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Reopening School Buildings
School buildings cannot open for in-person instruction until the below conditions are met:
- Community transmission of COVID-19 is under control in the region;
- There is a public health infrastructure to support effective disease surveillance, tracing and isolation in schools;
- Staff who are at high risk have access to special accommodations;
- The district and school have funded safeguards and implemented protocols, including physical distancing, face coverings, access to hand-washing facilities, cleaning supplies, and updates to ventilation and;
- AFT members and leaders, families and community partners are included in the reopening planning process.
COVID-19 Legal Reference
Louisiana Federation of Teachers has compiled the following resources to help inform members of their rights as schools begin to reopen in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic:
AFT Frequently Asked Questions Q & A
U.S. Dept. of Labor Employee Rights
U.S. Dept. of Labor FFCRA Excerpt
Reopening Schools: Survey Results
LFT has conducted a comprehensive survey to evaluate the concerns of educators and community members with regards to schools reopening later this summer. LFT received responses from nearly 15,000 teachers, support staff, parents, students and concerned community members regarding the reopening of schools. The survey was conducted electronically between June 30-July 10, 2020 and distributed widely through various online platforms.
What Should Reopening Look Like for Louisiana Schools?
Through House Bill 59, the legislature charged BESE to adopt "emergency rules informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to provide minimum standards, policies, medical exceptions, and regulations to govern the reopening of schools for the 2020-2021 school year to ensure that students, faculty, staff, and others on school property are protected to the extent possible and practical from COVID-19."
These emergency rules will apply to all school districts. Local education authorities will have the ability to go above and beyond the rules set out by BESE, but they can not "adopt a policy, rule, or regulation that imposes a lesser standard." Click here to see BESE's preliminary rules proposal.
What do you want to see in the emergency rules? What do you want BESE to think about when they make these rules? What do you want them to consider?
It's important for the Board to hear from educators, parents and students before making these decisions. SEND THEM AN EMAIL NOW!
Summer Newsletter
LFT members are coming together to protect students and staff from COVID-19!
Since schools closed on March 13th, LFT, AFT and your Local affiliate have been working to protect the health and safety of Louisiana’s educators. We immediately began to collect resources to help families impacted by COVID-19 and find clarity around policy and regulatory issues given our new reality. With the help of our dedicated members, LFT petitioned local authorities to...