Inside: Arbitrator rules Broward schools can force teachers back into classrooms.
An arbitrator has ruled that Broward schools can require teachers with health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic to work on campus.
The decision, from Arbitrator Roger Abrams, comes after a three-day hearing last week between the district and the Broward Teachers Union. The district has allowed teachers to stay at home if their principal approves.
“This is a win for our students,” Superintendent Robert Runcie said. “We recognize the health concerns of our teachers and will continue to balance their needs with the needs of students who are struggling and must be back in a safe and healthy school for face-to-face learning.”
Union President Anna Fusco said that while the district can require teachers to work at school, Abrams required the district to turn over information requested by the union on how decisions are made. While the district had allowed 600 of 1,700 teachers to stay at home, the union argued that the district wasn’t transparent about how the decisions were made..
“Arbitrator Roger Abrams has shone a light on Superintendent Runcie’s deceitful practice of hiding information on how principals and the district decided to cancel the remote work assignments of our most medically compromised educators,” Fusco wrote to members.
She said the information must be turned over quickly to show that principals’ decisions “were not made in an arbitrary or capricious manner.”
Fusco said Runcie “has no choice. He must comply. Principals must now provide documents justifying their decisions.”
About 1,700 teachers with conditions such as cancer, kidney disease and heart disease had been approved to teach from their homes since mid-October, when the district reopened for face-to-face instruction. But the district ended most of them Jan. 8, allowing them to continue only if the principal allowed it based on the needs of the school, not a teacher’s health.
The union initially filed a lawsuit but agreed to settle it through arbitration. The district allowed union members, but not the public, to attend the hearing, which was held on Zoom.
District officials said it needed teachers to return because it was trying to eliminate overflow rooms where a large number of students study online with students who are often taking different subjects. They want students to learn in actual teacher classrooms and have said they need more teachers at school.
Less than a third of students are currently learning on campus, so the union argued there should be plenty of opportunity for remote work. Some teachers have said they are considering quitting or taking leave because they don’t feel safe to return. Retirements have tripled compared to a year ago.