Classes begin this week in the St. Vrain Valley School District with all students reporting for learning through online means while teachers and staff members will go to their designated schools to lead instruction.
District officials said the decision to require teachers to work in buildings is intended to aid instruction.
Teachers and staff working on-site “better ensures consistent schedules, access to teaching materials and/or work schedules, and a focused environment for instruction,” said Kerri McDermid, spokeswoman for the district.
The district is allowing teachers and staff members with small children to bring them to school to ease day care worries. Officials also say stringent precautions will be in place in each building to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
A St. Vrain teacher said the district and Superintendent Don Haddad appear to be more interested in public perception than the health of staff members by ordering them into buildings.
“The superintendent did mention in the recent board meeting that the main reason for ordering us all into our buildings is community optics,” Stephen Bott, an assistant band director at Altona Middle School, said in an email. “People feel like we’re ‘earning our pay’ if they see a full parking lot. No one asked for our professional input on how we can teach best.”
Bott said he also teaches drum, guitar, and piano lessons to make ends meet. When the pandemic hit in March, he converted his spare bedroom into a professional music studio, bought microphones and installed fiber internet.
“I can do every aspect of my Altona job from this office better than I can from school,” Bott said.
Bott works part-time at Altona. He said music beginners need the most help now but working with all of them under the district’s current schedule would require him to commute four days a week.
“If allowed to work from home, I’d have the flexibility to teach the students who most need my help,” he said.
District buildings have been made reasonably safe, Bott said, but not safer than his home.
“With teachers and staff (and many of their children) all reporting in, that’s still hundreds of people breathing the same air, using the same restrooms .. for eight hours a day, five days a week, and that is incredibly reckless,” he said.
Bott said he understands that district officials need to make decisions that might be unpopular. “But putting student and staff health first seems like the right call, and I don’t believe that’s happening,” he said.
Colorado Education Association President Amie Baca-Oehlert said fears surrounding COVID-19 have led teachers across the state to retire early or take unpaid leaves of absence.
“We already are experiencing a teacher shortage and COVID-19 only exacerbates the problem,” Baca-Oehlert said.
She hopes St. Vrain officials will make buildings as safe for teachers as they will for students when they arrive for in-person classes.
“We have been saying those same precautions have to be in place for people to be in those buildings in any capacity,” Baca-Oehlert said.
St. Vrain Valley Education Association President Villarreal did not respond to repeated attempts to contact him.
The district’s current online-only schedule will last at least through September as it struggles to adhere to local and state guidelines and the changing status of COVID-19, officials said. By Oct. 1, the district plans to go to in-person learning using a hybrid system.
Students will attend in-person classes two days a week along with every other Friday. The rest of the school week, students will work online, according to the district.
When classes launch online this week, elementary school teachers will hold daily morning meetings with students and parents, followed by direct instruction and independent learning, Deputy Superintendent Jackie Kapushion told the St. Vrain school board last week.
Students can use Fridays for independent learning and to talk to teachers about their progress, Kapushion said.
Families also have the option to enroll in the district’s virtual school — LaunchED Virtual Academy. About 2,900 students have enrolled in LaunchED, Haddad said last week.
