Dec-20-Jan-21-Advisor

ADVOCATING

DECEMBER 2020 - JANUARY 2021 CEA ADVISOR 7

CEA HEARS, ELEVATES EDUCATORS’ CONCERNS DURING CRISIS S i nce the beginning of the COVID pandemic, CEA leaders and staff have been meeting regularly with State Education Commissioner Miguel Cardona and

Education Community Coalition Petitions, Urges Stronger COVID Protections for Schools

With a surging COVID-19 infection rate in Connecticut, the highest since May, a coalition of education stakeholders including CEA has called on the governor and education commissioner to establish and strictly enforce consistent statewide safety, response, and reporting protocols for schools. Absent those actions, the Board of Education Union Coalition is urging a shift to full-time remote learning until after the holidays. The group’s recommendations are detailed in a report, Safe and Successful Schools Now, released to state leaders and media. “All of Connecticut’s eight counties are reporting COVID-19 cases at levels that state guidance says should require hybrid or remote learning, yet many schools continue with full-time in-person classes,” CEA President Jeff Leake points out. “Guidance from the Centers for Disease Control indicates that schools are not the safest place during this pandemic and that in- person learning is a high-risk activity. Indeed, many schools are severely short- staffed due to quarantines, and closing with little notice, all of which introduces other risks and challenges for students and families.” “Every district has its own process for responding to coronavirus cases,” says CEA Executive Director Donald Williams. “That makes the response inconsistent and difficult to oversee. We need assurances that districts are uniformly following the health and safety procedures established by the CDC and SDE, because right now, they are not.” Safe and Successful Schools Now outlines specific actions to address COVID issues, including • Timely public notification by districts (within 24 hours) of COVID cases , exposure, and quarantines by building, and inclusion of that information in the SDE COVID-19 school dashboard • Timely notice (within 24 hours) to all employees potentially exposed to COVID-19 • Teacher and staff input into contact tracing, ensuring that teachers and bargaining unit representatives selected by their associations are included on local

committees that decide who requires COVID contact tracing and/or quarantining • Consistent statewide school protocols for social distancing, COVID testing, and PPE availability and guidelines that do not make schools the exception to the state’s COVID safety rules and guidelines • Quarantine pay or the ability to teach remotely for educators who must quarantine • State assistance for schools to provide regular COVID-19 testing of students and staff to check for both symptomatic and asymptomatic cases • Reduced density in red zone districts or a shift to hybrid or full remote learning • Adequate planning time for teachers —an additional hour per day or one day per week • A phaseout of the dual-teaching model so that teachers are no longer conducting remote and in-person instruction simultaneously • A moratorium on annual standardized testing for the 2020-2021 school year • Consistent State Department of Public Health protocols for cleaning schools , with a checklist for specific tasks, and a requirement that schools maintain and post cleaning logs • Inspection (by December 31) and upgrade (as needed) of all school HVAC systems to minimize the spread of COVID-19 droplets View the complete Safe and Successful Schools Now report at cea.org/plan-to- protect-our-schools-safe-and-successful- schools-now . recommendations in the coalition’s report. CEA has circulated an online petition, to be delivered to the governor, urging him to take actions to ensure consistent statewide safety protocols for schools are strictly enforced, or if that can’t happen, shift to full-time remote learning until after the holidays. The petition has garnered more than 14,000 signatures so far. CEA has been meeting with the education commissioner to adopt increasingly seeing themselves reflected in their teachers and leaders • Relational trust at the center of school reopening post-COVID • A safe, inclusive, welcoming environment for all students Culturally responsive schools and curriculum are crucial, said Sneed, adding, “Connecticut has some really good things happening there.” (See story, page 10.) She urged participants to “interrogate the curriculum to see if it’s culturally responsive, and engage teachers and parents in that interrogation.” “Now is the time to transform— not reform—public education,” said Darien teacher and NEA Director Katy Gale. “This evening has given us a great start as we consider the future of public education here in Connecticut. It is the very bedrock of our communities. This begins our conversation, and it is an important one that can drive true change. Our children and our communities are counting on us.”

COVID Demands New Rules—CEA Demands Protections For Teachers, Students n Strengthening Your MOU CEA’s UniServ Reps have been working with district leaders on memoranda of understanding to protect teachers’ safety, their rights, and their working conditions. n Explaining Your Rights CEA’s legal team offers guidance on everything from school safety to accommodations, sick leave, and other important issues regarding teachers’ rights during COVID-19. Learn more at CEA successfully fought for educator evaluation flexibilities that waive summative ratings; no longer require that observations be formal or that goals be SMART; focus on social-emotional learning for students and teachers instead of solely on academics; and more. Visit cea.org/certification for specifics. n Improving Your Practice CEA offers a variety of timely webinars on topics such as engaging students in distance learning, equity, designing and assessing lessons, and more. Check out the Professional Learning Academy cea.org/covid-19-what-are-my-rights . n Providing TEVAL Flexibility communicating with Governor Lamont to address teachers’ concerns and provide recommendations to keep teachers and students safe. When teachers’ safety, working conditions, and instructional quality are compromised, CEA brings those issues not only to district administrators and government leadership but also to media outlets, helping keep the pressure on to make schools safe. With conditions changing day to day in many districts, CEA staff and leaders maintain close contact with local association leaders to gain real-time knowledge of the challenges teachers are facing. CEA has also held multiple listening forums, free and open to all members, to ensure every voice is heard and every concern is brought to decision-makers from local school boards to the State Department of Education (story, page 9).

offerings at cea.org/professional-development . n Addressing Social-Emotional Learning

In partnership with CEA, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence is offering a free, self-paced, 10-hour certificate program to help teachers recognize and address student trauma. Register by December 31 at ycei.org/selcourse .

Redefining the Future of Public Education

Dozens of teachers, parents, policymakers, and community stakeholders participated in a virtual symposium, Redefining the Future of Public Education, hosted by the Bridgeport Public Education Foundation and CEA. The December 2 symposium explored topics such as special education, social-emotional learning, engaging parents and other caregivers, technology, and the future of distance learning in a pandemic and post-pandemic world. Addressing participants, keynote speaker and NEA Foundation President Sara Sneed asked, “As teachers prepare for what school will look like in 2021 and beyond, when a vaccine becomes widely available, will we return to normal, will we nibble around the edges, or will we seize the moment and rethink what school can be and how we can transform learning opportunities for both students and educators?” Pointing out that our current educational model was shaped over a century ago, she noted that it

perhaps unintentionally sifted and sorted students based on deep-seated racial, economic, and cultural prejudices. “There are new cries for justice in this moment,” said Sneed. “They include achieving systemic

schoolhouse door, knocking and knocking,” she said. “Education is an engine for social progress.” Building back better The disruptions created by the pandemic have made clear that returning to business as usual in education is not an option, Sneed said. Borrowing a phrase from Joe Biden, she

NEA Foundation President Sara Sneed

changes that put equity at the center of all we do so that all students have an educational experience we can all be proud of. At least in our rhetoric today there is a greater social commitment to equity, and we can view these last months as an opportunity to reinvent our systems of education.” In determining how we might transform what hasn’t been working experienced educators, students, and their families and redesigning schools to achieve more equitable teaching and learning. “Justice is standing at the for children, Sneed proposed considering the wisdom of

suggested we must “build back better.” In small breakout sessions, symposium participants discussed what educational transformation might entail, including • A new digital infrastructure to make distance and blended learning available to all students; technology, teachers agreed, is here to stay • An equitable distribution of educational funding, resources, and opportunities across the country • Black and brown children