Vaccine access a must before school campuses can reopen, Sacramento teacher union says
The teachers union in Sacramento City Unified School District released its framework for reopening for in-person learning on Tuesday, and the plan prioritizes offering the COVID-19 vaccine to all of its 4,500 district employees.
“We couldn’t wait any longer for the district to begin the discussion,” SCTA President David Fisher said. “Our students deserve to know what to expect and with SCUSD’s vastly improved budget we can have a serious discussion about putting additional resources to improving services to students while ensuring that schools reopen safely.”
The Sacramento City Teachers Association made five recommendations that included providing ventilation with a centralized HVAC system, providing mitigation to protect students and staff, reopening once Sacramento County is in the red tier and providing student intervention.
“We appreciate SCTA’s framework and look forward to negotiating a formal agreement to reopen our schools,” read a statement from the district. “As we have done thus far, we will continue to use guidance from appropriate local and state entities entities that will help us maintain the health and safety of our students and staff. We look forward to continuing our negotiations with SCTA to reopen schools safely for the benefit of our students, community, and staff.”
The school board has not made a decision on when to reopen, or whether or not to offer vaccines to teachers before reopening. Some of the district’s reopening dashboard coincides with the governor’s proposal on how to reopen schools. And some of teachers unions recommendations are in line with those the district has already implemented or states it will put in place. Air filters were on the districts list of improvements to address air quality and COVID-19 mitigation. But both vaccines and HVAC upgrade, are not state or local requirements to reopen campuses, and will likely become hurdles to reopening Sacramento City Unified.
According to the district website, it is working on replacing HVAC units with the highest MERV-rated filters possible, and will offer routine on-site testing and thermal scanning. The district plans to use MERV-8 filters in some classrooms and MERV-13 in other classrooms, depending on the infrastructure.
But vaccines have become a sticking point with many teachers’ unions now that they have become more widely-available to people across the U.S. Teachers unions across California have long shared their concerns about returning to the classroom before teachers and school staff receive vaccines.
“All staff reporting to District school or worksites must have the opportunity (eligibility and access) to be vaccinated at the recommended dosage with the appropriate time elapsed for the vaccinations to take effect,” read the document.
The teachers union said accommodations should be made for staff who are medically unable to be vaccinated, or those who cannot return to in-person instruction during the pandemic.
Sacramento County health officials say they plan to vaccinate the first of 23,000 teachers likely by mid-February, a step toward reopening school campus amid COVID coronavirus.
But Gov. Gavin Newsom says inoculating all California teachers and school employees before the end of the school year won’t be possible because there are simply not enough shots available. With more teachers unions asking for vaccines to be included in their reopening plans, that could delay reopening campuses for months, or until the fall.
“It’s very unlikely that we’ll be able to accomplish that very idealistic goal before the end of the school year because of the scarcity of supply in vaccinations,” Newsom said during a press conference at the new vaccination site at 49ers stadium in Santa Clara. “That’s the unfortunate position we’re all in.”
This story was originally published February 10, 2021 at 11:57 AM.