Topic: Safe Workplaces
Back-to-School Tour puts staff shortage in stark perspective
Dedication and inspired work of our members must be recognized
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
In early August, Luukia Smith, Lacy Barnes, and I ventured up and down the state on a three week Back-to-School: Forward Together Tour. We visited with early childhood educators, TK-12 teachers, classified workers, adult education teachers, and part-time community college faculty. We witnessed firsthand students learning in-person. We saw the incredible school communities our members have helped to build and visited campuses and classrooms to see CFT members in action.
Answers to common questions about return to in-person
FAQ for teachers and support staff in TK-12 schools
Now that California schools have returned to in-person classes, teachers and staff on campuses up and down the state are having to navigate a new phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. In mid-August, the CFT held a tele-townhall meeting to connect directly with members and hear about your workplace concerns. Below are answers to the most common questions we heard from you.
Classified members feel the love during Back-to-School Tour
CFT leaders provide encouragement, support for safe working conditions
CFT’s top officers embarked on a statewide Back-to-School Tour in mid-August as many classified employees and teachers headed back to campus in-person for the first time since the pandemic forced distance learning for California schools and colleges. The road trip included stops from North Bay Counties to San Diego County, in both urban and rural districts.
What’s on everyone’s mind? The return to in-person
From urban to rural, community college locals weigh in
Most faculty members, staff, and students at the state’s community colleges have been teaching, learning, and working online for more than a year and a half due to COVID-19. Many planned to go back to their campus in the fall semester, but after a brief period of hope that the virus was on the way out the delta variant emerged in the summer, and in many areas, COVID is surging again.
Legislature changes independent study to allow distance learning option
Changes for school year 2021-22
The state budget package for 2021-22 includes changes to independent study to allow all schools to offer a replacement for a distance learning option for students and families who prefer to remain outside of in-person instruction.
Legislature fails to extend COVID-19 Supplemental Sick Leave
Legislative Update
The COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave (SPSL) is set to expire September 30. The CFT, in partnership with other unions, engaged in a long campaign to try and pass an extension before the end of the legislative session.
Thousands of CFT members signed our action to extend the supplemental sick leave to help elevate this issue, slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep our schools and communities safe. However, those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.
Thousands of CFT members join Back-to-School TeleTown Hall
The afternoon of Tuesday, August 31, thousands of educators and classified professionals from across the state joined CFT’s Back to School Tele-Town Hall. Three high profile guests joined CFT members on the call — Governor Gavin Newsom, California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, and AFT President Randi Weingarten.
See our Back-to-School tour in pictures!
Forward Together!
CFT leaders visited school communities and workplaces during a statewide two-week back-to-school tour. On the Back-to-School: Forward Together tour, CFT President Jeff Freitas, Secretary Treasurer Luukia Smith, and Senior Vice President Lacy Barnes met with educators, classified employees, students and parents to support a safe return to in-person learning. CFT leaders also shared their vision for maximizing a record state budget investment to strengthen academic achievement and student social emotional well-being.
Delta variant surge leads to new federal and state guidelines for masking, testing
Back-to-school update for TK-12 and higher education
Update August 11: Governor Newsom announced that all California educators must show proof of vaccination or submit to regular testing beginning October 15, 2021. CFT supports the new “vaccinate or test” policy to keep schools and communities safe. Read our full statement here.
CFT Back-to-School Tour — Forward Together
SCHEDULE: Union leaders to visit local unions throughout the state
The CFT kicked off a two-week back-to-school tour to visit school communities throughout the state. Starting on August 9, CFT President Jeff Freitas, Secretary Treasurer Luukia Smith and Senior Vice President Lacy Barnes will visit AFT local unions and schools up and down California as the new academic year begins for full in-person learning.
Looking forward to life, work, and union without COVID
Embracing opportunities the pandemic has brought forward
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
The last year and a half of my communications with you have told the story of the COVID-19 pandemic, our union’s early responses to the changes wrought by the virus, our diligence in keeping school communities healthy and safe, and the first glimmers of hope as vaccines became available and community spread began to decline.
Roomers and Zoomers — four locals, four reopen scenarios
Mostly vaccinated, educators boldly facing transition to in-person
Salinas teachers manage Roomers and Zoomers
Teachers at the four middle schools and five high schools represented by the Salinas Valley Federation of Teachers went back into the classroom on April 27, with options for families to remain in distance learning.
Retiree chapters serve as vaccine finders
Support members and parent unions during the pandemic
The retiree chapter of the AFT Guild in San Diego usually does monthly yoga and meditation classes, as well as getting together for walks and union meetings. Now though, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, members haven’t been getting together in person, chapter President Susan Morgan says.
Pandemic underscores essential nature of classified work
Custodians, health aides hold strong; unions help members get vaccinated
Throughout the COVID pandemic, CFT members from early childhood centers to community colleges have shown how essential classified employees are. During the past 15 months, techs helped power an overnight transition to online learning, custodians learned how to hit back at the coronavirus, and health aides are now on the front lines of reopening schools.
Pandemic relief on the way: Kamala Harris, AFT leaders, Stanford physician
American Rescue Plan and COVID-19 vaccinations
AFT President Randi Weingarten addressed the CFT Convention, expressing thanks and gratitude for all the members have done—pivoting from the classroom to online, providing food delivery, and bringing hotspots to neighborhoods. Education workers did all this while taking care of their own children, living in homes with multiple generations, being at risk due to pre-existing conditions, and mourning people who had died from COVID, Weingarten said.
Supplemental Paid Sick Leave expires September 30
Some relief available in the Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard
September 8, 2021 — Legislature fails to pass extension
The COVID-19 Supplemental Paid Sick Leave is set to expire on September 30, 2021. CFT, in partnership with other unions, engaged in a long campaign to pass an extension before the end of the legislative session on September 10. However, those efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. The CFT will continue to advocate for the governor’s office to provide administrative relief in the short term and work towards possible legislative solutions with our labor allies next year.
While not as comprehensive as Supplemental Paid Sick Leave, the Cal/OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard still contains provisions that allow “exclusion pay” for workers who are unable to work because they were exposed to COVID-19 at the worksite. Exclusion pay means the employer continues to pay you even if you must be “excluded” from the worksite. Exclusion pay remains in effect until January and will likely be extended through March.
California education unions release school reopening plan
CLASSES — A Pathway to Bringing Students Back to Schools
California teachers and classified employees want nothing more than to be back in our physical classrooms and school sites and know first-hand there is no equal substitute to regular, in-person learning.
California’s schools are the heart of their communities. For many of our most vulnerable and underserved populations, they are lifelines. The educational, social and emotional needs of California’s students, particularly those who often lack the technological and additional education support to sustain distance learning, are of paramount concern.
Governor releases new “Safe Schools for All Plan”
Consolidated website for K-12 schools, proposed guidance for in-person instruction
On January 14, the California Department of Public Health released several important resources related to the state’s K-12 schools and COVID-19. Our summary below is meant to guide members and local unions through the new materials, especially the changes and most critical elements. The governor and the CDPH are still developing additional resources, so watch for updates about the plan in the coming weeks.
Read the CFT press release here.
The key changes announced on January 14 include:
- A new website, the Safe Schools for All Hub, with all key information regarding K-12 education during the pandemic
- An updated public health guidance document that consolidates and supersedes most previous state guidance documents.
- A new checklist that all schools must follow, publicize, and submit to the county and state if a school is in a Purple Tier county.
Another round of federal stimulus signed into law
$900 billion COVID relief package extends unemployment benefits
On December 21, Congress passed a long-anticipated additional round of COVID relief legislation as part of the Bipartisan-Bicameral Omnibus COVID Relief Deal. The legislative package — the result of last-minute frantic negotiations — provides more much-needed relief to individuals, education, hospitals and businesses in response to the economic distress caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The hope that 2021 brings
Looking back on a year like no other, but with recovery in sight
By Jeffery M. Freitas, CFT President
As I reflect upon the year that is reaching its end, the shock of all we have endured these past many months hits me anew. When we started this year, I felt hopeful with many opportunities for success and change.