LAUSD and UTLA Push Back Reopening Talks Deadline Until State Guidelines Are Set

UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said the union doesn’t want its members to help high-needs kids until teachers are vaccinated, and vaccinating employees is not sufficient to fully reopen schools.

United Teachers Los Angeles wants its teachers and special education service providers to be fully vaccinated before they’re required to return to campus to serve high-needs students. However, “we don’t believe that all employees being vaccinated is a sufficient trigger on its own for the full reopening of schools,” UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz said Friday in a Facebook Live broadcast. 

That comment did not go over well with some parents who are seeking an in-person option for their kids, especially given that school employees are receiving vaccine priority ahead of many essential workers who have been working outside their homes for months. “If teachers aren’t prepared to go back to in-person teaching once vaccinated, they should step aside and let others be vaccinated,” said Speak UP member Pam Schmidt. “Maybe those who are actually working face to face with the public.”

UTLA’s stance also puts the union at odds with national teachers union leader Randi Weingarten of the American Federation of Teachers, who argued in a Sunday op-ed that schools can safely reopen before vaccines are widely available with testing and other precautions in place. 

LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner on Monday acknowledged the importance of getting staff vaccinated and is pushing hard for LAUSD schools to be vaccination sites. LAUSD, however, has not agreed that staff vaccination should be a condition for teachers to return to serve the highest-needs kids. Instead, LAUSD is asking for special education teachers and service providers to return "upon approval by the superintendent when permitted to do so by state and county guidelines." 

In a town hall Monday, Board Member Nick Melvoin (BD4) said the decision on when to reopen “won’t be dictated by a labor partner but rather by a health entity.” 

The Health Department currently allows 25% of high-needs kids to be served in person on campus in small cohorts, although Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer also asked schools to institute a voluntary three-week shutdown until Feb. 1 because of the current surge.

LAUSD and UTLA were unable to meet their self-imposed Jan. 24 deadline for the two sides to reach an agreement on terms of schools reopening to serve high-needs students, as well as terms for a broader hybrid reopening when the LA County Department of Public Health says it’s safe. They remain far apart on key issues, based on LAUSD’s Jan. 22 proposal for serving high-needs students, as well as UTLA’s counter-proposal, both of which UTLA posted on its website. UTLA’s president said the union is not bargaining the hybrid reopening until after it reaches an agreement to serve high-needs kids.

Superintendent Austin Beutner released a statement Monday indicating that talks would continue and would not be finalized until the governor and state legislature set guidelines and conclude budget talks intended to incentivize the reopening of schools. “We urge the Governor and the State Legislature to complete their work and provide clear and consistent standards,” Beutner said. 

Beutner told parents at a town hall Monday that “we are ready” to return kids to campus as soon as the state and local health officials say it’s safe. Right now, COVID rates in Los Angeles remain at three times the new 25/100,000 case rate the state has set for a full reopening. 

LAUSD in its proposal is asking employees to return to campus to serve students with disabilities, preschoolers, English Learners, homeless and foster youth. The district wants special education teachers and service providers such as speech and occupational therapists, and early education teachers to return to campus to provide small-group instruction, designated services, tutoring and assessments. LAUSD also wants substitute teachers to provide supervised distance learning on campus to students facing homelessness and to foster youth. Employees teaching in person would receive an extra $3.50 per hour, and those with high-risk health conditions would be exempted. 

UTLA's president said the "breadth of services” in LAUSD’s proposal is “too broad." The union only wants its members to provide services that are "absolutely necessary" to be delivered in person, namely assessments for students with disabilities and English Learners, and special education services that cannot be delivered online. 

UTLA also does not want its members to be required to return to campus to provide any services until teachers are fully vaccinated. The process of vaccinating teachers is expected to begin in February but could take a couple months to complete. Federal and state law, however, require LAUSD to comply with students’ Individualized Education Programs, and three-quarters of students with special needs simply cannot learn effectively via a screen, according to a recent survey conducted by Speak UP. 

While two children’s advocacy groups filed a lawsuit last month attempting to compel LAUSD to immediately resume in-person services and instruction for kids with disabilities, the California Supreme Court dismissed the suit last week without comment. The lead attorney, Alex Romain, called it a “profound disappointment” and said students  who cannot access education online “will now likely lose the entire 2020-21 school year.”

Speak UP and several other organizations that work with students with disabilities sent a letter to UTLA, LAUSD and the school board Friday calling on the parties to immediately reach an agreement to serve the 25% of high-needs kids that are allowed on campus as soon as safely possible. You can read and sign that letter here. 

Ultimately, Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is under significant political pressure to reopen schools, and the state legislature are expected to settle the dispute. Newsom is dangling the carrot of $2 billion to districts statewide that can reach an agreement with their employees by the end of the month to return elementary school kids to campus, while President Joe Biden has also made reopening schools among his top priorities and has proposed additional funding to help. 

Democratic lawmakers in the California state assembly have introduced AB10, which would mandate reopening once the health department says it’s safe. While Newsom has resisted a mandate, he hinted recently that he was working on a proposal to “give the state a stronger role when unions and school boards can’t agree on a reopening plan,” according to CalMatters.  

*This story was updated Monday, Jan. 25