The union representing several Mount Diablo Unified School District employees (teachers, librarians, nurses, and counselors) has released a “Resolution on a Path to Reopening Safely and Humanely,” along with a list of demands that must be met before schools continue in-person instruction.
The text was posted by Mount Diablo Education Association (MDEA) president Anita Johnson in the public comment section of today’s Mount Diablo Unified School District board meeting.
The following information is from the MDEA:
Whereas, students would benefit from safe, in-person instruction;
Whereas, MDEA is dedicated to reopening as soon as it is safe;
Whereas, COVID-19 is a life-threatening illness which affects persons of all ages;
Whereas, COVID-19 can cause significant pain and disruptions to major life activities if a person survives;
Whereas the spread of COVID-19 can be controlled only by community-wide use of preventative measures and limits on interactions between individuals and stable cohorts;
Whereas, COVID-19 is more prevalent in some towns/cities within the district;
Whereas, reopening with less restrictive criteria would most likely lead to more frequent reclosures and quarantines.
Now, therefore, be it resolved, that MDEA is committed to the health and safety of every child, every school, and every community.
Further, be it resolved, that MDEA demands that the decision to reopen be based on the following community health metrics:
- Anyone in the county must be able to get a free test within 48 hours and get the results within 72 hours.
- Fewer than twelve new cases per day countywide for 21 consecutive days.
- Fewer than seven new cases per day per 100,000 people for 21 consecutive days in each of the following communities: Bay Point, Clayton, Concord, Martinez, Pacheco, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek.
- A combination of other criteria that will reduce the likelihood that schools will become vectors for the spread of the disease.
Further, be it resolved, that MDEA demands that the following protocols be clearly communicated, funded, and implemented before schools reopen:
- To foster open communication, the district must keep the community informed of the number of known COVID-19 cases among student, family members, or staff at each site.
- A plan and procedure to provide on-site, no-cost COVID-19 testing during the workday for all staff and students.
- A plan and procedure to ensure that students and staff must test negative for COVID-19 before they return to on-campus instruction. The test must occur seven (7) or fewer days before the student or staff member returns to their site.
- A plan and procedure to ensure that all staff and students are tested at regular intervals thereafter.
- A plan and place to isolate anyone who develops symptoms while at school. This plan shall explicitly address the staffing and procedures for the isolation area.
- A plan to provide ample masks, shields, barriers, gloves, toilet covers, gowns, other necessary PPE, hand sanitizer, and hand-washing stations.
- Protocols to ensure that all areas and materials used by staff and students will be cleaned and sanitized in compliance with guidelines from local, state, and federal health authorities.
- Protocols that require everyone on a school campus to perform daily health screenings, wear a mask, and maintain six feet of physical distance. These protocols will clearly establish the consequences for violation and that school administrators, not MDEA members, will be responsible for implementing consequences.
- A plan and procedure to ensure that all classrooms and other areas used by staff and students approved for in-person instruction are appropriately ventilated. This plan should include a procedure for regular updates on the quality of ventilation for each classroom including the dates that filters were last changed.
- Schedules which will significantly limit the numbers of people in any enclosed areas, with established and maintained stable cohorts.
Adopted by unanimous vote, MDEA Executive Board, October 20, 2020.
This resolution clearly sets forth our reasons for caution around the reopening process and delineates clear criteria for reopening and identifies necessary protocols that must be in place. This document will guide our discussions with the district as we continue to work through the reopening process.
The Superintendent will share data this afternoon regarding the learning loss that students are experiencing. No one questions that this learning loss is real and tragic. However, it is important to remember and to celebrate that the students and many of our community members are still alive and healthy now because we have remained in the Distance Learning Phase.
The number of cases in our county has been declining. This presents some hope that it may soon be safe for our schools to open. While a specific date may provide reassurance and structure to some individuals, MDEA believes that the final decision must be guided by community health metrics. It is highly likely that the number of cases will increase again in flu season and over the holidays and the actual reopen date will be later than January.
Caution around actual reopening and the use of community health metrics is essential to ensure that every child, every school, and every community is safe and healthy. Careful use of these metrics is also essential to ensure that once we do reopen, we can stay open and will not have to close again or to have whole schools quarantined.
However, it is good practice for management to actively plan to reopen and to develop all of the plans and agreements that will need to be in place. We appreciate that Dr. Clark is being proactive and transparent.
Take care and stay safe.
Anita Johnson, President, Mt. Diablo Education Association
MDEA demands? Well they can demand all they want, but what are they gonna do protest and march unless their demands are met?
The MDEA assumes they call the shots with their demands, got news for them THEY DONT.
Do tell, how do you propose the schools open without teachers? I’d say they do have the upper hand here…
Let’s see. Announce reopening at end of January. Spend February sanitizing schools. March; Fix problems from February punch list. April, teachers retraining for in class recovery. May spring break. June. Oh well it’s to late to open this year. July: Housing prices drop 30% due to flood of families moving out of California. Might as well include August. August; Thousands of teachers laid off due to reduction of students attending school in California.
Thank you teachers union.
Recommendation: Teachers contact your union reps. Get vocal about this. Demand a return to in class teaching.
You just might end up without a job.
Families are moving out in droves. Check with a realtor regarding that info.
Let them strike. The teachers aren’t doing anything anyway. If they strike, replace them with people who are willing to teach rather than make political statements. Lots of teachers looking for jobs right now. My kids went to school in the MT. Diablo district until we moved to get out of California as Jimmy says. Leaving California is like getting out of a dysfunctional relationship, you don’t realize how bad it was until it is over. Now I am just mad at myself for putting up with it for so long. My first grader is reading at a 3rd grade level, and my older son who could barely read when we left is now reading above grade level and is excited to go to school rather than dreading it. And yes, they are actually going to school in person, have been since August and their school district hasn’t had any problems with in person learning. By the way, there is not a teachers unions here, so bad teachers are weeded out over time, good teachers are rewarded with signing bonuses for renewing their contracts with the school districts. Districts are actually in competition with each other to attract the best teachers. Seems to work very well.
It sounds crazy to say…..but MDEA’s demands caused my wife and I to have our first serious conversation about moving out of state. If they don’t open MDUSD on January 5th we decided we are heading to Incline Village and will enroll our kids in the local NEVADA (where people live free) school. North Lake Tahoe High School.
@ Fed up
DONT PAY THEM IF THEY DON’T WORK!!
@Mike, yeah, *some* of this is just what any reopening plan would involve. (In that case why has it taken until October to put out something like this?) But there are poison pills in there that can only be stonewalling: setting their own numerical thresholds that every one of those cities has to meet, for example. Why are they qualified to determine that? (They aren’t.)
Insisting on a negative test result before a staff member or student can return is not science-based. PCR tests can stay positive for weeks after someone is no longer infectious, due to fragments of the virus’ RNA still floating around.
And then there’s the part where they really show their hand: they say they don’t anticipate it will be safe to return before January because flu season is coming up! Which, you know, would have been a good reason to prioritize opening in August so students could have a semester before the height of flu season. Heads they win, tails we lose.
https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/school-districts-owe-taxpaying-parents-covid-19-refund
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I don’t know how old people on this site are. But do you remember what Ronald Reagan did in the ’80s
when the Air Traffic Controls wouldn’t go back to work ?
So, schools will never reopen then?
This sounds like a hostage situation, with the tax-paying citizens as the hostages and the teacher’s union in charge. Glad my children are out of the MDUSD.
So I guess the schools are now permanently closed. Impossible metrics set forth by the inept school board members. Mark Twain was right when he said: “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.”
Nailed it! Teachers, administrators, bus drivers, etc. are loving their full-time pay right now!
Hey, no problem. Just refund my tax money, I’ll stop paying the education portion at the end of this year and we will send our kids to private school.
Thanks!
@hmmmm
Agreed!!!
Lol Lol Lol !!!
I’m right there with you. That would be my preference anyway.
Thats right !
15 years and counting of paying for private schools. YES please!
Amen to that! Teachers don’t want to teach… bye-bye!
Positive cases alone in Concord alone in the last 14 days are 2,434
MDUSDEMP-
Concord has had that many cases since MARCH. Population is about 125,000. That less than 2% of the population.
Really? Go to https://www.coronavirus.cchealth.org/overview and do your research. How can we trust you with our kids education if you don’t have your facts straight?
Your number is sliiiiiiightly off MSUSD employee.
The total case count for Concord, per the health department website, is 2448. Cases in the last 14 days is 122.
https://www.coronavirus.cchealth.org/overview
Typical MDUSD employee. SMH that we have these type of people teaching our kids. Wow get your facts straight before you mouth off like you know everything.
Is that you Nancy?
Wow, great, this is the kind of statement that should have come out in JULY, not late October. An opening statement of conditions for reopening, in OCTOBER?! Is this some kind of sick joke?
This statement is theater.
It ignores the evidence that reopening schools in CA has not increased the spread of Covid.
It ignores the fact that PCR tests can be positive long after someone isn’t sick or infected, so its demand that a negative test happen before somebody returns is anti-science.
It sets its own numbers of cases per 100k as if the union leaders have some expertise beyond the county health officials, which they don’t.
And just look at the smug statement of self-justification for keeping kids out of school until after January. It beggars belief. If you have been relying on CA public schools, I hope see now how much the unions are in charge, and where their priorities are. Gross. Morally bankrupt.
MDEA the survival rate for Covid 19 is over 99%. I bet there tune changes after the election.
I bet it don’t. This union will drag everything down I’m sure of it. Nobody at that school district cares about kids or learning except maybe a couple teachers..
MDUSD has been a mess since at least the 80’s! I didn’t live here before that. NO interest in fixing anything. Indoctrinate, indoctrinate, indoctrinate…. they’ve done one heck of a job turning out indoctrinated fools.
Also, how does it make sense to peg the entire districts’ reopening to the numbers in, say, Pittsburg? That’s just a delaying tactic, pure and simple. It would be safe to open all of them right now, in terms of community prevalence of the virus. But even if you think Pittsburg is borderline, why should that hold the whole district back?
The statement scaremongers about flu season to argue that reopening will have to wait until after January (!) – this would have been a good reason to reopen in August, for crying out loud. Heads they win, tails we lose.
That list is completely unrealistic.
Get your asses back in the classroom & start teaching or find new jobs.
Or
Or maybe take a 50% pay cut because our children are only getting 50% of the education.
Meanwhile, most teachers are working 150%. Most teachers I know are working 10-12 hour days. Distance teaching is just as challenging on the other side of the screen. Maybe you could encourage your kids to turn their cameras on so they can get the most out of a crappy situation? Teachers are stuck teaching to a bunch of black boxes with their students’ names on them and the kids‘ parents (like the Claycord comments section, for example) are constantly disparaging them and calling them worthless and useless. Despite all this, they are still breaking their backs trying to create the best curriculum possible online. You realize they never had a “how to teach online” portion of their training, right? There’s also no training coming from the district. They are just as frustrated and their one line in the sand that they have drawn is “I don’t want to die at my job,” and people are attacking them. How about instead of acting like this is the fault of the teachers, how about pressuring the district to fund the appropriate and necessary PPE and sanitization. The teachers took a huge hit this summer when they accepted the absolutely garbage contract after the district reneged on the previous contract they proposed.
Finally, I realize I’ve entered a Fox News echo chamber, so this may fall on deaf ears, but to the ones who read this with a semblance of compassion for others, please know: the teachers are doing the best they can. They care about these kids. Cut them some slack and stop attacking them.
Don’t blame the teachers. Blame the union. The teachers do.
I don’t blame all the teachers. I blame the teachers union for allowing bad teachers to remain long after they would have been fired from a normal job. I am for banning ALL public employee unions, not just the teachers union. Unions breed lazy, incompetent, and some times downright corrupt behavior in their members and especially leadership. Why are bad cops never or almost never prosecuted? The police union. Why does the wait at the DMV suck so bad and the customer experience so terrible? The union. When you complain to the city about trash dumped on your street, why is is almost certain nothing will happen for months? The union. Why is BART so dirty, rundown and a horrible experience to ride? The union. See a common thread here? Public employee unions are basically organized crime, with you the taxpayer being the victim.
@Fed Up is partly correct – teaching online is not exactly easy street. I don’t doubt that teachers are generally working hard and finding it frustrating and time-consuming in the extreme.
BUT, this idea that “I don’t want to die at my job” is the bottom line – that’s just obfuscating and doesn’t conduce to clear thinking about risks and costs/benefits. We have had schools open in bad flu years before: Covid isn’t flu, sure, but we have always expected some level of risk balancing. And we still do, for “essential businesses.” Prevalence of the virus in our area is very low. Private schools have been open for weeks. Other school reopenings in CA have gone well, and public health officials looking for upticks connected with them have not seen anything. In Sweden at the height of their outbreak, teachers were not at more risk than other professions. In fact, teachers see the same group of people every day, so in some ways there is less risk of transmission. Younger kids don’t contract or transmit the virus as readily as adults do. So for sure K-6 should be open, no question. High schools do have to be a little more careful, but there’s sufficient track record now, and sufficiently low virus numbers, that schools should reopen.
Some people still won’t want to send their kids back, and some teachers are particularly at risk: fine, have those teachers teach at-home kids across the district.
The point is, school is essential, online learning is no substitute educationally or interpersonally, so risk needs to be managed. A zero-risk threshold is not an appropriate target. The SF bay area is one of the most successful metro areas in the US at keeping Covid down. And yet our teachers’ unions think safety is always two or three months away … it’s almost like they aren’t really being guided by evidence…
Amen to that, Mike.
Whereas … our children who attend public schools are screwed. They are the victims once again by this warfare back and forth amongst the unions and, well, the rest of society. So much for the worn out saying of the teacher’s union “It’s for the kids”.
This is so sad. During flu season we most likely average a lot more than 12 positive cases per day countywide. Not comparing COVID to the flu, but there is a vaccine for the flu and we still have widespread flu activity during fall and winter months. How are we ever going to get cases that low, even with a vaccine?
Anyone who can stretch their budget a bit will put their kids in private schools. The most needy students will suffer the most.
On the bright side, less students equals less money. Less money equals more MDEA members without jobs.
“The most needy students will suffer the most.”
Exactly – remember that the next time you hear woke platitudes about equity coming from our school system and the teachers’ unions. This is the single most regressive thing our society has done in decades.
“Less students equals less money”
Oh @Stumped, your faith in a reality-based system is so touching and so naive. You underestimate the political clout of teachers’ unions, and their ability to act quickly about the things they care about (i.e., not students). We see here that in our district it took them until October even to put out a “plan” to reopen. Guess how fast they got state legislation through to link enrollment-based funding to *last year’s* enrollments?
JUNE. That’s right. They took care of #1 months ago. Notice the poison pills towards charter schools too – they can’t have competition actually benefiting from, you know, *providing an education* when the unions won’t. Or providing a better online education – nope, can’t let anybody succeed at doing that. Unions need that green, baby. And they get it.
“Anticipating that the coronavirus would create a turbulent and financially unstable year, the Legislature agreed in June to fund schools at the same levels of student attendance in 2020-21 as in 2019-20. Most school districts welcomed the predictable funding.
But that decision also penalized charter schools that had planned to expand this year and school districts whose school-age population has continued to grow.
On Monday, before adjourning for the year, the Legislature mostly fixed the problem with one exception: Online charter schools experiencing increased enrollment will get no additional money, and will likely sue the state for disparate treatment.”
https://edsource.org/2020/legislature-fixes-funding-problem-for-growing-districts-and-some-charter-schools/639515
Defund CTA… it is an utterly failed and enormously expensive syndicate.
CTA is funded by teachers. Just saying
and Teachers are funded with taxpayer’s dollars
i thought terrorists made demands
Right!! Hostage takers have list of demands! The district has held children hostage , what a joke, the utter incompetence is beyond my believe, I would be fired if I was doing this crappy job! This has exposed a horrible district with some horrible people working with our kids
Unions have always made demands, so are unions a terrorist organization in your opinion?
Unions can absolutely be terrorist organizations. Unions rule by fear. Fear of shutdown, fear of slowdown, threats are common place in union negotiations. Violence has occurred many times. If you don’t think unions have acted like terrorist organizations, you don’t have any understanding of the history of unions. Not that it’s all bad of for unjust causes but let’s not deny reality here.
I give them credit for at least trying to come up with a plan, but this is pie in the sky.
No credit for coming up with “plan” in October. It’s not a plan, first of all. It’s an opening statement for negotiations. In October. Months after schools should have been open, they finally put out a “plan”. That should have happened in the summer at the latest.
If you ever thought the teachers unions cared about the kids, you now know how badly you were mistaken.
Lol Lol Lol !!!
List of demands. Sounds like something a terrorist organization would put out. Or a hostage situation. This is a war. At least that’s how they are looking at it. I say fire the MDUSD and fire everyone and return our tax money. Teach you kids yourself. This is beyond stupid. This union ain’t strong arming anyone.
As keepers of the sacred words, the Knights who say “Ni!” Demand a sacrifice. You must bring them…… a shrubbery!
ichie ichie wambar… putang…
A nice one. But not too expensive.
It is obvious that the desire of the union is to never reopen schools. Don’t know if that is how all teachers feel, but this is their union and the union speaks for the teachers. Time to rethink how you want your children to be educated as having your children to return to traditional schooling isn’t going to happen. At least not in the public school system. Honestly, the school system wasn’t actually working very well for our children. Pathetic national scores, yet large amounts of money thrown their way. Parents will need to unite and come up with how they want their kids educated. They are the only ones who care about their own children as it has become quite clear that the teachers, union representatives, and administrators, have not and are not going to put your children first. Hard times for parents here, but maybe in the long run your children will end up with a better education if you, parents, take charge. MDUSD is holding your kids education hostage.
That was spoken well, Lilo! And I don’t have a child in the public school system…
This is so bad, we need to get away from these people. GFYS MDEA.
Go by zipcode, not cities as a whole, or counties as a whole, or school districts as a whole. If certain zipcodes meet the criteria – those schools go back. When the next one does, they go back. Yes, the more affluent ones will go first – not fair, but don’t worry – the rest will follow-eventually everyone will be back in school. Other states are doing it this way and MDUSD has to start somewhere- there’s a lot of fear in these demands
Schools need to reopen and stay open. If someone is sick, they need to stay home. We need to get back for the sake of our kids. If the teachers union supported going back we would be returning. As a former teacher I believe this needs to happen sooner than later. I know many teachers who want to return now and the union is standing in the way. The union wants teachers and everyone else to be healthy however health experts are saying it’s time to go back. Let schools open with protocols and let those who want to send their kids back do so. Continue distance learning for awhile for those who are unsure about going back. I’m sure many of the people saying they don’t want to return are out and about shopping, visiting etc. Almost everything else is open. School is essential.
This is good I agree
So been reading that COVID 19 will most likely become endemic, meaning we will have to live with it. Vaccine may or may not simply slow it down.
So that means we may never achieve numbers union wants, ergo schools may not open for years.
Amateur Teacher’s Demands:
-Cancel contract with MDEA from bad faith negotiations and violation of existing contract.
-Sign contract more Amateur Teach to provide all in person education services to every student in the MDUSD.
-Hide you kids hide your wife cuz I’m teaching everybody down here
This is garbage, I think we a refund on our property taxes that goes to schools. Being in the construction industry we have had zero covid cases and there are over 250+ people on our job site. If construction can do it so can the teachers. If teachers don’t want to come to glass then they can handle all the kids that’s parents don’t work or are app based jobs. Otherwise can we send MDUSD a bill for all the extra private teaching we are paying cause distance learning isn’t working. Kids deserve more than 2- 1 hour zooms.
The water district my SO works for had ONE case of COVId so bad the guy was hospitalized. ONE !! In 7 months !! There hadn’t been a spike in positive classes.
MDUSD needs to look at surrounding districts to see how they’ve been able to safely reopen. My bonus son goes to Larkspur/Cotrye Madera and afternoon 2 weeks of hybrid instruction, and no transmissions, they’re back in 5 half days a week. The MDEA and district leadership are operating in a vacuum, ignoring science, ignoring facts, and worst of all ignoring that fellow teachers in other districts have gone back successfully.
How stupid. C’mon teachers, have a backbone, you and your fellow sheep are feeding at the union trough. Meanwhile us taxpayers are FED UP! Get back in class and open the schools and tell your communist union to pound sand. If you really want to be back in class, then show it you pussies! Covid is OVER with the final stamp coming November 4th. I am so disappointed that the “educators” teaching my children from a computer screen are still receiving my tax dollars as a salary. Wake up teachers!…. you are losing credibility rapidly every day. Stand up to your union, I for one will not donate ONE DOLLAR to our school until we are back in class, in person.
Such martyrs, congratulations. Oh!, and give that jackass Brian Lawrence a High Five on the way out. He and the MDUSD school board has destroyed your reputation. Cannot wait to leave.
Such a well focused and intellectual response.
Us overpaid and over-respected teachers need to be knocked down a peg. So right.
If you want an intellectual response, go read the public health experts who are saying that schools in low-prevalence areas should reopen. Go read the data on the contribution of schools to Covid spread (slim to none) globally. Go read the CA chief public health officers statements on whether school openings have caused increased spread (hint: no).
Just start with any recent headline on the issue and read the studies they cite, then go from there. If you actually want to learn something, that is.
https://www.npr.org/2020/10/21/925794511/were-the-risks-of-reopening-schools-exaggerated
Thank you Led! spot on!
Probably a product of the MDUSD right?
@ Well-
Well said. It is too bad that some “MDUSD Parent(s)/Teacher(s) take it as a personal affront, because it was not. Which brings me to my next reply:
@ MDUSD Parent/Teacher-
First of all, I assume you are not an English teacher. I base that off of your grammatical error in using “us” vs. “we”. Sure, it sounds weird but “we” is the correct usage here. I know, grammar police troll and all, but I figured a respected educator would appreciate “getting it right”. Consider it constructive criticism.
Finally, don’t take Well’s rant so personally. It is a completely valid rant, shared by many. Distance learning is a drastic failure to all students. The most vulnerable kids are being left behind at a faster rate than before covid. Teachers need to adequately prepare the students for the real world and this isn’t working. We the taxpayers do not think it is “fair” that our kids are failing because the teachers won’t teach, but our cost never goes down.
If you don’t want to teach, fine. Just find some other job that pays you $79,000 per year plus benefits (’18-’19 average teacher salary for MDUSD). If you want to earn that salary, then get back to the classroom and do what you were hired for.
And each morning all students will thrice recite “Liberals are beautiful”. And if you don’t, it will affect your parents credit rating. Those charter schools are looking mighty good.
Dear Union,
Our list of demands as parents:
-Get your asses back to class! (Thanks Mike)
-Put the children first
-Teach our children
-Stop your Bit*<ing
Whereas- if you don’t want to go to work tell your union to worry about saving it for you!
-Shout Out to all REAL TEACHERS who want to return because they know our children need it.
This is a list of demands from the people that pay your wages!
Those are your demands.
We are working harder now than ever.
We are putting student safety first.
My students and my biological children are learning. ( Got the data to prove it).
We aren’t the ones on this site complaining, or Bit*<ing as you so eloquently said it.
I'm afraid your definition of a real teacher is myopic and not rooted in good teaching practices.
The only thing myopic is the union, it’s leaders and any teacher that tows the line.
Hey MDUSD-
Scroll down a few posts and check out Andrea’s thoughts. She pretty much sums up the feelings that most are experiencing. It is probably one of the best posts on this very touchy subject.
“We are working harder now than ever”. Great, but it is not working for the kids. I should think that anybody who is working so hard would want to go back and work less.
“We are putting student safety first”. Nope. You are putting the adults’ safety first. Statistically speaking, kids don’t die from this.
“My students and my biological children are learning”. Whoop-di-do. If true, then it is an outlier. For the vast majority, it is not working.
Essentially, you are saying that the problems of distance learning are not the teachers fault. Then who’s at fault for allowing this farce to continue? The Union is the next obvious culprit. But if you don’t raise your voice in opposition to the union, then the blame really does fall squarely on YOU.
“Student safety first”
Yeah. Right.
If Covid’s lethality were the same for everybody as it is for kids and teens, there would have been no shutdown, no nothing. It is literally less dangerous than influenza for the under-20 cohort.
What you are in fact putting first (setting aside whatever good intentions you as an individual may have) is school staff’s prerogative to have their employment security/salary stay exactly the same as they negotiate and stall to achieve a zero-risk workplace. And why should school staff have a zero-Covid-risk job when it imposes huge costs (financial, health-related, developmental) on kids and families?? Anyone? Anyone? Buehler?
The statement basically says it’s never going to be acceptable to the union until at least a couple of months into 2021. That’s just stalling and stonewalling.
I thank the lucky heavens that I am able to afford to put my child in private schools (they are back in class).
This is such a set up ya’all. I have been a teacher for the past 20+ years and the set up for these kids right now is not good for optimal learning. I homeschool my Son but thats because it works for our family, but it doesn’t work for all. So you mean to tell me that private school can be in session, professional football can play and riots are ok but not public school.???? Oh ok that’s makes a lot of sense? This is a broken system but better than nothing at all. Parents are frustrated, kids are frustrated and it’s not feasible for most families. Let children and teachers return to school!!! The #’s are bogus, this is politically driven, our economy is collapsing and the kids are suffering. This is so sad, we must reached deep down and find a solution and implement quickly. Praying for change
Andrea Sosine, so says the dancer and choreographer.
The union setting its own standard of fewer than seven new cases per day per 100,000 people, for 21 consecutive days, means no more than 147 cases over a 3 week period are allowed..
Per CC Health – and I extrapolated their numbers to a 3 week period because they use a 14 day period instead – the following current comparisons:
Bay Point: 198.75
Clayton: 66.15
Concord 140.55
Martinez 88.96
Pacheco 40.65
Pittsburg 270.45
Pleasant Hill 21.9
Walnut Creek .74.1
So everybody is in compliance except Bay Point and Pittsburg, and my guess is it’ll be awhile until they’re compliant given those numbers. So you parents can thank the union for keeping your kids out of school in all the other compliant communities based on that metric. January??? I doubt it.
Yep, you nailed it. They cherry-picked that threshold to make Pittsburg and Bay Point the sticking points. It’s a delaying tactic, no more, no less.
And lest we forget, per the article link below, “DeVos and President Donald Trump have repeatedly invoked school choice as the solution to parents’ woes. If public schools fail to open, they say, parents should get a cut of the district’s federal funding to send their children to private schools or for home schooling, learning pods or other options that have arisen during the coronavirus pandemic.”
https://apnews.com/article/school-choice-education-betsy-devos-virus-outbreak-archive-ca871432d35abcb71bf12cf7211f9c25
Now you know why Betsy DeVos was so maligned since she was appointed by Trump, because she and Trump want to weaken the teachers unions.
Get it now?? Trump 2020 anyone?
“A plan and procedure to ensure that students and staff must test negative for COVID-19 before they return to on-campus instruction. The test must occur seven (7) or fewer days before the student or staff member returns to their site.”
Are you kidding with this? I’m not going to add another layer of trauma to my kids life by forcing her to have a swab shoved up her nose for no reason other than this Union wants to continue doing nothing useful and have made a list of frankly unreasonable demands.
And considering we now have to do our jobs and at least half of theirs I do t are any reason to agree to these terms.
Stop holding kur children’s education hostage.
It doesn’t even make sense scientifically – we know now that the PCR tests can detect miniscule amounts of viral fragments long after the immune system has cleared all viral reproduction. If they are ten days post-symptom onset and are no longer symptomatic, they should be good to go. Call it 14 days if you really want to be a stickler.
This is ridiculous!! We all want the children safe but this list of demands is unrealistic and ridiculous. I am ashamed at the MDEA President. She needs to go. Terrible leadership!!!
This list is our starting point for conversations with the district.
We won’t get what we want, but in these conversations, it serves as a starting point.
So it is all a game to get to the bargaining table? What a joke let’s aim sky high that should get them to the table…The union needs to go and any teacher that supports this tired line of BS.
@MDUSD
My list of demands is to fire your butt if you don’t get back to class and start teaching our kids.
I won’t get what I want, but in these conversations, it serves as a starting point.
I’ll bet you think my negotiation tactics are ridiculous and obscene. I think your tactics are equally ridiculous and obscene. And we are both right because neither of us would be negotiating in good faith.
What’s the real end game here? Do you want a bribe (raise)? More time off? Better perks?
Get back to the classroom.
MDUSD Teach/Parent,
Can you not see that people are and should be infuriated that a “starting point” is coming out in October?
There is a silver lining here.
The longer the teachers union refuses to go back to the classroom, the more parents will leave this whacko school district for private and religious schools.
Less Marxist brainwashing and a better education will result for those who can escape.
Those of you who laugh at MDEA , why don’t you come to a high school and try to enforce teens to wear A mask? Your teen won’t even wear one hanging out in the park with a group ! Who is going to sanitize all the desks etc. In between classes ??? Who is doing the temperature checks when they get off the bus and refuse ? Then what ?? I’m just speaking at a high school level . They don’t want to wear a mask , puts me at risk . I’m the on sanitizing between classes, unless we have janitors for every classroom. Most classrooms do not have hot water , some don’t have sinks . The teachers and their assistant and the ones in harms way . So thank you MDEA!
If it is really that bad – then the entire system has collapsed and we need “Manhatten Project” level reform for taxpayer funded public school education. We CAN do this – if we chose – but it will take organization and Unity. The issue has been so politicized – that the risk to teachers and students has now created a crises of epic proportions. The mental health issue alone is unsustainable – in that the politicized Covid 19 narrative is frightening and toxic. This list of rules and regulations just illustrates the unworkable amd unsustainable – and the situation is much more dire than we realized.
It’s reasonable to want a feasible plan to have a safe reopening. But how is it reasonable to be putting out an opening position for negotiations now, in October, with obvious poison pills and delaying tactics in there?! Opening negotiations should have been at least four months ago.
We have a lot of data now: schools aren’t zero-risk, but nothing is zero risk. There has not been a rash of outbreaks or increased numbers in connection with K-12 schools, globally or in the US.
Sanitizing between classes – sure. A rag and a bucket of water with some bleach. Annoying? Sure, you didn’t sign up to be a janitor. Most people’s jobs have to change because of Covid. But should that be the obstacle to kids’ going to school? That’s ridiculous. Do private schools have a janitor for every classroom? I think not. And yet they are open and they aren’t having outbreaks.
There’s a ton of evidence that basic safety measures work well enough to keep schools safe. Can your classroom windows open? Can you get a KN95 mask? If yes, you’re pretty much there already.
The only way to get change is to rally, make noise and stand up for our families who are suffering. It is NOT about the kids here obviously. It is a pissing contest between the joke of a union and the District. I’m pulling my kids from the district and at this point, we won’t go back. What’s the point? So our kids can be held hostage by a union with clearly unacceptable “demands”? The liberals have now taken over our school system and won’t give it back. Seriously people? This state and county is literally going to junk quicker than I expected. Don’t blame the hundreds of thousands moving out of this place.
Sad situation for these kids…..still don’t know where all of our tax dollars have gone…..so it sounds like we’re not opening up this academic year at all, who knows if we will ever reopen. Very disturbing and very disappointed in MDEA, MDUSD, Board Members, Local and State Officials…..SMH, our beautiful state is in complete disarray. The state has failed our children and should be held accountable. Vote these people out!
Even with an almost unattainable list of demands,
the more important question to me is,
how are all these demands going to be funded?
It looks like we are going to see more taxes for less service, coming soon.
Point of clarification: MDEA does NOT represent psychologists. The School Psychologists and Behavior Health Specialists in the district have their own separate union.
yeah, that’s crazy… This District has 6 separate unions to deal with….
Too many cooks spoil…
would that union allow the mental health people to return to work in person even if school dont? Could kids come on campus and receive services? Could you organized group activities and other things to fill the gap teachers are leaving?
So as a School Psychologist where do you stand? Does YOUR union say anything about the mental health problems of students in the district? And this question is regarding ALL of the students in the district, not just Special Ed. Every student needs to get back to their school. OPEN UP!
This is an unreasonable list of demands aimed at more money. The union wanted to strike before this pandemic, but their members weren’t on board. So now they are using this as a cover to virtually strike. Granted the MDUSD board is terrible and the district administration is less than stellar, but this is hurtful to the majority of teachers who care fir the students and want to get back to work. Everyone knows that virtual school is not best, especially for the struggling and poor kids. Yet the MDEA, which is even seen by other teacher unions as incredibly liberal, is hurting these kids. Shame on the MDEA leadership. I’ve talked to numerous MDUSD teachers and you don’t represent them.
The union and teachers never wanted to strike. We were prepared to, but the impact of the virus on state funding made it a mute point.
Teachers wanting safe conditions for everyone that will be on campus is not a virtual strike.
We do want to go back to work in person, when it is safe for everybody and the district is showing the same commitment.
Since you wanted intellectual responses, @MDUSD Parent/Teacher, here’s one: there’s no such thing as a “mute point.” The phrase is
“moot point.”
Yes, safety sounds good, but when a union tries to play public health expert and set community prevalence thresholds out of their own non-existent expertise, it’s pretty clear what’s going on. Also, when a statement like this comes out months later than it should have, it’s pretty clear what’s going on. When that same statement signals clearly that the union isn’t going to agree to reopening until Feb at the earliest, it’s crystal clear what’s going on.
Clearly, anything short of zero risk is acceptable to the union, and the costs in health, education, and development for students and their families – well, that’s someone else’s problem.
CORRECTION: “Clearly, anything short of zero risk is UNacceptable to the union.”
If it is safe for somebody to see multiple people daily making your coffee, burger or taco than it is most definitely safe for teachers to return. Stop the grandstanding and do the job that you are being paid to do or find a new one. the union needs to be abolished immediately the affect on the children apparently is not their concern.
@ Led-
“moot”. You beat me to the punch!
I think the mdusd teacher was just trying to make her point quietly…..give her a break.
Thank you MDEA! Looking out for the well-being of all students, teachers, and administrators. Now if MDUSD complies it’ll all be good.
As a taxpayer,
whereas I had to place my son in private school because his MDUSD school was unsafe and failed to adequately educate, and
whereas MDUSD teachers and administrators continue to receive full pay and benefits no mater how poorly thy perform, and
whereas the risk from this virus to otherwise healthy students is extremely low, and
whereas, the side effects from school closures of this magnitude have not been adequately studied in a scientific manner, and
whereas studies already indicate that many students have simply failed to show up for ‘distance learning’, and
whereas, low income students, students of color, and students whose parents must be at work during the time of instruction suffer disproportionately than the wealthy and upper middle class,
I call B.S. on you! Open the schools up to any student who wishes to have in-person instruction and let them have a choice. Their mind and body, their choice.
Excellent!!
The teachers unions were heavy contributors to Newsoms campaign. He will do what ever they want, even unreasonable demands for a virus with a 99% recovery rate. There needs to be reasonable precautions. The schools and CA will never be back to normal , the gov said it himself. “Reimagine the new normal” We are 7 months into a “2 week “ to flatten the curve and let hospitals prepare. He has no plans of lifting restrictions. He still has CA in an “emergency state lockdown” . There is no emergency! He is exceeding his powers. The courts finally stepped in and lifted dictator Whitmers lockdowns in Michigan. No other states except CA and NY from what I understand are locked down, they are all open. The courts need to step in here!!! It is way past due !!! We are living in socialism right now , this is not about a virus !
And don’t forget all of the Thanksgiving restrictions he has placed on us. However , he will up at his ranch in Montana with lots of relatives and they will be visiting way longer than the 2 hours he has “allowed” us to be with our families, because Montana is open with no restrictions !!! His tyranny needs to stop now. Go to : recall gavin2020.com , follow the instructions.
Get rid of teacher unions.
Yes, because our profession is overpaid and over-respected, as evident by this thread.
Get rid of the union
No, what this thread evidences is frustration with political stonewalling by a union that cares only about protecting its members’ interests to the hilt, and cares nothing about the mission of the institution they supposedly serve.
Teachers’ unions in CA acted quickly to protect enrollment-based funding – that legislation passed back in June. If they were similarly motivated to come to a reasonable reopening plan, their opening salvo for negotiations would have happened in May or June, not October. That’s not good faith negotiation. It’s stonewalling and sheer delay tactics. And everybody can see that.
You want more respect for your profession right now? Show us that you believe you are providing an essential service. Right now the union’s priorities are out in public: we are essential when it comes to funding, and preserving *every last employee’s* job and compensation; we are a luxury when it comes to delivering an actual education for students.
When the teachers’ unions can delay endlessly, decline to participate in a good faith effort to get kids back in school when the public health data is crystal clear – and there are *no* consequences, and they have already acted politically to preserve their monopoly on the tax revenues supposedly devoted to education … it becomes clear how the game is rigged, and to whose benefit.
I don’t disrespect teachers, but this is despicable behavior by a public sector union – huh, it’s almost like that happens with every public sector union. Police misconduct, anyone?
@ MDUSD-
Evidenced (a verb) is the proper word here, not evident (an adjective).
Again, I only point this out because you are a respectable educator and I know that you would never allow improper language usage in your classroom.
@Led-
I give you the silver medal for posts. Just a step below Andrea’s previous one.
@ MDUSD-
I forgot to add this-
You are overpaid because you are not doing your job. Why should I pay you if you do not teach?
You want more respect? Stop toeing the Union line and do your job. Or resign. I don’t really care which. I fully respect those who select either of these options.
Unfortunately for the taxpayers and parents, our contributions to your bank account and pension are cumpulsory but our respect must be earned.
MDUSD is definitely not an English teacher. This is an example of what we are paying for in this district. So sad.
HORRIBLE School District!! SO glad I moved!!
I certainly will!
Since when and by what authority do public employees get to make “demands” of the public.
Here is this parent’s “recommendation.”
Whereas MADEA and MDUSD have demonstrated a lack of competence in providing high quality and consistent remote education to its students, MDUSD, effective immediately will issue vouchers to all district parents so that they may select remote learning resources from a MDUSD approved list of remote learning providers. Effective immediately all district teachers to be placed on unpaid administrative leave until such time as all MADEA “demands” can be met in their entirety.
If they can organize why can’t we? I’m on board with anyone who knows how to acheive this.
Teachers are just as safe as the other “essential” workers but I guess they aren’t essential anymore. So when the numbers of how many are gone start to surface within the next year or so and teachers start getting laid off I don’t feel bad for you. This is your “grave” so to speak. Not an actual one. I don’t even need to quote stats bc they are all above. If you want to teach leave your Union, it’s doing you no favors. Fight your union. Some of the best teachers I’ve known aren’t a part of the union bc they do it not for the money but for the kids. And if you aren’t doing it for the kids then you shouldn’t be doing it.
Since moving to California 20 I’ve been appalled as to how a state with as much money as it should have has such crappy school compared to other states. This is why.
This is so sad. I wish I could figure a way out for my kids
If you have young kids your only hope is to leave this state. Their only educational goal is to indoctrinate all students to be liberal fools.
https://www.heritage.org/education/commentary/school-districts-owe-taxpaying-parents-covid-19-refund
And we’d like to know right now where all the money allocated for utilities, custodial staff, cafeteria staff, etc. that hasn’t been spent in the past seven months has gone. PG&E alone… how much have we saved by not a single classroom, office, gymnasium being lit? Don’t even try to tell us the PG&E savings won’t be more than enough to purchase plexiglass partitions and hand sanitizer stands for every classroom in every school!
Since when we are have to prove we don’t have a virus to go to school? With this logic we all have to do blood test for alcohol before getting behind the wheel 😉 Do teachers ask every Safeway worker for covid test certificate before entering Safeway?
Whereas, GET BACK TO SCHOOL!!
After decades of candidates being funded by unions and special interests we can see the results. I urge everyone to read the ballot statements of all candidates and look where and who is funding their campaigns, including their endorsements.
Many claim to bring change but how does change happen if they are supported by the same broken system? This is the first year MDUSD can have an infusion of fresh ideas from leaders, with no strings, who are being out funded 15:1. MDEA has spent $30,000 dollars on candidates so they can have 5/5 board positions come November. Can we get just 1 neutral voice in this election without all of the baggage?
MIchael Schneider-https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/QuickNameSearch.aspx
Keisha Nzwei-https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/AllFilingsByFiler.aspx?id=192208707
Dennis Chow-https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/QuickNameSearch.aspx
Pat Noonan https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/QuickNameSearch.aspx
Erin McFerrin-https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/AllFilingsByCandidate.aspx?id=191709725&candidate=McFerrin%2c+Erin
Carol Trost-https://public.netfile.com/Pub2/QuickNameSearch.aspx
This is ridiculous. To each its own. These requests only demonstrate disrespect for health professionals who had stated that if protocols are in place and respected it is safe to open now. Teachers should only demand what they need to instruct in the same conditions as before adding just safety measures.
“Demands?”……
Fire their (liberal) a$$e$.