With the Aug. 18 start of the school year fast approaching, parents and students face uncertainty over how online instruction will be conducted as the Los Angeles teachers union and district officials haggle over distance learning rules and schedules.
The union, United Teachers Los Angeles, has announced that it opposes a proposal under which teachers would have to instruct students remotely from their empty classrooms while working an 8:30 a.m.-to-3 p.m. schedule that would closely mirror a traditional school day.
Union leaders say forcing teachers to return to campus — even without students — would pose unnecessary health risks and would not provide the best approach to helping students learn.
“The district’s attempt to force staff back to school sites is out of step with the raging pandemic around us,” UTLA bargaining team co-chair Arlene Inouye said in a statement. “We urge the district to turn away from unsafe directives and toward ideas that will truly support our students.”
District officials declined to respond directly to the union’s public statements.
“Our goal is to provide the best possible education for students while protecting the health and safety of all in the school community,” said district spokeswoman Shannon Haber.
In recent interviews, schools Supt. Austin Beutner has said that he and union leaders shared common cause in wanting instruction to be effective and to be carried out safely.
The description of the district’s proposal is based on the union’s account. According to the union, the district plan would require teachers to “provide virtual instruction from their school site classrooms, along with a micro-structured 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day.”
The proposal “would require an excessive amount of screen time that is not healthy for children, would diminish educators’ professional discretion, and would leave little time for much-needed collaboration,” the union leadership stated.
Under orders by Gov. Gavin Newsom, schools located in counties on the state’s “watch list” cannot reopen because the risks would be too great amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This includes all public and private K-12 schools across Southern California. Campuses could potentially reopen later in the fall if virus transmission recedes and stabilizes for 14 days. In addition, elementary schools can apply for a waiver to reopen sooner than other schools.
Public school campuses in Los Angeles have been closed because of the pandemic since March 13.
The district and the union weathered criticism after the closures when they agreed to require only 20 hours of work per week from teachers. The schedule and format of instruction was essentially unspecified to give teachers and their students maximum flexibility to develop arrangements that worked best for them in the face of the coronavirus emergency.
At the onset, educators and officials emphasized that compassion, not academic rigor was needed for students, families and teachers. Many teachers said that the flexibility allowed them to work more effectively than a rigid schedule would have afforded.
Some parents, however, complained of limited contact with teachers and student engagement was disappointing and especially low among Black and Latino students and students from low-income families. Some teachers reported a decline in student effort after the district did away with failing grades and stipulated that no student would have a grade lowered below what it was when campuses shut down.
“It is clear that the district’s distance-learning program in the spring violated students’ constitutional right to an education,” said Seth Litt, executive director of the advocacy group Parent Revolution. “This wasn’t a natural result of COVID-19. The harm to students’ education was a direct result of the side-letter agreement between UTLA and LAUSD from April 8 that set the rules for distance learning.”
Attorneys representing Parent Revolution and another organization on Wednesday threatened legal action against L.A. Unified if the district did not adequately address alleged deficiencies in its learning program.
Concerns over academic progress spurred state lawmakers to insert instructional requirements into the budget bill, setting fundamental accountability rules for distance learning in California by requiring teachers to take online attendance and document student learning. The rules reimpose the state’s minimum daily instructional minutes requirement of 180 for kindergarten, 230 minutes for grades 1 through 3, and 240 minutes for grades 4 through 12.
However, distance learning can be documented with student work as well as time spent online — which creates ambiguity and wiggle room as local unions negotiate with school district officials.
Nonetheless, a departure from state requirements is supposed to involve mandatory input from parents — and groups representing parents and parent leaders have not been involved in the L.A. negotiations to date.
“Our parents should not be kept in the dark on these negotiations,” said Katie Braude, executive director of the advocacy group Speak Up. “They should be part of this conversation. Parents have been loud and clear about their children’s need to have their teachers leading their learning. In the spring, LAUSD allowed live, online instruction to be optional for teachers. The result was catastrophic for our most vulnerable students.”
Both Speak Up and Parent Revolution have been at odds frequently with the teachers union over political and policy matters.
The reaction of one coalition of local advocacy groups, called the Equity Alliance for LA’s Kids, combined wait-and-see with a sense of urgency.
The group released a statement saying it is “relieved to see discussions proceeding and urge the district and labor partners to center student learning, especially for our highest-need students who are most impacted by distance learning challenges.”
Local advocacy groups in the coalition include Advancement Project California, InnerCity Struggle and Community Coalition.
The teachers union, in rejecting the district proposal also stated its priorities in the negotiations.
They include:
- Setting aside time during the first two weeks of the school year for sessions on technology to be used in class and “engaging students in deep social-emotional learning in response to the trauma we’re all living through”
- Instructional plans that include but do not solely rely on live instruction
- A weekly “Student Support Day” to provide students and families with “critical social, emotional, and academic supports” and allow teachers to collaborate between grade levels and departments
- Daily small group advisory periods to support social-emotional learning
- Suspending teacher evaluations for tenured instructors for 2020-2021
- Enhanced training for substitute teachers.
- Establishing a maximum daily screen time of 45 minutes for children younger than 5.
The district also has outstanding issues with another union, Local 99 of Service Employees International, which represents most non-teaching employees. That union, for example, is seeking an expansion of custodial services at campuses in response to the pandemic.
Intensive negotiations are expected to continue throughout the week.
