With online classes set to start on Sept. 1, the Long Beach Unified School District and its teachers’ union are still working out exactly how the school year will look—including a major disagreement over where teachers will be doing their work.
After a series of negotiating sessions, the district and the Teachers Association of Long Beach are meeting again this afternoon to try and hammer out a Memorandum of Understanding that would govern teachers’ schedules, the amount of synchronous vs. asynchronous learning, the amount of training available for teachers on the district’s online learning platform, the frequency of staff meetings, and what the evaluation process will be like for teachers.
But, by far the most contentious issue is work location. Teachers have cried foul at the district’s plan to have them work in the classroom whether students are there or not. (Classes are expected to be virtual until at least Oct. 5.)
The district has held firm that teachers have no choice on this topic, noting that work location is not something that’s covered in the union’s collective bargaining agreement, but the association—citing health and safety concerns—has taken a stand on the issue, demanding flexibility for teachers to do virtual instruction from home or the classroom.
Despite that impasse, Teachers Association of Long Beach president Christine Kelly, who been sending weekly updates to her union’s membership, was upbeat in her latest email.
“Both teams are committed to working through the night to reach an agreement,” she wrote in Friday’s message. “We are earnestly engaged in hard conversations surrounding safety and providing essential educational services.”
With school fast approaching, both sides say they are hoping to reach a deal that will allow some semblance of certainty as teachers begin to plan for the start of school. And there’s little time left. Teacher training is set to begin next week on Canvas, the virtual learning program the LBUSD has selected for the year.
Teachers Association of Long Beach executive director Chris Callopy has previously mentioned the possibility of a strike, something that the LBUSD’s teachers have never done. With two weeks until fall classes, it’s not clear if there would even be time to go through the legal process of implementing a strike prior to the start of the school year.
Other key dates for education-watchers this week include a Tuesday evening meeting of the LBUSD’s Board of Education at 5 p.m., and another scheduled bargaining session between the district and the Teachers Association of Long Beach on Thursday.