerns. We recognize that answering these concerns is a nearly impossible task for MNPS leadership to accomplish without significant support from federal, state, and local sources. We recognize Dr. Battle and her team are working extremely hard with limited resources to avoid placing people in harm. Regardless of that fact, we are adamant these concerns be rectified prior to re-opening our schools.
CONCERNS FOR SAFE SCHOOLS
The plan is predicated on student compliance with wearing masks and social distancing for long periods of time, two things that are unreasonable to expect of children by their very nature. Failure of students to comply endangers others in the building and increases the risk of disciplinary action that feeds the school-to-prison pipeline.
The current physical state of many schools and classrooms will not allow for 6 feet of space between desks for an entire class. We do not have the extra staff or available space to spread students out should a significant majority decide to return to a particular building.
There is no guarantee that educators will be given their choice of teaching remotely or in person. We have no way to know if enough educators will choose to teach in person to ensure the small class sizes necessary to maintain social distancing. There is no way for educators or families to change their minds once they choose an option. Given the dynamic nature of the pandemic, this seems unreasonable.
Because every school district in the country is currently ordering PPE and cleaning supplies, there is no guarantee those supplies will be ready and available in every MNPS building by July 30th when school restarts.
The Metro Health Department will notify MNPS if a student or staff member tests positive for COVID but will not inform the district if a member of that person’s household tests positive. Therefore, it will be possible (and likely) that asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic students or staff members who are under quarantine will come to school and infect others.
Chronic underfunding of public education has left our schools extremely vulnerable to the spread of COVID-19. For example, students must ride 3 or 4 to a seat on school buses and share books or devices during lessons. Outsourcing of custodians has left zero accountability for keeping our schools clean and healthy. Vacant positions and a lack of substitute teachers due to low and stagnant wages means classrooms are overloaded. Figuring out how to safely reopen schools during a pandemic that has killed over 120,000 Americans would be difficult enough if our schools were fully-funded. But with years of painful cuts to our budget, it is nearly impossible.
While MNEA officers are present on the three working groups created by the district to figure out how to safely reopen schools, little is progress being made toward answering the mounting questions and concerns across the city.
We have been inundated with emails, phone calls, and messages from educators and parents who share these concerns. We want to be a partner in allaying these concerns, but that will take ensuring basic safety protocols can be met. After many hours of careful consideration, we have compiled the following recommendations to address those concerns, and to avoid substantial uncontrolled transmission of COVID-19 and to protect the health of MNPS employees and students.
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SAFE REOPENING OF SCHOOLS FROM MNEA
No plan to reopen schools be approved without the explicit approval of all stakeholders including educators, support staff, students, and families. We recommend the district create a stakeholder committee comprised of representatives that include MNEA, SEIU Local 205, USW Local 9426, PTO/PTA leadership, and student government. MNPS should either remain completely online or adjust the calendar to delay opening buildings until an on-ground plan is approved. Merely including stakeholders in the discussion of how to reopen schools through working groups is not enough, especially when plans are issued without our prior knowledge. We must both know and approve plans before they are adopted. This step is necessary to ensure buy-in and trust from all stakeholders.
If MNPS cannot guarantee basic safety protocols such as daily health screenings for staff and students, social distancing, wearing masks, and the sanitizing of buildings several times daily, all employees who work in school buildings must be provided full medical-grade PPE, and families must be notified of these conditions before sending their child to school. Or, instruction should remain 100% online until these conditions can be guaranteed. This is the only way to reasonably ensure employees and students can be kept safe if other variables such as student compliance, limitations of space, and quality of custodial work cannot be controlled.
The district joins Shelby County Schools in asking the state to cancel state testing for the 2020-21 school year. In addition, the district will ask to waive teacher evaluations because the TEAM evaluation rubric has not been updated to reflect the realities of teaching during a deadly pandemic. This step will go a long way in convincing educators the district is dedicated to treating them fairly.
Additional protections for certificated staff working conditions must be codified in the MOU. Due to the immediacy of their nature, we are asking that these changes be conducted as re-openers to our existing MOU instead of negotiations for a new MOU which can be arranged at a later, less critical time. These include but are not limited to:
A fair process for determining which educators will work in person versus online.
Adequate PPE and cleaning supplies must be provided by the district and present in all buildings at all times.
Full medical-grade PPE must be made available to any educator who requests it.
A shared governance model including Faculty Advisory Committees must be used to create building-level safety plans.
Employees must be protected from charges of insubordination if they refuse to comply with a request that places lives in danger, including:
Being asked to work without PPE for themselves or their students.
Being asked to work with other staff or students who are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, or who are knowingly refusing to comply with quarantine orders due to COVID-19.
Being asked to work in a classroom or other space where individuals are not wearing masks or practicing social distancing as a result of noncompliance or because compliance is not possible.
Employees, including but not limited to MNEA Association Representatives (ARs), be protected from employment-based retaliation if they act as whistle-blowers to report unsafe working conditions.
A pre-determined trigger based on incidence and virulence of COVID-19 infections must be set that will force schools to revert to online learning when infections occur.
MNEA is committed to finding solutions through interest-based bargaining. Immediately negotiating the safeguards outlined above into the MOU will go a long way towards reassuring educators and families to trust in the MNPS reopening plan. The MNEA PECCA team is ready to begin bargaining immediately.
We are seeking input from all MNPS educators about what they feel is necessary for a safe reopening of schools. Please take our survey by clicking on the link below.
What do you need to feel safe returning to work at MNPS? Take our survey and let us know!