‘Many of them are so concerned about going back, they’re also preparing their wills’; Jeffco Teacher’s Union Calling for remote learning to start school year

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    JEFFERSON COUNTY, CO (KDVR) — The Jefferson County Education Associating is calling on the district to push back the start of in-person learning for the upcoming school year.

This comes after a recent series of surveys revealed 75 percent of educators, who submitted feedback, are uncomfortable with how the restart plan is currently written.

“One thing that really concerns me is that many of them are so concerned about going back, they’re also preparing their wills,” said Jefferson County Education Association President Brooke Williams.

“So I think that speaks volumes of where educators are and where their fears are right now,” she added.

Williams says there’s over 5,000 educators in the district, and tells Fox31 more than 3,000 of them participated in the surveys—concerning health and best back-to-school practices.

“From our survey, we found that 40% of our teachers have underlying health risks that do make them high risk, and just around 43% of the educators that we survey live with someone that’s high risk, or take care of someone that’s high risk,” said Williams.

They’re proposing a remote start for the upcoming school year instead of 100% in-person learning, which is the current restart plan in Jefferson County.

“And I think we have concerns around our HVAC’s systems and our ventilation systems being clean enough. Education has been underfunded for many years, and it’s impossible for our classrooms to get cleaned on a regular basis.”

Last week, Denver Public Schools announced their schools would begin the 2020-2021 school year with remote learning.

“I think what DPS did was really smart, and I have hopes that we will follow their lead,” said Williams.

The survey results also indicate that more teachers were likely to request online assignments than what’s available in the current district plan.

“I definitely think the district management has been put in a really impossible situation with impossible choices. Do I think they’re trying their best? Yes. But there’s still too many questions that aren’t answered and too many holes in the plan the way it’s currently written,” Williams explained.

She says the JCEA is open to a hybrid model for the upcoming school year.

“We’re a big believers that school health and safety is community health and safety,” said Williams. “And we really want to make sure that we’re doing this in a thoughtful way that protects everyone.”

JeffCo Public Schools released a statement on Monday:

“We are having conversations every day at the leadership level, as well as talking with JCPH, building leaders, staff, and our employee associations about feedback to our previously announced plan. We appreciate JCEA sharing their newest data from their membership survey. We are continuing to observe conditions as we work towards a decision for the fall. We are monitoring the data about the spread of the virus and decisions made by other school districts, both locally and around the country. We will take the time to process this information in order to make the best decision for students and our community. We anticipate new information, changes in the spread of the virus, and more testing and mitigation guidance to be coming out which will continue to inform our thinking and decision process.”

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