Teacher unions join to demand COVID safety
IEA, IFT issue joint statement warning, ‘If a return-to-learning plan is not safe, we will act’
Lake View High School in Chicago looks ready to resume classes in the fall from the outside, but the state’s leading teacher unions are demanding safety inside from COVID-19. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)
By Ted Cox
Warning, “If a return-to-learning plan is not safe, we will act,” and “no action is off the table,” the state’s two largest teacher unions joined this week in demanding healthy conditions as schools prepare to reopen this fall in the midst of the persistent COVID-19 pandemic.
The Illinois Education Association and the Illinois Federation of Teachers made a strong pitch for continued online education in a joint statement issued by Presidents Kathi Griffin and Dan Montgomery, saying, “We believe that some types of in-person instruction can be achieved with health and safety mitigation in any individual community, but absent a practical safety plan that includes a clear line of responsibility and enforcement, we call for the 2020-21 school year to begin with remote learning.”
While suggesting that each district faces different challenges, the statement said the requirement for safety in the pandemic was paramount. Griffin and Montgomery said they expect districts and individual schools to be “prepared and able to abide by the safety measures outlined by the state, the federal government, and medical professionals.”
Pointing out that “our working conditions are our students’ learning conditions,” they warned, “If those measures are not met, we will do everything we can to protect our students and those who care for them — teachers and professors, bus drivers, classroom aides, secretaries, building janitors, and everyone in between. No avenue or action is off the table — the courts, the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board — nothing, including health and safety strikes.”
Griffin has previously spoken about the swift and agile transition teachers made to online instruction this spring, while granting that “what I think we’ve learned is the best thing is in-person teaching.” Even so, she has always put the safety of students, teachers, and Educational Support Professionals — including including school custodians, lunch ladies, secretaries, and paraeducators — first and foremost.
The statement echoed that, saying: “Since this pandemic began, our members have risen to the occasion. We rebuilt the public education system in a week. We delivered food and schoolwork, dove headfirst into remote learning, and did our best to provide normalcy and emotional support for our students. We miss them. We want to see them more than anything, but we want to do it safely.”
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth joined National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia last week in calling for safe schools this fall, including provisions for paid sick leave for both teachers and parents to deter the spread of the coronavirus.
Gov. Pritzker has granted districts broad leeway in making their own determinations on how to proceed with instruction this fall, while calling on them to observe guidelines set by the Illinois State Board of Education, following the advice of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Earlier this week, though, he joined in supporting a shift of some school sports from fall to spring, including football, boys’ soccer, and girls’ volleyball, as imposed by the Illinois High School Association.
Citing their combined 238,000 members, overseeing 2.5 million students, Griffin and Montgomery flexed their union muscle, saying, “Unions were founded on workplace safety. The COVID-19 pandemic brings us back to our roots. This is the power of belonging to a union — to be able to collectively stand to protect those who need it — employees, students and their families. We especially need to protect those students who live in communities where health care is lacking, nonexistent, or unaffordable. We are in this together and we are in this to keep everyone healthy, safe, and learning.”