More than 2,800 teachers in Columbus City Schools have signed a union letter demanding the district pivot to remote learning for two weeks as COVID-19 hospitalization and case numbers continue to increase in Franklin County.
The letter was delivered to the district Wednesday after being sent to Columbus Education Association (CEA) members on Tuesday. It was signed by more than two-thirds of the union’s 4,200 members.
“The current model of daily decisions to open some schools on below-skeleton staffing and close others, sometimes as late as 6:30 A.M. the same day, is … unsustainable,” CEA president John Coneglio wrote in the letter.
“We are committed to in-person learning as much as possible,” she said. “We know that in-person learning is the best and the safest place for our students and we will continue to make sure we are learning in person as much as possible.”
In its letter, the union also said the best learning happens in person, but wrote “we strongly believe that the best way to ensure maximum in-person learning in the coming months is to combat the current surge with decisive action today.”
During its first week back from winter break, Columbus City Schools experienced a high of 24 schools closed in one day due to staff shortages, and it went completely remote at the end of the week due to absences of transportation workers.
Individual schools have been moved to remote learning because of staffing issues, Dixon said.
The CEA said a two-week pause to in-person learning would allow the district to “secure and distribute proper masks, deep clean our buildings and potentially make repairs to the HVAC systems that are not working.”
“We will continue to provide the PPE that school buildings need,” Dixon said at the briefing. “If there are HVAC issues, we are addressing those issues.”
The union said in its letter that Columbus Schools has between a 20% and 30% substitute fill rate for absent educators.
“Even when educators can cover enough classes, reported staffing shortages in transportation and food service are causing late busses and inadequate distribution of meals to students,” the letter states. “Many buildings are reporting HVAC issues and are operating with little or no heat in the cold weather.”
Cincinnati Public Schools board of education voted Monday to shift all students to virtual learning for two weeks starting Wednesday. The move to virtual learning was recommended by district administrators due to a spike in COVID-19 cases in the region.
Across the country, teacher unions in cities such as Chicago and Los Angeles have either called for or considered calling for a push to online learning. Chicago Public Schools canceled classes last week until Wednesday, when students will return to classrooms after the Chicago Teachers Union suspended a walkout.
