AUSTIN (AP) — Hundreds of teachers in the Austin Independent School District have pledged not to return to classrooms Monday when schools reopen for in-person learning for up to 25% of its students.
About 850 teachers said they will remain away out of concern for the threat of coronavirus infection to their students and themselves, said Education Austin, the district's largest teachers union.
The teachers will remain on the job to teach remotely, as they have since mid-September, said union President Ken Zarifis. Education Austin continues to negotiate with the district on school reopening plans, he said.
Teachers' fears of returning to their classrooms in the face of the coronavirus threat have spawned a number of social media groups. One is Texas Teachers United Against Reopening Schools, founded by Austin-area high school art teacher Lauren Senibaldi. She initially invited 20 colleagues to join the group. The group now has almost 12,500 members, she said.
“I genuinely think that if we just gave students a stack of books, some art materials and a journal, we could have gone forward with remote learning,” Senibaldi said Friday.
Teachers' fears of infection with the return to in-person instruction has led to a wave of resignations. Texas teachers who resign during the school year face a one-year suspension of their teaching certificates and possible blacklisting by the district from which they are resigning.
“I don’t want to minimize the risk to students, but it is really dangerous for adults. We tend to be Vitamin D deficient. We tend toward obesity. We have risk from diabetes,” Senibaldi said.
There were 2,729 new confirmed coronavirus cases reported across Texas on Friday, including 62 in Travis County where Austin is located, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The state also reported 72 new deaths Friday from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
