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By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News
Most teachers in Alabama schools temporarily sent home this school year because they contract, are exposed to COVID-19, or care for their own children in quarantine will have to use their personal time off to do so. .
Weeks after the start of the school year, some schools have had to temporarily move students to virtual learning because cases of COVID-19 prevent in-person learning.
The Alabama Education Association is calling on local systems to extend paid emergency leave to staff.
“Education workers work on the frontlines of COVID-19 every day doing the vital work of educating our children,” the group said in a statement to the Alabama Daily News. “Education workers have shown their dedication to their employers during this pandemic. Now is the time for employers to show their appreciation to educators for the great risks they are taking. They carry heavy loads and deserve to be protected, not punished, if they are exposed or become ill with COVID-19. “
Last year, the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act reimbursed employers for up to two weeks of paid vacation. The provision expired at the end of 2020, and subsequent federal relief measures did not impose a leave, but allowed tax credits for employers who grant leave until September of this year.
Alabama now ranks fourth in the country for the most new COVID-19 cases per capita, the Associated Press reported on Monday.
The AEA said that even a temporary extension of paid time off would help school employees.
Theron Stokes, associate executive director of the AEA, wrote a letter on August 20 to State Superintendent Eric Mackey asking him to encourage school systems to offer the leave.
Theron said some systems did, but most didn’t. Meanwhile, some educators are already on leave.
“The granting of paid time off will ensure that in-person instruction is available year-round by keeping schools safe and open during the pandemic,” the AEA said in its statement to ADN.
Ryan Hollingsworth, executive director of Alabama school superintendents, said his office was starting to hear more and more about teacher and support staff shortages, mainly due to being identified as close contact.
“A few have made a temporary switch to distance learning due to the extremely low number of replacements available and I think we will see more of them in the next few weeks,” Hollingsworth said.
He said the schools were doing a great job implementing multiple security measures to try to protect educators and students.
“(But) in many areas of Alabama, school is the only place where we see restrictions in the community,” Hollingsworth said. “It can’t be very effective since we only have students in school for about 7.5 hours a day for five days a week.”
The Alabama State Department of Education does not have a holistic way to determine how many students or staff are out of school due to quarantines, the spokesperson said last week. Michael Sibley. A COVID dashboard is expected to be available after Labor Day and will provide some information, he said.
Separately, the state does not have a statewide virtual option for home schooling this year.
“Each system received adequate federal funding if it was to provide a virtual option for students,” Sibley said.
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