The Agency of Education is under pressure to create a statewide commission charged with planning a return for preK-12 students in the fall.
The Vermont-NEA, the union that represents most of the state’s school employees, has been calling for such a commission for weeks. They argue that parents, teachers, school nurses, and other educators need to be involved in preparing Vermont schools for in-person instruction during the pandemic.
That demand was echoed late Monday afternoon by Senate Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, who said in a statement he was “very worried that any further delay of this important discussion will put local school officials in an impossible position as the summer progresses.”
“Establishment of this task force will create confidence that Vermont is preparing for the realities of the fall in an inclusive way,” Ashe added. “Currently, I’m being swamped with messages from parents and school staff who are filled with worry about whether our schools will be ready for the new school year to begin on time.”
The agency has already an initial round of guidelines about how schools should plan to reopen in the fall, which include mandatory face masks for teachers and students and daily temperature checks. But Vermont-NEA President Don Tinney said they leave plenty of questions unanswered.
“There are lines in the guidelines that say ‘wherever feasible’ or ‘whenever feasible.’ Well, how does the local district school district interpret that?” he said.
The NEA has repeatedly said it would prefer students return to school for in-person instruction, but its leaders have also expressed skepticism that the state is doing enough to prepare.
“It’s important for parents and employers as well as educators to accept the reality that we may not be ready to return to school before Labor Day. I think we have to accept that fact,” Tinney said.
Ted Fisher, a spokesperson for the agency, said Education Secretary Dan French had received several requests for a task force and had asked the NEA to prepare a proposal outlining “the purpose of such a group, its scope of work, and its membership.” French will bring the proposal to an advisory group next set to meet July 10, Fisher said, before deciding whether to enact it.
Fisher said the agency had worked hard to solicit input from a broad range of people throughout the pandemic, and had tapped representatives from the NEA, superintendents, principals, school nurses, and experts in pediatric infectious disease, pediatric medicine, epidemiology and public health for feedback before issuing its guidance about reopening.
“The group met exhaustively, several times per week for two weeks, to develop the guidance linked above,” Fisher wrote in an email.
The union has also called for an infusion of cash to help pay to retrofit buildings, purchase supplies, and hire extra staff. Education officials across the country have been urging Congress to send schools a bailout, and one cost analysis, prepared by the national organizations representing superintendents and business managers, pegged the added per-pupil cost for reopening safely at $490, according to the U.S. News and World Report.
State lawmakers have already earmarked about $50 million from Vermont’s federal coronavirus relief package to help K-12 schools pay for Covid-19 related expenses. Up to $12 million will pay for summer meals, and another $6.5 million is set aside for ventilation repairs and upgrades.
Tinney called the money “a good start,” but said it isn’t possible to know at this point whether it will be enough.
“This is another reason to get more planning done – to really understand what are the resources that are needed. Like, have they estimated how many face masks will need to be ordered?” he said.
Get the latest statistics and live updates on our coronavirus page.
Sign up for our coronavirus email list.
Tell us your story or give feedback at coronavirus@vtdigger.org.
Support our nonprofit journalism with a donation.