Dear Members of the Craftsbury, Hazen Union, OSUED, OSSU, Stannard, and Wolcott School Boards:

We write as members of the Orleans Southwest Education Association to inform you that the faculty and staff of the schools within the Orleans Southwest Supervisory Union have received inconsistent or inadequate training, personal protective equipment, and time to plan for the safe reopening of schools scheduled for Tuesday, September 8, 2020, and demand that the following steps be taken at all schools to remedy the OSSU’s shortcomings in planning for reopening schools.

Health and Safety Concerns

1. We have received incomplete and conflicting responses to our questions regarding how much personal protective equipment is on hand. We have also been told by the nursing staff that the quality of the PPE that has been provided by the State of Vermont is inadequate. The gloves tear and the ear loops on face masks break with little use. A full inventory and audit of PPE that is on hand and a list of PPE that has been ordered and its expected delivery date needs to be provided to the Association by Friday, September 18, 2020. A strict policy needs to be developed on the PPE needs of different staff members, such as related service providers, personal care paraprofessionals, student support staff, and any other staff whose work requires close proximity to students. Finally, we have been provided inadequate and perfunctory training on the proper use of PPE. We must be provided with clear and consistent training that allows for faculty and staff to ask questions and demonstrate proficiency in the use of PPE.

2. Schools lack adequate nursing staff. It is unacceptable for each school to not have a full-time nurse particularly in the midst of a global pandemic. Every school building within the OSSU must be staffed with a full-time nurse.

3. Classroom and workspace capacity limits have been posted to reflect a simple mathematical calculation of space available in classrooms and workspaces. These numbers do not reflect the actual space limitations within each space nor do they provide for social distancing guidelines from the Vermont Agency of Education. A strict capacity limit for each classroom and workspace that conforms to the guidelines from the Agency of Education must be adopted and posted outside of each classroom in order to protect the health and safety of our students, faculty, and staff.

4. The OSSU has failed to set a strict standard for school closure in the event of positive COVID-19 tests among students, faculty, and staff. The OSSU must adopt and publicize a clear policy on what it deems to be “acceptable numbers” of positive COVID-19 caseloads, what causes a classroom to close, what causes a school to close, and what causes multiple schools to close in the event of a positive case or severe symptoms. In addition, a strict standard for reentry must be in place and clearly communicated to the community, faculty, and staff.

5. The OSSU has failed to identify multiple dedicated isolation spaces for each school. Schools must identify multiple dedicated isolation spaces--that do not include nurses’ offices--in accordance with Vermont Agency of Education guidelines.

6. The OSSU has failed to provide adequate workspaces for all faculty and staff that have proper ventilation, or access to windows, or portable air filtration systems to protect their health and safety as well as that of their students. These basic health and safety needs must be met. Where access to windows is impossible, portable air filtration systems must be in place. Until these systems are in place, faculty, staff, and students should not occupy those spaces.

Factors Impacting Our Abilities to Educate Students

1. The OSSU has set unrealistic and inconsistent expectations for instructional delivery across the supervisory union. The instructional models developed by the OSSU are being implemented very differently between schools which results in significant inequity for staff and students. Teachers should not be expected to simultaneously deliver instruction through multiple instructional models. The OSSU should adopt a hybrid model of instruction that allows for focused, in-person instruction once adequate safety measures have been put in place, and well-planned, intentional remote instruction. Delivery of instruction through these distinct methods should be scheduled separately from each other.

2. Teachers are expected to plan for multiple models of instruction and are given no time to do so. Teachers must be provided adequate time to plan for and deliver remote and in-person instruction.

3. Learning Management Systems have been put in place with little to no training for faculty and staff. Faculty and staff must be provided focused, intentional instruction in their use.

We want to return to our schools and welcome our communities’ children back into our schools but we have to do so in a way that is well-planned, intentional, and--above all--safe. However, we are deeply concerned that the expectations and levels of preparedness across the Supervisory Union are inconsistent and inequitable from school to school. This inconsistency has caused needless confusion and fear among your staff, it adversely affects our morale and well-being, and, ultimately, it degrades our ability to provide high-quality instruction to students.

Simply put, we lack confidence that the plans they have created will ensure the safety of our students, faculty, and staff at all schools. Our reasonable questions and concerns have, in many cases, been ignored. We call on you as the elected leaders within your communities to demand answers to our concerns and respectfully request the opportunity to express these concerns to you in person.