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At the School Board meeting on Tuesday night the Board approved the Reopening Schools Committee’s plans for a staged, partial-attendance start of school.  So the plan now is to be back at school on August 17th at stage 3 with high school and middle school on a modified block schedule and 50% attendance and elementary on an AM/PM schedule.  As conditions change we can move to looser or more restrictive stages based on recommendations from the State of California and the Solano County Dept. of Health. 

A lot of people have a lot of questions.  I’m going to answer as many as I can but a lot of the questions are things we are still working on, or aren’t something that VTA can control.  I know this is causing anxiety for people but we are dealing with this as best we can and as quickly as we can.  We are meeting with the district to bargain our working conditions when we return, and the Reopening Schools Committees are still meeting as well.  I will give you as much info as I can and we’ll be updating this as we get new info.

Leave – You can apply for Unpaid Voluntary Leave if you would rather not return to work.  We are talking with admin. about whether you would also be able to get unemployment benefits while you do that.  We have an MOU in place that guarantees that you can return to your position when the next year starts (For secondary you might not have the same classes, but you would be guaranteed your job.)  Some people have asked about a 50% leave because of childcare or sharing a job with someone else.  The district can grant or deny leaves and you should contact them about what you would like. Right now the deadline for requesting leave is July 15th, but we are going to ask the district to push it back again.

Virtual Teaching – The district is committed to providing distance learning options to parents and they will need teachers for that. If you are interested in teaching virtually contact Chris Hulett in HR.  We are still working out how they will choose distance teachers and assign them to classes.  If you think distance teaching might be an appropriate accommodation for you, please fill out the Return-to-Work Questionnaire and return it to HR.

Masks, gloves, and PPE’s – Right now there is a governor’s mandate that everyone wear a mask.  The district has received face shields for teachers and will require face coverings, as of now.  There is still discussion on whether or not you can require students to wear a mask and what we will do with a student that refuses to wear one. CTA has stated that the governor’s mandate applies to schools and we have the right to enforce it, but the district is still deciding whether they agree with that.

Cleaning – The plan that the board adopted has cleaning days built into the school calendar and the custodial staff has been working over the summer to get ready for the cleaning that will have to be done. The district hasn’t decided what cleaning will be done during the school day, but we will be talking with them about this, and we will be bargaining with the district over any cleaning requirements for teachers.

Symptom screening – The district hasn’t decided what symptom screening of teachers, parents, or students they are going to do. There are different levels of screening that could be done from mandatory Covid tests to just watching your students and yourself for possible symptoms.  We are still discussing this with the district.

Quarantine protocol – There are a lot of possible situations for what happens when someone tests positive.  What do we do if a teacher is sick?  What if one of your students is sick?  What if a student’s family member is sick? Solano County has protocols in place for when illness pops up and they were using those protocols before we went out in March and they’ll continue to use those. They involve when to isolate entire classes or individuals and when and who to test. If you are ordered to quarantine but you are healthy, you may be teaching from home or coordinating with a substitute and running your class from home.  If you are doing this, you won’t be charged Personal Leave.  There are a lot of possible scenarios that aren’t covered here and we are still talking to the district and we will be dealing with those as they come up.

Workers’ comp. – Since you are a school district employee, if you get Covid it is assumed that you got sick at work and worker’s comp. automatically kicks in.  You won’t have to use your Personal Leave and you’ll continue to be paid while you are sick. 

Prep. Time – We will be talking with the district about how teacher prep. time will be used and if the unit members will be required to be on campus.  I believe that contact with staff should be limited and flexibility for teachers with their own children should be a priority.

I will be resending the link to this document every time we update it with more information and pointing out information we’ve clarified.  I know this doesn’t answer all your questions.  If you have any more questions please email me or email your Executive Board members (You can see them listed on the VTA website).  I have received a lot of emails recently and I know I have missed some.  If I haven’t returned your email, I’m sorry.  Please email me again and I’ll do my best to respond.

Please take care of yourself and your family.
Todd Blanset
VTA President

Google Document Link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VjtYlRk2cgKSdiJIjq9mfW5OxPYl5BhqmdFVZsofuxY/edit?usp=sharing

I’m Todd Blanset the president of the Vacaville Teacher’s Association

     You have a difficult decision to make today and I don’t envy you.  I spoke last month about why you should take a cautious, safe approach when opening schools, and I’m here tonight to tell you that VTA endorses the staged reopening plans developed by the District committees and we look forward to working with the administration on all other details of opening safely.

     There are over 700 teachers, counsellors, psychologists, speech therapists, and nurses working for VUSD.  Over the past few weeks many of them have written to you and spoken at the last board meeting about their concerns about safely returning to school next year.  They have spouses, children, and parents who care about them and they deserve a chance to be safe at work.  It is possible to open our schools safely this August and we owe it to our employees to do that. 

     School won’t look the same as it did before Coronavirus but nothing does.  A trip to Luckys, to Los Reyes, to Sport Cuts, or anywhere else isn’t the same as it was before, and just like everywhere else we have to adapt.  We owe it to our employees and our students to provide as safe an environment as we reasonably can.  The plans that the committees developed will allow that.  The plans are a compromise that provides students essential class time and everyone a minimal sense of safety.  When we left school in March it was in a rush and we weren’t really prepared to distance teach.  Our distance teaching  is more developed now than it was before and we have time to get the details right before school starts.  At the Elementary level the plans provide daily, teacher contact for students and they allow physical distancing child care options for those who need it.  Physical distancing is at least possible with the modified schedules at Middle School and High School and the students have direct contact with teachers on a regular basis so that their learning is supported. We know that this situation isn’t ideal for the students, parents, or teachers, but it is a compromise that can work.

VTA urges the Board to adopt the plans developed by the District’s committees.

Wednesday, July 01, 2020

The Vacaville Teachers Association Elections Committee is announcing the results of the election held between Monday, June 22, 2020 and Saturday, June 27, 2020 for the office of Elementary Director At-Large.

Elementary Director At-Large           

Each elector could choose up to 4 nominees

Total Ballots Cast                                                                                116

Abstain                                                                                                2

Tari Carolle-Makowski – Elected                                             84

Cortney Parr – Elected                                                           77

Michael Pribyl – Elected                                                         77

Annamarie Danielson – Elected                                              76

Norma Guerrero (write-in)                                                     1

VTA Elections Committee

Alyson Brauning, Chair

Steven Power

Wayland Lee

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