Teachers, staff voice return-to-school concerns, rally for work flexibility

San Marcos community members and teachers led a caravan-style rally Friday to show support for teachers who are advocating the need to work from home as they are called back to campus for professional development on Aug. 17.

They met Friday morning at the San Marcos Consolidated ISD’s Central Administration Building and drove to San Marcos High School’s Rattler Stadium in their cars adorned with colorful signs, honking loudly for a socially distanced and peaceful parking lot demonstration. 

The organizers, San Marcos Alliance for Schools, feel that the school district has not listened to the teachers and families asking for the flexibility to work and study from home amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

"Teaching from the classroom has its advantages but all the materials are accessible online," said second grade teacher Oli Ponce-McLaughlin, who has severe asthma and says she would feel safer working from home. "I believe you can teach just as effectively from home as you can from an empty classroom. It depends on the changes you make and the way you teach."

After receiving a letter Wednesday, signed by 52 teachers asking for flexibility to complete professional development and the first four weeks of distance learning from campus or home, SMCISD announced later that day that Fridays would be virtual during the three weeks of professional development.

Several principals are allowing professional development to be done from home for the entire first week including San Marcos High School, but it is unclear what the policy will be for the rest of the training weeks.

Hays Consolidated Independent School District has given teachers the option to work from home until Sept. 28.

Andrew Fernandez, SMCISD executive director of communications and community relations, said they needed teachers to come back for professional development to collaborate in creating safety plans because they know their students better than anyone. Hallway and bathroom protocol is on their list of safety policies to work out. 

Fernandez said they needed to be in their classrooms for the virtual learning period because the technology being provided in classrooms will make remote learning a better experience for the students. Some of the equipment includes digital screens, voice uplifting systems, webcams and district provided laptops. 

The letter sent Wednesday expressed frustration in response to these plans: “Though told we are needed for planning to reopen, we have not been included. The combination of silence and mixed messaging has added to our anxiety about beginning the school year in the midst of a pandemic.”

The 52 teachers called for workplace flexibility for those who have underlying health conditions, live with someone who has underlying health conditions, care for someone who has an underlying health condition or who are pregnant. 

One-hundred-thirty-nine medical requests have been submitted to teach virtually, although some are duplicates. SMCISD says requests will be handled on a case-by-case basis but must go through the ADA approval process. An initial announcement explained the process by saying employees who have been required to stay home by their physician should submit accommodation requests. 

Many teachers have not gotten responses, although they are expected to return to campus Monday.

SMCISD also sent out a FAQ list Wednesday with additional information about ventilation, taking student temperatures prior to entering school and buses, providing them with hand sanitizer upon entry, providing teachers and students with cloth masks and face shields and only allowing essential visitors on campus. 

Students who refuse to wear a face covering will be automatically placed in the online learning group and sent home. They have also modified the block schedule to limit interactions between classes. 

They also shared that with the current response saying 38% of students will be returning to classes, there will be between seven and nine students per class.

Many teachers have mixed feelings about returning. Some feel that they can provide a better education from the classroom, but worry they cannot provide any education at all if they get sick. Some feel they can teach just as successfully from home. They look to what they learned from virtual teaching in the spring and how they can make it an even better experience for students in the fall. 

Ponce-McLaughlin found that online learning presented new challenges and hurdles, but that the kids were very adaptable. Younger students struggled with long passwords, and some did not have access to internet, which the district has provided moving forward. 

Although it was difficult for some students to be on a screen all day, the nature of the times called for Canvas and Zoom to connect teachers and students. San Marcos High School English teacher Keren Nicole Jackson said,  “I was never more grateful to work in this district when we had to go virtual in the spring. We have been going in that direction, using more technology in the past few years. I was already using an online platform and was comfortable, and my students were comfortable.”

SMCISD has invested much of their CARES Act funding in ensuring every student has their own device and hotspot if needed.

To Ponce-McLaughlin, online education was a unique opportunity to teach students how to be digital citizens at an early age, skills they would continue to use forever. She thinks online learning provides more opportunities for students to collaborate safely than face-to-face learning, with chat boxes and breakout calls. 

While Ponce-McLaughlin didn’t have any trouble keeping track of her kids, it’s much more challenging to give-one-to-one attention to 150-180 high school students. Between attendance and the sheer number of students, Jackson said she was sure there were some students falling through the cracks. 

SMCISD School Board Member Anne Halsey says the district has invested a lot in ensuring online learning is comparable in quality to an in person education, paying special attention to the various types of learners. 

“It’s definitely been centralized, changed and improved with a lot more consistency,” said Halsey. “We all love face to face learning. My kids want to be back in the classroom so desperately but that’s not the safest place for them right now, given the caseload.”

Some teachers struggled with the distraction of their own children at home, either keeping them on task at school, or younger ones who didn’t understand their parent had to work. Jackson, who has a young child doesn’t mind the risk of going into the classroom because she values having her own space to teach, but wishes she had the flexibility to come home to her child when her husband couldn’t watch her. 

Teachers know that distancing measures will work better with fewer people in the building, they urge parents to keep their kids home if they are able to make it safer for students and teachers who have no choice but to be in the classroom. 

Jackson, who is keeping her own kids home to look out for those who are immunocompromised said, “Entering the building for these people isn’t just inconvenient, it's really dangerous. For those people too, I wish the district would adopt flexibility for teachers to choose.”

The big missing piece to the puzzle is a threshold for shutting down, said several teachers. SMCISD is working with the local health department but has not yet stated a certain point of infection when they may shut down again. 

While teachers advocate for flexibility, they know SMCISD is limited by the requirements of the state and are faced with the challenge of creating policy that is best for students, teachers and staff.