Safe Schools for Amarillo Students and Educators

Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees

Safe Schools for Amarillo Students and Educators - Petition to the Board of Trustees for Amarillo Independent School District

As of November 13, 2020, the following conditions exist in the Amarillo community:

  • 6,277 active cases of COVID-19 in Potter and Randall counties

  • 217 deaths due to COVID-19 in Potter and Randall counties

  • Amarillo Area Hospitalization Rate of 30.25 percent

  • Amarillo ISD had 172 new student cases this week, and 69 new staff cases this week, with a total of 723 student cases and 434 staff cases

  • For the week ending November 8, the Texas Department of State Health Services reports that of the 603 student cases and 393 staff cases, the source of infection for 11 cases was on campus, for 493 cases is off campus, and for 492 cases is unknown.

  • Local health authorities have reported that our hospitals are operating beyond capacity, and the prediction is that local cases of COVID-19 will continue to rise without changed behavior from the community.


The mission of the Amarillo Education Association/TSTA/NEA is to unite, organize, and empower public education advocates to shape public education at the local level thus providing a quality public school for every child. Based on the current public health crises in our community, we have identified the following harms and remedies in our schools. We call on the community to support us in calling on the Trustees of Amarillo ISD to support our students, staff, and community in addressing our emergency needs.

Harms

These harms exist in Amarillo ISD and threaten the safety of students and staff in our school:

  • at least one student and one staff member have died from COVID-19;

  • Amarillo ISD has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 of all districts in the state of Texas;

  • with at least 492 cases of confirmed COVID-19 positive individuals in our schools having an unknown source of infection AND limitations on which COVID-19 positive cases are reported AND with not all individuals who are seeking testing AND the possibility of asymptomatic individuals who are contagious being on our campuses, we are not able to accurately know rates of community spread in our schools;

  • enforcement of the district’s masking policy is lax across the district, even when issues are reported;

  • some campuses have rationed PPE, pediatric masks and hand sanitizer;

  • some campuses still do not have enough desk shields for all students;

  • relying only on the Health Department for contact tracing is creating exposure risk due to delays in reporting possible exposures, and dependence on individuals accurately and honestly reporting possible exposure;

  • classes have been combined due to lack of substitute teachers, increasing exposure risks;

  • special education assistants are being pulled from duty across the district to substitute teach, causing our district to be out of compliance in providing special education services;

  • individuals who are still symptomatic are returning to work after 10 days due to misunderstanding the return to work protocols of at least 10 days after testing positive AND two days with no symptoms;

  • workload issues related to teachers teaching both face-to-face and virtual is causing fatigue that puts our safety systems at risk, as well as creates the risk we will lose good educators;

  • custodial staff are not being informed of classrooms with exposures to COVID-19 as required by TEA guidance. Thus, they are unable to complete deep cleaning, and are also unaware they may be entering contaminated spaces;

  • staffing shortages in our custodial department and increased workload create conditions where disinfection and cleaning procedures may not be at the detail set in campus safety plans, causing weaknesses in our COVID-19 mitigation protocols;

  • enforcement in regards to use of student desk shields is lax;

  • meetings that can easily be conducted via video conference continue to be held face to face, even after staff requests for these meetings to be conducted via video conference;

  • and, Trustees continue to meet face to face and are not livestreaming the meetings, disconnecting voters from public access to school board business in real time.


Remedies

The Board of Trustees for Amarillo ISD must ensure the safety of all students and staff by being committed to the following:

  • employees who refuse to wear a mask in accordance with policy will be sent home on administrative leave without pay until they are in compliance with district policy;

  • all meetings involving staff shall be conducted virtually, even if face-to-face instruction for students is occuring;

  • special education staff shall not be pulled from duty to substitute teach;

  • the district will hire enough staff to fully separate remote and face-to-face teaching duties;

  • the district will hire more nurses so that each campus has a nurse onsite full time daily;

  • the district will hire more custodians to handle the increased cleaning and disinfecting workloads and handle staffing issues created by quarantine;

  • when a campus is short teaching staff due to lack of substitute teachers, that campus will either close or go remote until enough staff are available for face-to-face instruction;

  • campuses will close for face-to-face instruction for up to 5 days when a COVID-19 case for a student or staff member is confirmed at that location;

  • while hospitalization rates for our region remain above 15 percent, our district will enter into remote learning until the hospitalization rate is below 15 percent for 7 consecutive days;

  • the district will increase substitute teacher pay;

  • the district will pay a retention stipend of $1,800 to all full-time employees, and $1,200 to all part-time employees, paid in full on the January paycheck;

  • the board will pass a resolution seeking hold harmless status for funding for the entire 2020-2021;

  • the board will seek all waivers from TEA that will help remedy the dire situation in our schools and community;

  • and, all school board meetings will be broadcast live on a prominent social media platform.

To: Amarillo ISD Board of Trustees
From: [Your Name]

Trustees of the Amarillo Independent School District,

We call on you to acknowledge the harms our school community faces due to the COVID-19 pandemic and implement the remedies sought by the Amarillo Education Association.

Harms

These harms exist in Amarillo ISD and threaten the safety of students and staff in our school:

at least one student and one staff member have died from COVID-19;

Amarillo ISD has the most confirmed cases of COVID-19 of all districts in the state of Texas;

with at least 492 cases of confirmed COVID-19 positive individuals in our schools having an unknown source of infection AND limitations on which COVID-19 positive cases are reported AND with not all individuals who are seeking testing AND the possibility of asymptomatic individuals who are contagious being on our campuses, we are not able to accurately know rates of community spread in our schools;

enforcement of the district’s masking policy is lax across the district, even when issues are reported;
some campuses have rationed PPE, pediatric masks and hand sanitizer;
some campuses still do not have enough desk shields for all students;
relying only on the Health Department for contact tracing is creating exposure risk due to delays in reporting possible exposures, and dependence on individuals accurately and honestly reporting possible exposure;

classes have been combined due to lack of substitute teachers, increasing exposure risks;

special education assistants are being pulled from duty across the district to substitute teach, causing our district to be out of compliance in providing special education services;

individuals who are still symptomatic are returning to work after 10 days due to misunderstanding the return to work protocols of at least 10 days after testing positive AND two days with no symptoms;

workload issues related to teachers teaching both face-to-face and virtual is causing fatigue that puts our safety systems at risk, as well as creates the risk we will lose good educators;

custodial staff are not being informed of classrooms with exposures to COVID-19 as required by TEA guidance. Thus, they are unable to complete deep cleaning, and are also unaware they may be entering contaminated spaces;
staffing shortages in our custodial department and increased workload create conditions where disinfection and cleaning procedures may not be at the detail set in campus safety plans, causing weaknesses in our COVID-19 mitigation protocols;
enforcement in regards to use of student desk shields is lax;

meetings that can easily be conducted via video conference continue to be held face to face, even after staff requests for these meetings to be conducted via video conference;

and, Trustees continue to meet face to face and are not livestreaming the meetings, disconnecting voters from public access to school board business in real time.

Remedies

The Board of Trustees for Amarillo ISD must ensure the safety of all students and staff by being committed to the following:

employees who refuse to wear a mask in accordance with policy will be sent home on administrative leave without pay until they are in compliance with district policy;

all meetings involving staff shall be conducted virtually, even if face-to-face instruction for students is occuring;

special education staff shall not be pulled from duty to substitute teach;

the district will hire enough staff to fully separate remote and face-to-face teaching duties;
the district will hire more nurses so that each campus has a nurse onsite full time daily;
the district will hire more custodians to handle the increased cleaning and disinfecting workloads and handle staffing issues created by quarantine;
when a campus is short teaching staff due to lack of substitute teachers, that campus will either close or go remote until enough staff are available for face-to-face instruction;

campuses will close for face-to-face instruction for up to 5 days when a COVID-19 case for a student or staff member is confirmed at that location;

while hospitalization rates for our region remain above 15 percent, our district will enter into remote learning until the hospitalization rate is below 15 percent for 7 consecutive days;

the district will increase substitute teacher pay;

the district will pay a retention stipend of $1,800 to all full-time employees, and $1,200 to all part-time employees, paid in full on the January paycheck;

the board will pass a resolution seeking hold harmless status for funding for the entire 2020-2021;

the board will seek all waivers from TEA that will help remedy the dire situation in our schools and community;

and, all school board meetings will be broadcast live on a prominent social media platform.