Selma teachers claim unfair labor practice after change to school’s foggy day schedule

The Selma Unified Teachers Association has filed a claim with the Public Employment Relations Board in response to a change in the district’s policy for foggy day schedules.

The unfair labor practice charge was filed after Selma Unified School District Superintendent Marilyn Shepherd announced the district would no longer delay school start times on foggy days, except for students who ride district buses.

Students who live close enough to walk or are driven to school are expected to arrive at the regular time.

The new policy was announced at the end of the district board meeting on Nov. 15 and began this week.

The change was made “unilaterally,” the Selma Unified Teachers Association said in a statement on Tuesday. It was “neither agendized nor voted upon and included no accompanying explanation to staff and parents, resulting in district-wide confusion,” the union said.

“This schedule change was made without consulting the community, parents and educators in the district, through the long-standing process of placing it on a board meeting agenda. There was no discussion about the very real safety hazards facing our students, staff, and community on days when visibility is compromised. We believe the district has not only violated labor law, but put our school community at unnecessary risk,” said association president David Wright.

“This is a safety issue for students, staff, and the community as a whole, who should not be driving when there is little visibility and conditions are hazardous.”

Before the change, the foggy day schedule delayed school start times until 10 a.m. and extended the end of the school day to make up for the lost class time. The delayed start times allowed parents, students, and staff to delay travel until after the fog had begun to burn off and visibility improved, the teacher’s union said.

Educators were required to report to school at 9:30 a.m. on foggy days.

Shepherd said she couldn’t comment on the teacher’s complaint.

“It is not the practice of Selma Unified to publicly comment on the substance of matters in pending litigation. The District is committed to ensuring the safety of our students and our employees while endeavoring to minimize any further loss of valuable instructional time for students, who have already lost too much due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Shepherd said in a statement to The Bee.

However, in a recent interview with The Bee’s Education Lab, Shepherd said teachers in Selma are expected to be at school 30 minutes before class begins and will have to follow the new foggy day rules of arriving on time, which she expects will happen.

“If they encounter something, they are to call their immediate supervisor and let them know if they’re going to be a little late. But we hope everybody will adjust their time because of the foggy weather,” she said.

Since the announcement, Shepherd said she had fielded emails from parents worried that students who walk or are driven to school will be placed in dangerous situations because of the fog.

Aside from being a safety issue, the teacher’s association claims the new policy will create inequity among students who ride the bus and now be losing two hours of instructional time on foggy days.

But Shepherd said most students live in town, where it’s less foggy. The district has two rural elementary schools, but only about 20 students get bused into the town from rural areas. If there are 500 bus riders out of 6,000 students in the district, most of whom live within a mile of their school site, it wouldn’t make sense to delay instruction for all students, Shepherd said.

A spokesperson for the Fresno County Office of Education said it’s up to each school to have its own procedure regarding foggy day schedules. Some schools, like those in Central, Clovis, and Sanger Unified, begin instruction at their regular time when buses are delayed. Others, like Caruthers and Fowler Unified, have delayed start times for all students.

This story was originally published November 30, 2021 at 2:37 PM.