VTA Members
     This is a strange time.  The District just announced that schools will be closed through the end of Spring Break and the governor has said that it is unlikely that schools will open again this school year.
     As I read about what is going on in the economy and the service industry, I’m very thankful that I work in a job that continues to pay me every month and I have the safety of a pension in the future.  Not everyone is so lucky.
     This is a huge disruption not only to us, it is a huge disruption to our students as well.  They cannot see their friends.  Their routines have been completely upset.  And some of their home situations aren’t good either.  Their parent may still be going to work or, worse yet, they may have lost their job.  Some parents may be well equipped to deal with children at home all day, but others might be desperately looking for ways to entertain them.
     If you have been on social media at all, you have seen how some teachers have been supporting their students already.  They are lecturing through podcasts, sending out assignments through email, setting up on-line group learning, and updating their grades.  With the help of some teachers who volunteered, the District has been getting packets to parents.
In an effort to add to these efforts, VTA is currently talking to the district about ways we can provide learning opportunities for students despite the school closures. We are not expecting teachers to completely replace their classroom time with on-line curriculum.  We aren’t set up to do that and some of our students aren’t either.  But we can provide them with some curriculum and opportunities to continue learning.  What this looks like for different subjects, different teachers, and different age groups will vary and the guidelines will be very general.  The District has said that they will be very flexible.  We also want to make sure we aren’t overloading students who may already be in a stressful situation, and yet we need to offer students some stability and opportunities to learn.
     We will have more information on this very soon.  If you aren’t sure what to do now, just wait until we have more guidance. 
     Above all, take care of yourself.  Wash your hands.  Don’t go in to school.  The custodial staff has been cleaning sites thoroughly and if you go in they have to clean your room again.  Someday we’ll look back on this and talk about toilet paper shortages and school closures and social distancing as distant memories.  I hope you are with family and safe and comfortable.  I hope you have some good books and a long Netflix list lined up.  Please keep yourself and your family safe and try not to obsess over the news.  We will get through this.

Todd Blanset
VTA President

Freshman Soccer MOU

Vision Copay MOU

Good morning VTA members.

I’m sure you’ve been following the messages from the District concerning the Coronavirus and infections in our area.  The District is in contact with the Solano County Public health dept. and the Center for Disease Control and any school closures will be ordered by those agencies.  The District met with us on Friday to talk about the possibility of school closures and we had some questions about how it would affect our members. Here are some answers.  This is a situation that is changing and the info here applies to this year but it might change in future years based on what we learn this time and new conditions. 

                1. If a school or the District closes because of the outbreak, you will continue to get paid as normal. 

                2. For this year if we close, we won’t have to make up the days in the summer as long as the state grants us a waiver (like they did when we closed during the fires).  The District is confident the state will grant the waiver. 

                3. A closure won’t affect STRS.  STRS will get paid as normal and anyone retiring this year won’t have any changes because of a closure.  That may change in future years.

                4. If we close you may offer online learning for your classes if you would like to but you aren’t required to.  If you do, you can’t penalize students who don’t do it because our District can’t provide access to the internet and a computer for all students.  The District is working on this so that in the future we might be able to have procedures in place so that we can continue with some on-line learning.

                5. If we don’t close but you start to feel sick, please call in sick.  If you run out of sick leave but you are starting to show symptoms, you can contact the Personnel Dept. and get more sick days out of the Sick Leave Bank.  Don’t come to work if you are sick.  Educators are a devoted group and we often work anyways when we are sick.  Now isn’t the time for that.

                6.  There may be more students than usual asking for ISP’s and we agreed that the 10-day notice for ISP’s could be temporarily suspended.  (We also know that this wasn’t being followed at all sites and we are working with the District to reduce the burden on teachers producing work for ISP’s.)  Your principal was sent an email regarding how to mitigate workload around ISP’s and should be providing you some time.

                7.  If we are ordered to close schools, please don’t have meetings with students or clubs or teams.  The point of closing is to reduce person-to-person contact in large groups and limit the spread of the disease. 

It is possible that some individual schools might close for a period of days to disinfect.  It is also possible that the entire district will close.  Right now we don’t know if either of these will happen, but the District is in constant contact with health agencies that are monitoring the situation.

It is likely that in the future we will have to change our calendar to include “smoke days” just like schools in snow areas have to build in “snow days.”  The state is requiring districts to work with local unions to do this.  But for right now the state is letting us go without making these days up.

Hopefully this is an unusual situation and we won’t be repeating it any time soon.  The District has been working hard the last few days to monitor things, come up with plans, and check in with VTA leadership.  Please take care of yourself and your families, just as our student’s families’ will. 

Todd Blanset

VTA President

Here is the agenda. Do you have anything you’d like to share? Please share it with your director!