January 12, 2022
In response to untenable school conditions and the ongoing COVID surge, Jerry Jordan issued the following statement:
PHILADELPHIA—"Over the past four days, PFT members and allies have written over 40,000 letters to the Mayor, Superintendent, and members of the School Board in two 'action alert' campaigns [here and here]. I am again calling on the swift implementation of a sensible safety plan that addresses the concerns we have laid out over the past several weeks. These concerns, echoed by thousands throughout the District, are geared towards assuring the safe, in-person operation of schools.
"Our five point demands are the following:
- PAUSE: A pause on in-person learning to adequately implement a COVID safety plan that is jointly developed with the PFT and all stakeholders
- PPE: Adequate PPE including now-recommended KF94s, KN95s or N95s for all students and staff; implementation (with fidelity) of new mask protocols; adequate supplies including sanitizer and changed air purifier filters
- TESTING & VACCINATION: Expansion of COVID testing program to include asymptomatic students (implemented by an outside provider); Rejection of new guidance suggesting the elimination of COVID testing; Access to plentiful, unexpired testing supplies
- NURSES: Certified school nurses in every building, every day; supports for school nurses
- METRICS: Sensible metrics for district, school, and classroom/grade closures
"Data from our daily survey of Building Representatives continues to show the urgency of implementing these metrics.
"Monday's survey, completed by 149 representatives, highlighted the following:
- Over 93% of respondents reported staffing shortages impacting the school building
- Nearly 70% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 10 individuals
- Over 38% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 16 individuals
- Nearly 90% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 10% of the staff
- Nearly 50% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 20% of the staff
"Tuesday's survey, completed by 112 representatives, showed similar trends:
- Over 95% of respondents reported staffing shortages impacting the school building
- Over 64% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 10 individuals
- Nearly 90% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 10% of the staff
- Over 46% of respondents reported staff absences of greater than 20% of the staff
"Building Representatives also offered additional open feedback, a sampling of which is below:
- Nurse is completely overwhelmed and cannot keep at this pace with testing, quarantine requirements and no secretary or admin present in the building
- We have 5 teachers out of 14. (K to 8)
- We have no admin present. Our principal, climate staff leader, and secretary are out. We have lunchroom staff out and support staff. We have an emotional support classroom without enough support staff to work in the room.
- We have no nurse.
- We are missing climate staff. We do not have enough staff to cover classes. Resorted to putting SIX classes of students in the auditorium with TWO teachers to cover them. Students are not receiving instruction! When 20+ teachers are absent, that's 60 CLASSES of 30+ kids not receiving instruction daily- many of which are students who are attending multiple classes a day with no teacher.
- We have over 20 staff members out. Four just tested positive for Covid yesterday and today. Central office staff came to support us but they were only able to get us one certified teacher who could teach a classroom for us. Staff members are doing their best but they are were worried.
"Our members continue to sound the alarm about the untenable conditions in our buildings. It is past time for our collective concerns to be taken seriously. The Mayor, the Superintendent, and the School Board, must respond with a jointly developed safety plan that addresses the concerns we have repeatedly laid out."
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