Feb-Mar 2022 Advisor

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ADVOCATING

8 CEA ADVISOR FEBRUARY–MARCH 2022

IMPROVEMENTS TO MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS, STAFFING, INDOOR AIR CEA PRIORITIES THIS LEGISLATIVE SESSION

CEA’s Legislative Commission and Board of Directors develop a legislative agenda every year based on members’ concerns and priorities. In even years, including 2022, the Connecticut General Assembly’s work is conducted during a “short session”—only three months long—which limits the number of bills that can be raised and debated. CEA is working within those restrictions to advance legislation reflecting members’ priorities. CEA’s biggest issues this session are protecting the health and safety of students and teachers, improving indoor air quality in public schools, and recruiting and retaining educators. Key priorities include: • Supporting teachers with acceptable counselor, social worker, and other certified staff ratios • Elevating teacher voices in decision-making processes • Prohibiting dual instruction • Raising the kindergarten start age • Employing administrators with an appropriate level of classroom experience • Defining acceptable conditions for indoor air quality, creating an IAQ monitoring program, extending the state school construction bond program to include HVAC systems, and developing IAQ complaint procedures in schools • Recruiting teachers with loan forgiveness, stipends, an updated and flexible certification process, and expanded opportunities for second-career educators

• Retaining educators with the help of tax credits and supplemental stipends, as well as ensuring duty-free lunch periods and providing undirected prep time of no less than 45 minutes Teachers Share with Legislators What’s Really Going On in Schools Legislators don’t know what goes on in classrooms every day unless they hear from teachers. That’s why CEA members around the state have been meeting with legislators this winter to share their stories and urge action. During a Zoom meeting in February with shoreline educators, Senator Norm Needleman and Representatives Devin Carney and Christine Palm heard from teachers about the need for more mental health resources in schools, better indoor air quality, support for recruiting and retaining educators, and improvements to the state teacher evaluation guidelines. “Schools really need more funding to care for the mental health of children,” one teacher shared. She said the preschool teacher at her elementary school is at a loss for what to do with three-year-olds who hit and kick her. “She has one para in the room with her and 17 three-year-olds. Schools need board-certified behavior analyst support, they need social workers, they need mental health resources.” She added, “Schools are really floundering in the mental health department. Kids are struggling. They’ve gone throughtwo years now of a world unlike any other. The supports we need are fewer and fewer, even as they’re needed more and more.” Another teacher told legislators that earlier in her career she was put in a headlock and her neck was twisted while teaching summer school. Her recovery

STATE MASK MANDATE ENDS; MASKING DECISIONS IN LOCAL HANDS After a year-and-a-half of mandating masks in schools, Connecticut ended its statewide

ready for the mask mandate to end, and 5 % unsure. Sixty-two percent of educators indicated that they would continue to mask up when masking became optional, and 38 % said they would not. CEA President Kate Dias shared the survey results with legislators during a February public hearing. A number of local teachers’ associations conducted surveys of their own members to inform their discussions with superintendents and board of education members in making local decisions about mandating masking in schools. Dias stressed that schools should make sure teachers’ expectations are communicated clearly to parents and the school community. “We cannot be expected to police masking if it is optional,” she said. “Parents cannot call teachers and expect them to enforce any masking requirements. This includes who is supposed to wear masks and whom students sit or play with.” She also emphasized that districts must provide high-quality (medically fitted) N95 masks for all teachers who want them, particularly those who are medically fragile, have immunocompromised family members, or work in windowless classrooms or rooms with windows that don’t open. Dias said that local associations are prepared to assist teachers with medical documentation of conditions that put them at an increased risk of COVID by advocating for medically fitted N95 masks, larger or better-ventilated rooms, or other ADA accommodations. “Two years in, we are at a point in this pandemic where some people are ready to revert to pre-pandemic ways of life while those who are immunocompromised are worried that they are being forgotten,” said Dias. “We must show each other respect and empathy and ensure that our students and staff who are at greater risk from COVID remain safe in our schools.”

requirement February 28, and most Connecticut school districts have now elected to be mask-optional. Masking must continue on school buses, as transportation is regulated by the federal government. The Connecticut Commissioner of Education maintains the ability to reinstate a statewide mandate should a new severe COVID variant become widespread before the end of this school year. While some advocated removing the statewide mask mandate in schools on February 15, when the governor’s executive order was set to expire, the legislature voted to continue the mandate through the end of February, allowing masking to become a local decision after that point. Senator Saud Anwar, a pulmonologist at Manchester Memorial Hospital, acknowledged, “I want children to be able to go to school and not have to wear their masks and worry about things,” however, he said that in mid-February cases were still too high in the state to make unmasking in schools a wise decision. Based on mid-February infection rates and hospitalizations he anticipated case levels would be low enough by February 28 to allow optional unmasking in schools that choose to allow it. “When we get to that point, we have to recognize, with humility, that this virus has changed multiple times in the last two years, and there’s always the risk that it could change into a new variant, so we need to remain vigilant while we are getting our lives back and recognize that we need to be prepared that things can change,” he said. In an early February CEA poll of its members, teachers had mixed feelings about masking, with 55 % favoring a mask requirement, 40 %

CEA POLL OF MEMBERS ON MASKS IN SCHOOLS

IF MY DISTRICT GOES MASK-OPTIONAL, I WILL CONTINUE TO WEAR MY MASK

I BELIEVE MASKS SHOULD BE OPTIONAL IN SCHOOLS

62 Yes

38 No

55 % Disagree 40 Agree %

5 % Unsure

Nearly 10,000 members responded to a CEA survey conducted February 4-8, 2022.

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