Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Teachers are told to return to classrooms on Monday
Many say they are fearful of returning to in-school instruction, cite health issues
About 1,700 teachers, working at home due to COVID-19, were told they should return to campus Monday, a requirement that terrifies many of them and raises questions about how students will be taught.
Whether those decisions stick remains to be seen, as principals and Broward school administrators both say it’s the other’s responsibility to approve any remote work after that. Now teachers say they’re living in fear and uncertainty.
“Some of us have conditions that specifically state if we catch this virus, we’re dead,” said Anne Skurnick, a computer science teacher at Pines Middle in Pembroke Pines, who has been teaching remotely due to the effects of medicine she takes for rheumatoid arthritis. “No one is taking responsibility for extending accommodations.”
The outcome could have a major effect on how students are educated. once the new semester starts Jan. 13.
The district is trying to eliminate the need for students to learn in “overflow rooms,” where kids sit in a large room with students of different classes and take online classes from a teacher working elsewhere. These would be less needed if teachers returned to their actual classrooms, district officials say.
However, if teachers decide, for health reasons, they can’t return to campus, that could leave students without a permanent instructor for weeks until their teacher can be replaced.
“They’d rather us take a leave and have no certified
teacher to teach,” Skurnick said. “So it’s better to have a sub than a teacher from home?”
It’s an issue that could affect other districts as well. Palm Beach County has 818 teachers working remotely,
“Assignments are subject to change based upon the needs of the schools,” said Gonzalo La Cava, human resources chief for Palm Beach schools. “There is no guarantee on the length of time an employee may be permitted to continue to work remotely.”
Miami-Dade has 800 teachers working remotely, “At this time, we’re not contemplating changing the process,” Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said.
All Broward teachers worked from home during the pandemic until early October, when district schools reopened for in-person learning.
A team from the human resources and equal employment opportunity offices reviewed about 5,000 requests for remote work and approved about 2,000 employees, 1,700 of whom are teachers. Priority was given to employees with certain health conditions that could make the effects of COVID-19 more serious, such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease,
These teachers taught both students learning at home and those learning at school, who usually sat in a room supervised by an aide or substitute teacher.
“It was the expectation that if we continued e-learning, we would continue accommodations,” School Board member Debbie Hixon said.
But as more students started failing, both at home and in person, Superintendent Robert Runcie pledged to bring more students back and offer a more traditional classroom experience, and he said that requires more teachers.
Parents of about 39% of students say they plan to send their kids to school for the new semester, according to a recent survey, up from 26% now.
On Dec. 16, the district’s equal employment opportunity office sent a letter to teachers working at home that said their principal or supervisor would let them know if they could keep working at home.
A statement from Chief Communications Officer Kathy Koch’s office said principals decide whether to extend the accommodations, “based on the operational needs at each individual school.”
Hixon said a school where most kids are learning virtually can likely accommodate more teachers working remotely than one where a large number of kids have returned.
But so far, it appears no one is being approved.
Lisa Maxwell, executive director of the Broward Principals and Assistants Association, instructed her members this week in an email not to approve any remote work for next semester. She said principals have “no authority by law, board policy or any other means” to extend accommodations past Friday.
“I know you are getting calls from employees and I know there are many sad and difficult situations that they are sharing,” Maxwell wrote.
But she said principals weren’t involved in who got initial accommodations and “we strongly advise that you don’t put yourself in jeopardy by inserting yourself in this approval process now.”
“Principals do not review people’s medical records,” Maxwell said in an interview. “A principal is not choosing between Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones and judging whose medical issue more worthy.”
As a result, many principals alerted teachers they won’t approve extensions.
The refusal of anyone to approve accommodations is putting teachers’ lives at risk, said Anna Fusco, president of the Broward Teachers Union. She said many teachers have notes from doctors saying they have serious health conditions and should work only from home.
“So who do you think will get the blame legally when these teachers get the illness and die?” Fusco wrote in an email to School Board members. “The principals are overriding the [equal employment opportunity office] and now the doctors. WOW just WOW!!!”
“Our teachers and support staff deserve to have a straight-forward answer. They are not shown they are valued,” Fusco wrote. “They all should be getting medals for going above and beyond during this stressful time. Instead they are being put in such a compromised position to not keep their career.”