Feb-Mar 2021 Advisor

RESTORING

FEBRUARY–MARCH 2021 CEA ADVISOR 5

CEA MEMBERS MOBILIZE FOR PANDEMIC RELIEF, PROTECTION

T hanks to the collective actions and voices of CEA members, teachers and students are closer to gaining more of the protection they need and deserve during a pandemic that has impacted the way we teach, live, and learn. • CEA scored an important victory when the governor restored paid quarantine leave for teachers—thanks to thousands of postcards members mailed to their legislators and a coalition of unions reaching out directly to the governor. (See story, this page.) • CEA also successfully led the fight to get educators vaccinated as soon as possible so that in-person learning can resume safely. (See story,

pages 8–9.) In spite of assurances that schools are “safe havens” during COVID, the risks of full in-person learning are obvious. No teacher should have to choose between his or her life and livelihood. • Because instructional time and students’ social emotional needs should take priority, CEA asked that high-stakes standardized testing be suspended for the 2020-2021 school year, as it was in the early months of the pandemic. While the Biden administration has not cancelled federally mandated tests, states are allowed to waive the requirement that 95 percent of students participate and that tests be tied to school accountability measures. (See story, facing page.)

VICTORY: PAID QUARANTINE LEAVE RESTORED FOR TEACHERS

A strong, organized campaign led by CEA and other members of a coalition of education unions has resulted in restored paid quarantine leave for public school educators and staff. After paid quarantine leave for educators expired, on December 31, the Board of Education Union Coalition, representing teachers, paraeducators, and other education support staff, pressed for an extension. The group drafted a letter to the governor, and CEA engaged all its members in a large-scale campaign to have those provisions extended. Every member received a packet explaining the issue. The packet included postage-paid cards to mail to legislators, asking the governor to reinstate paid quarantine leave during a pandemic that is still very much with us. Coalition leaders and members made

voices were heard,” says Farmington Education Association President Jim McNamara, who—on the advice of CEA UniServ Rep Justin Zartman— communicated with FEA members about the need to get involved in the campaign. “Hundreds of our members quickly turned this around, sending postcards to their senators and representatives asking for their support in extending paid quarantine leave.” Expired provision hits home McNamara explains that some of the district’s greatest concerns centered on teachers who needed to stay home because their own children were quarantined or because their children’s schools or day care centers had to close due to COVID. After exhausting five personal days, those educators would be forced to take unpaid leave each time a child needed to stay home. For teachers with more than one child, the problem was compounded. FEA Vice President and 17-year veteran teacher Jeremy Pilver, the father of a ten-month-old, knows firsthand the importance of the safety net that allowed him to care for his child last fall, before FFCRA and EPSLA provisions expired at the end of the year. Some educators have also had to quarantine more than once, he explains; the expired paid quarantine leave was devastating for them. Having worked in state-level politics before his teaching career, Pilver also understands the value of advocacy. “Teachers are so busy,” he acknowledges, “and they’re the first to sacrifice themselves. They have so many responsibilities, and the challenges of this year have been immense. But it’s incredibly important for teachers to advocate for themselves, reach out to their elected senators and representatives, and make their challenges understood. I’m glad they took time out of their busy schedules to do this. It worked.” Personal touch Before mailing her postcards, Farmington building representative and 16-year veteran teacher Wendy Bourget decided to write her phone number on each card, inviting legislators to contact her. “I jotted down, ‘I really wish I could explain what’s happening,’ because they need to hear our stories,” she recalls. The very next day, Bourget received a call from Representative Eleni Kavros DeGraw, who noted the sheer volume of postcards she’d begun receiving from teachers. Kavros DeGraw noticed that Bourget handwrote a note with her phone number, so she

“Justin offers great advice to his local associations, and he fights for all of them,” McNamara adds. Mission accomplished Governor Lamont’s Executive Order 10 grants 80 hours of paid leave for employees who have not used all of those hours. Schools can no longer require their teachers to use paid contractual time if they haven’t used the 80 hours, and any teacher forced to use his or her sick time or take unpaid leave between January 1 and February 4, 2021, will be paid retroactively and/or reimbursed their sick time. The order will

reached out to learn more. “Eleni represents the towns of Avon and Canton and was going to an Avon Board of Education meeting, so she wanted to understand ahead of time what teachers, her constituents, were facing. Teachers responded so genuinely, and she was determined to help us.” When she heard from her representative, Bourget immediately texted her colleagues, urging those who hadn’t already mailed their postcards to include their phone numbers on them.

“OUR TEACHERS FELT VERY STRONGLY ABOUT THIS AND TOOK TIME OUT OF THEIR ALREADY BUSY SCHEDULES TO ENSURE THEIR VOICES WERE HEARD.” Farmington Education Association President Jim McNamara

continue until the duration of the Public Health & Civil Preparedness Emergency. “The governor and his staff listened to educators’

voices and took action on this important issue,” says CEA President Jeff Leake, explaining that many school districts were not accommodating educators’ requests to work remotely or receive paid leave when those educators were forced to quarantine. “This executive order helps ensure that we have consistent policies regarding how school districts handle quarantines and leaves in our public schools.”

The strategy paid off. Pilver heard from Chief Deputy Senate Republican Leader Kevin Witkos, who, he says, has always been good at responding to constituent concerns. Senate Deputy Majority Leader Derek Slap, whose wife is a teacher and whose district includes Burlington, West Hartford, and parts of Farmington and Bloomfield, contacted every single educator whose phone number was on a postcard he received. “He is clearly sympathetic to our cause,” says McNamara. “Derek got our postcards, he made those calls, and he pressured the governor with a letter asking for an extension of paid quarantine leave.” No time to quit On Pilver’s advice, teachers followed up with another campaign, writing to their legislators and keeping the pressure on. “It was Wendy’s idea to add our phone numbers on the first mailing and Jeremy’s idea to pile on with a second letter,” McNamara says. “We saw that as our only option. Teachers were down to personal days or unpaid leave to stay home with their own children who were quarantined or whose districts had to go to remote learning. This was an issue that school administrators could have helped with. They should have joined with us in putting pressure on the governor and saying, ‘We need to take care of our people.’” Banding together, he says, teachers got the job done. Amid all of this, Pilver says, “Our CEA UniServ Rep was fantastic. Justin is tireless in his support for our teachers, and he makes the work we do, as union leaders, possible.”

Farmington teacher Jeremy Pilver understands firsthand the importance of paid leave for teachers who must quarantine or care for their children in a pandemic. phone calls and emails, and CEA Communications kept the issue in the media spotlight. The Coalition’s swift, collective action made a tremendous difference. Hearing from thousands of CEA members and other education stakeholders who contacted their legislators, Governor Lamont signed an executive order requiring all local and regional boards of education to provide paid leave consistent with the provisions of the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA) of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA). “Our teachers felt very strongly about this and took time out of their already busy schedules to ensure their

Farmington teacher Wendy Bourget connected with Rep. Eleni Kavros DeGraw on the issue of paid quarantine leave. DeGraw, who received handwritten notes from CEA members telling their personal stories, says, “I shared the stories on many a conference call, which I think helped on the paid leave piece.”