GREENSBORO, N.C. — School starts in a matter of days but Guilford County teachers are already at work and preparing instructions for students.
While students are remote learning for at least the first nine weeks, some teachers would be required to teach from school buildings for four hours each day. The teachers are being allowed by the district to bring their own children with them to school so they can be supervised alongside.
However, not everyone is on board with this plan and some teachers have said they feel uncomfortable being in the building.
The GCS teachers were unable to go on camera for fear of reprisal but said they're concerned the four-hour in-person requirement exposes them and their family to the potential risk of contracting the coronavirus. The teachers also said they were only notified about this on Wednesday when they reported for their first mandatory day of school.
Teacher advocates for the state of North Carolina said they have been advised of the concerns expressed by Guilford County teachers and others across the state.
"Educators being asked to return to school buildings is and can be a problematic thing," Tamika Walker Kelly said. Walker Kelly is the president of the North Carolina Association of Educators.
"We know that educators have the ability to work from home, we've seen that happening in the spring," Walker Kelly said.
At a board meeting on Tuesday, Guilford County School board members asked for clarification about teachers teaching from school buildings. GCS leaders explained the rationale behind the decision.
"We do welcome all teachers back into the building. However, we've been very clear about teachers who have some special situations that we are being flexible for those teachers," Dr. Sharon Contreras, Superintendent, GCS said.
"We have freed up a lot of time for teachers during the first three to four weeks to make sure they could participate with meeting with parents and students and taking care of all of the opening things that teachers have asked for and could not do for a long time have not been able to do so this gave us an opportunity," Dr. Contreras said.
"We also said these teachers while in the building can also do this virtually. I know of one case so far where a teacher was denied the ability to work from home if they had some special situations. All 409 individuals who said they had medical conditions have been granted permission to teach remotely and others who have special situations have simply gone to their principal. The one that I know that was denied was a teacher that asked can she teach from vacation, she had planned to go on vacation. As you know if you are working you cannot be on vacation you are being paid by the districts," added Contreras.
District leaders said one way they're trying to help teachers who have to teach from school buildings is by allowing them to bring their kids to school with them.
"We have invited our teachers to be in their classrooms and school buildings we do know that childcare is an issue for a number of our employees and those teachers who opt to bring their of-age children will certainly be able to do that," Dr. Tony Watlington said. Dr. Watlington is the Chief of Schools at GCS and spoke with WFMY News 2 on Thursday.
"We would limit the movement of those staff members children to their classrooms, they may be able to go to the restrooms. Obviously, for safety purposes we will not be using the media centers, gymnasiums, and cafeterias," added Dr. Watlington.
Watlington also addressed concerns teachers had about the ventilation systems at some schools and cleaning.
"Our school custodial staff have made sure to do the appropriate cleanings to make sure our schools are ready for our staff members. We feel good about staff members entering clean and safe buildings," Watlington said.
Connectivity is another reason teachers are required to be in the building and they can get help quicker at schools.
"Teachers having access to technology support whatever glitch happens during the live instruction or if they're working on getting a specific student connected," Dr. Whitney Oakley said.
Oakley, the chief academic officer for GCS Schools gave that explanation during Tuesday's board meeting.
"Teachers have shared some concerns about needing to have access to student records and contacting parents on school phones and that's something that can be done in the school building," added Dr. Oakley.
The president of the North Carolina Association of Educators said considering the uncertainty of the pandemic it's an unnecessary risk and unfair burden to place on teachers.
"We believe that the school district should work with our educators to create a solution that allows them to voluntarily choose if they want to come into school or prefer to work from home because they have an issue about being safe and they want to make sure that are taking care of themselves and their families," added Walker Kelly.