Clovis teachers say district is rushing students back to campuses. Will they unionize?

As more Clovis students plan a return to campuses, more teachers must return as well. But unlike students, some teachers say the school district has given them little to no choice but to teach in-person even as coronavirus cases continue to surge in Fresno County.

Before the school year started, Clovis Unified School District officials said teachers would have the choice to either return to in-person teaching or continue to work remotely. That position shifted as more students began to return to campuses.

Now, teachers are required to return to campuses — even if that means teaching distance learning in a classroom — unless they have a health condition, are 65 or older, or are quarantining. Teachers who are caring for someone more susceptible to suffer complications from the coronavirus can also work remotely.

But teachers who spoke with The Bee’s Education Lab said it’s on a case-by-case basis.

“My biggest concern is how much the district let down teachers,” a high school teacher told The Bee. “We seem to be their least priority, lowest on the totem pole, and I don’t feel like we’re heard or protected or kept into consideration.”

The Ed Lab spoke to six Clovis Unified teachers who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity because they said they feared retaliation. Each teacher said they feel like the district hasn’t given them a choice because if a teacher doesn’t meet the criteria to work from home, some don’t have any other option but to take a formal leave if they don’t feel safe returning to campus.

“I would be in an empty classroom by myself, which makes absolutely no sense to me because I’ve been (working remotely) this whole time and doing a good job,” one elementary teacher said. “I bought all this equipment for my office, and now I have to lug all that to campus and be exposed by the teachers and students already there.”

There are various ways teachers can continue to be paid while they are on leave, Clovis Unified Spokesperson Kelly Avants said, like through the Family Medical Leave Act, which provides leave for reasons related to your own or a family members’ needs. The Families First Coronavirus Relief Act, or FFCRA, provides leave for COVID-related reasons and provides 10 extra days of leave.

“Our HR team works with employees to identify the most generous leave options available for their individual circumstance,” Avants said in an email. “Paid leave (other than FFCRA) does tap into an employee’s existing sick leave, and if an employee reaches the end of their sick leave also includes up to 5 months of differential pay available to an employee in which they get their salary minus the cost of a substitute.”

There are some situations where teachers would have to tap into their sick leave. If a teacher doesn’t want to return to campus solely because they don’t feel safe, sick leave might be their only option.

“The employee who lacks any other reason for a leave is still able to choose to not be at work, the trade off is that they are choosing to use their accrued sick leave,” Avants said. “If they run out of sick leave and/or vacation leave, they still have five months in which they would receive differential pay.”

So far, 53 teachers have requested to go on leave, Superintendent Eimear O’Farrell said, and the district is working to make sure there are enough substitute teachers available.

O’Farrell said the district has worked with teachers individually to make sure they feel safe and comfortable working on campus.

“Our ultimate goal is to return our employees and our students to campus safely, and in order for us to do that, we do need to have our staff on campuses,” O’Farrell said. “We’ve put into place a very elaborate safety plan approved by the department of public health.”

There are 11,000 students currently doing in-person learning, Avants said.

Some teachers are placed in classrooms close to the parking lot, O’Farrell said, or have their own bathroom. However, that’s not the case for every teacher. One middle school teacher said his 4-year-old son is at a “very high risk,” and although the district allows him to teach online from his classroom, he still has to share facilities with all the other teachers.

“It’s not really a choice. Normally, classrooms are a cesspool,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense (to return to campuses). I’m not sitting in my classrooms shaking because I’m scared to death of the virus, but I have enough friends who work in hospitals, and it’s not something you mess around with.”

Teachers say Clovis Unified has rushed returning to campus

Five teachers said they want Clovis Unified to let the numbers dictate when it’s safe to return, like the Fresno Unified School District and Central Unified School District are doing.

“They’re (Clovis Unified) telling the public, all teachers will be coming back, and it’s hunky-dory, and they’re working it out, but really they’re not,” a high school teacher said.

Teachers who spoke with the Education Lab said they feel CUSD is rushing to reopen campuses.

Fresno Unified is waiting until the county reaches the orange Tier 3 in the state’s color-coded “Blueprint for a Safer Economy” of coronavirus safety measures and restrictions.

“I would love our district to follow the lead of (Superintendent) Bob Nelson and Fresno Unified and commit to health and safety,” a high school teacher said. “He committed and wouldn’t even look at returning until the county is in the orange tier.”

Central Unified is waiting until Fresno County is in the red Tier 2. Fresno County has remained in the purple Tier 1 since Nov. 16, the most restrictive tier, and is still at 0% availability for Intensive Care Unit beds.

O’Farrell said CUSD is focused on delivering the best possible educational opportunities during the pandemic

“Knowing that the very best thing for our students is to be in-person, we looked at how we could do that within the context of whatever tier we’re in and to do it safely,” O’Farrell said.

Since early December, the number of Clovis students who have tested positive for COVID-19 has nearly doubled to 101 students. There have been 237 employees who have contracted the virus, and 139 of those cases occurred in December.

Since October, elementary students in the Clovis Unified School District have been back to campuses for part-time in-person learning. The district phased in students over a few months and planned a near full return of elementary students by Jan. 19.

Junior and high school students were supposed to return last week, although the district was forced to delay until at least Feb. 1, following guidance from the governor and Fresno County health officials.

“Just like what happened in July, the state makes a decision for them, so they don’t have to take the blame from the public,” one high school teacher said. “Now, they can tell the community, ‘We try to get kids back, but they won’t let us.’ This is the second time they pulled that stunt.”

In July, the Clovis Unified board decided to return to in-person learning that was reversed within 48 hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced counties with increasing COVID-19 cases couldn’t reopen schools. Critics accused the school board of “political theater,” and at least one board member acknowledged knowing Newsom would make the announcement before the vote.

When asked whether she was confident it’s safe to send students and teachers back to campuses. O’Farrell responded, “My confidence is in the department of public health to give us the very best advice and in our team to follow that advice.

“The department of public health has stated to us they feel very confident in the procedures we have in place.”

“To me, it’s gross the way they (Clovis Unified) treated teachers. It’s gross the way they disregarded public health. It’s gross the way that they’ve treated people who have truly legitimate ... concerns,” another high school teacher said.

Will pandemic strains lead to a CUSD teachers union?

Teachers who spoke with the Ed Lab said the process of reopening schools has created a division in Clovis Unified.

There’s division between the teachers who want to go back to in-person learning and those who don’t think it’s safe. There is division between school site administrators and teachers. There’s also division among district administrators and teachers.

“The relationship I had with administrators turned very sour,” one high school teacher said. “They’re constantly delivering bad news and changing the direction, and they’re the ones that have to bring it to us.”

He said school site administrators often have their hands tied and are told what to say and can’t answer any of the questions teachers have.

“It’s because they are the messenger, and we have no voice for us to speak directly at the district office,” he added.

One teacher said she has never felt more “voiceless” or “unheard” by the district. Every teacher said this has given them more of an incentive to unionize, and there is an active group of teachers who are working to create a union.

“It’s a tough place to be in to feel like your employer doesn’t value your input, but it’s even worse when they don’t value you as a person. Or your life,” another teacher said.

O’Farrell said she’s spent a lot of time talking to teachers one-on-one about their concerns and believes that teachers feel herself and the rest of the district administrators are “very approachable.”

Clovis teachers do have a Faculty Senate that represents teachers at the district level during decision making.

“It’s like the union in that it advocates on behalf of teachers but unlike (a union) because it doesn’t have any real power,” a high school teacher said. “There’s no legal authority behind it, and the district has chosen to disregard a lot of what’s coming out of the faculty senate.”

O’Farrell said the district works closely with the Faculty Senate, and “they have a voice at the table in every decision that we’ve made.”

“Our relationships with our teachers are very important to us,” she added.

Multiple teachers said it seems like school districts with strong unions, like Fresno Unified and Central Unified, were able to play a more significant role in the decision-making process.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Clovis teachers say district is rushing students back to campuses. Will they unionize?."