UPDATE: This story has since been updated with a release from the Orange County Schools system shared Monday.
As some educators in the Orange County Schools district return to classrooms Monday to continue remote instruction, others will be staying home in protest.
A group of teachers within the school system will remain teaching remotely from their homes despite the district requesting educators to return to school buildings to continue remote learning and prepare for the upcoming semester. A Facebook post from the Orange County Association of Educators confirmed the demonstration set for Monday, saying the organization stands in solidarity with teachers choosing to stay home either to protect their own health or the health of family members.
Orange County Schools has an education plan in place for some students to begin in-person instruction again in January, the first time since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic. While the district’s request is reportedly for teachers to begin preparation for this upcoming instruction, the Orange County Association of Educators wrote on Friday it believes the decision lacks explanation when students are not set to regularly return to classrooms until January 25.
“We have yet to hear a sufficient rationale for why we must return a week after the Thanksgiving holiday as case numbers rise across North Carolina and the U.S.,” reads the post. “We have yet to hear sufficient rationale for how teaching from our classrooms helps our students, who can tell when our morale is low and our stress levels are high.”
Christina Clark is the president of the association, which is the district’s chapter of the statewide Association of Educators. Its role is to learn teachers’ needs and convey them to the Orange County Schools board and superintendent. Clark told Chapelboro it became clear from initial discussion surrounding the district’s request many teachers would stay home Monday in protest and her organization supports that choice.
“I just heard a lot of people asking the question, ‘what if we stay home and keep teaching [virtually?] That would not be so disruptive, what if we do that,'” she said. “I heard that from so many people, so many corners. We just wanted to encourage people if they wanted to do it and make them feel safer if they wanted to do that. Because it is a risk.”
Clark, an English teacher at Cedar Ridge High School, said she and other teachers have already gone back to school buildings intermittently during this period of remote learning. But she said many others have not out of caution and they hold health concerns about the district requesting all educators returning to campuses at the same time.
Additionally, Clark said when she recently surveyed the community of teachers, she found many were still overwhelmed and adapting to finishing the fall semester remotely. She said while teachers ultimately want to be back in classrooms, some are questioning why they are asked to return weeks before students are.
“It’s pretty heartbreaking to not see our students in-person and we all want to go back to in-person,” said Clark, “but we want to do so really safely and we want to do it for the right reasons. It would be great to have as little disruption as possible as we try to create routines. I think that’s a lot about why people are staying home on Monday.”
Clark said she wants to stress to the community those who are demonstrating Monday, including herself, will continue teaching virtually to their students.
“We are really wanting what’s best for students as well as us,” said Clark. “Our organization, it does advocate for staff. But in advocating for staff, we’re really advocating for students because when the staff is doing well, the students do better.”
A release from the Orange County Schools district on Monday said this week is being treated as a “transition week” for its faculty.
Today, all OCS staff returned to school facilities and worksites with the common goal of becoming acclimated to new safety processes and protocols prior to the return of students who will resume in-person instruction beginning on January 25, 2021. Staff who had been working remotely (at home) since March joined many staff who are already on site in addition to Exceptional Children (separate settings) and Pre-K staff who returned on October 27 as well as staff overseeing athletics and those who’ve returned to provide learning opportunities to small groups of students at the elementary, middle and high school levels. And, we have had a number of transportation, maintenance, and nutrition staff who have worked onsite non-stop since mid-March.
The initial date for all staff’s return was November 16, but to accommodate staff’s request for more time to return, the return date was moved back to December 7. While narrowing the preparation and adjustment window, December 7 also allows staff just enough time to plan and prepare in light of upcoming winter holidays as well as the potential for inclement weather in December and January.
OCS is providing free childcare to all staff with elementary school aged children to eliminate the potential burden of unexpected child care expenses. On December 7, the Orange County School Board approved a one-time $500 bonus for all permanent employees–whether part time or full time. And the week of December 7-11 has been deemed a transition week for the return of staff; administrators have been given leeway to allow for a gradual return to new ways of teaching and working inlight of new and enhanced safety guidelines (i.e. 3Ws–wearing masks, washing/sanitizing hands and waiting at least 6 feet apart) and to provide time for teachers and staff to prepare their classrooms and offices accordingly.
Photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.
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