Following Tuesday’s vote, union members and the American Federation of Teachers sent a letter to city officials that outlined six coronavirus-related requests.
Educators want the city to create a “situation room” to respond to emergency issues within 24 hours and to require a 24-hour immediate shut down for deep cleaning of any school where a coronavirus exposure has been confirmed, among other items.
The letter also mentioned Helen Marie White, a Ballou STAY Opportunity Academy teacher who died of the virus over the weekend.
“We must make sure schools are safe. What keeps me up at night is that the district is putting the health of our city’s educators and students at risk with in-school learning because of continuing exposures in schools, numerous reports of violations of agreed-upon safety protocols and, tragically, the death of a beloved teacher,” Elizabeth Davis, union president, said. “Our teachers are pleading with the mayor and chancellor to wake up to the
D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) and the union have sparred for months over plans to reopen schools and reached an agreement in December.
The union asked an arbitrator to review possible violations of the agreement by DCPS that were found to be largely unproven over the weekend.
The arbitrator did find that two schools should not reopen until coronavirus safety issues are resolved and building walkthroughs are conducted.
“The WTU, however, believes there are other safety violations of its memorandum of agreement with DCPS and unhealthy conditions at multiple schools. The WTU is asking for additional school-by-school walkthroughs … conducted with WTU, mayoral and DCPS staff,” the statement says.
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