School resumes Tuesday. But Sacramento district, teachers union won’t agree on a schedule

Tens of thousands of families in Sacramento are dealing with a new layer of uncertainty one day before Sacramento City Unified schools are set to begin their first full days of online instruction.

The district delivered a cease and desist letter to the Sacramento City Teachers Association calling on the union to use the district’s distance learning schedule. But some teachers on Monday said they instead plan to move forward with schedules they collectively created together as a union and are different than the district’s plan.

While the district and teachers union entered state mediation last week, the district adopted a distance learning plan Saturday after starting the school year two days before without one. The announcement included a list of start times for each school and all grade levels. The district serves roughly 42,000 students.

The two groups have been working for weeks to determine how much time teachers will spend in direct instruction. The district is calling for more time spent in synchronous instruction and less time doing independent work. Although both plans meet state education requirements, SCTA’s relies more on independent study in favor of face-to-face screen time.

“Our families do not need additional anxieties and confusion,” said Superintendent Jorge Aguilar. “Instead, students need consistent schedules, with guardrails in place so that they know what their schedules and classrooms should look like. With its promotion of alternative schedules, SCTA is knowingly fueling anxiety and fear among students and families. We heard our parents loudly and clearly: they asked for consistency, live instruction, standards aligned curriculum, and the ability to access recorded lessons. We simply cannot allow anyone to stand in the way of providing that consistency and meeting those expectations.”

According to a statement released by the district, the district wants to include recorded instruction, assessments and logging service plans for students on an Individualized Education Program. The teachers union said they want the district to provide additional administrative and clerical staff support to assist with logging students’ plans so that teachers can prioritize instruction.

California Middle School teacher Preston Jackson, who also serves as board president of Washington Unified School District in West Sacramento, called the cease and desist letter disheartening.

“We are going to utilize our professional judgment, and address the inequity in our classroom,” Jackson said.

The district also says that the teachers union’s plan is not in compliance in SB98 for special education, a claim that the union maintains is untrue.

Sam Tran, with Children Now, an education research and advocacy organization, said the district’s plan would implement a clear strategy, after there was much confusion in the spring.

Teachers move forward with SCTA union plan

While school board president Jessie Ryan said she heard from teachers who said they will implement the district’s plan, many teachers on Monday said they will move forward with the distance learning plan the teachers union worked on together and voted for.

Their plan, the teachers union says, is best for students – including the most vulnerable – because it doesn’t place students in front of computer screens for hours.

“They want us to start at 8:10 in the morning, and we voted to go with a 9:30 start time,” said Shana Just, a teacher at Luther Burbank High school. She said in the spring, many students were always late to morning classes. “We know the 8:10 time was not in the best interest of our students.”

Just also said that the union planned their schedule around the district’s meal distributions, a program thousands of students rely on.

“They are changing our work day without our consent,” Just said.

Some teachers, like speech pathologist Erin Macy, said they will be working with parents to implement a program that fits with their professional judgment. Macy said she could not support a distance learning plan that places young children in front of a computer screen for more than three hours a day.

“Our educators are coming with years of experience, and as a special education teacher with a masters degree, a teaching credential, license certification, years of experience and professional judgment, I will not be intimidated by a superintendent and a special education department that is lacking leadership,” Macy said.

Just said teachers need the flexibility to teach and then release students to conduct independent work – often group work or targeted support groups for students who need further assistance.

“We have daily synchronous learning,” Ingrid Hutchins, a teacher at Golden Empire Elementary, said. “It’s not mandated. We have been teaching for many years and we know how to acclimate to serve our children’s needs.”

Mayor Steinberg weighs in

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, in a statement with Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools David Gordon, shared concerns regarding the disagreement on Monday, and asked why 12 other Sacramento County school districts were able to agree on distance learning plans, but not Sacramento City Unified.

“Neither the students, parents, nor community can accept or tolerate 70 different approaches to the already difficult necessity of distance learning,” Steinberg and Gordon wrote. “In the meantime, we must all follow the law and implement a single set of rules and standards that allow children and their parents to know what they can expect. There is a better way than continuing this dispute. The district and union can and must find a way to work out their remaining differences and come to an agreement. Students, families, and teachers desperately need stability and clarity as this unique and challenging school year begins.”

This is the second cease and desist letter issued by Aguilar. The first was issued to the teachers union when they offered to provide technical support to students in the spring. The district said such support must be authorized by the district.

This story was originally published September 7, 2020 at 3:26 PM.