School districts across the country are scrambling to find work for non-teacher employees who could be displaced from their regular jobs by shutdowns that could last the rest of the academic year. The rapidly evolving prospects for the nation鈥檚 K-12 system as the novel coronavirus pandemic persists are leaving many of those workers uncertain and worried about the future.
Kansas officials have already announced schools there won鈥檛 reopen for in-person instruction until the fall, and other districts have made similar arrangements, with more states likely to follow. (Education Week is tracking school closures nationwide.)
Many schools have transitioned to remote teaching, which usually translates to teachers continuing to get paid on a regular schedule. Some local school boards, including in , and Mississippi, have also passed emergency measures to continue paying school employees.
President Trump on Wednesday that will provide two weeks of paid leave to employees at schools who are being treated for COVID-19 (the illness caused by novel coronavirus) or are self-quarantining. The bill also affords two weeks of leave at two-thirds pay and 10 weeks of leave at full pay for employees whose child care is disrupted as a result of the pandemic.
Many school districts are the largest employers in their communities, including cafeteria workers, food service workers, custodians, paraeducators, special education assistants and bus drivers, many of whom work hourly rather than on salary or on contract. The outbreak also affects school workers with irregular schedules, like substitute teachers; Highline Public 69传媒 in Washington state, for instance, has canceled all of its substitutes, .
A Major Dent in School Budgets
Long-term closures threaten to put a major dent in schools鈥� budgets, which run on an annual cycle and typically don鈥檛 have a hefty repository of surplus funds, according to Francisco Negr贸n, chief legal officer for the National School Boards Association. 鈥淕enerally most of their dollars are being spent and they鈥檙e going straight into the classroom,鈥� Negr贸n said.
The early round of two-week closures didn鈥檛 pose an immediate threat to schools鈥� coffers, Negr贸n said, because many schools already had a built-in cushion of spring break or other planned holidays on the schedule.
But without relief from federal or state governments, closing for the rest of the year could be a different matter, said Joe Rugola, executive director of the Ohio Association of Public School Employees. While layoffs don鈥檛 currently seem imminent in his state, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any assurance that there are any classes of our members鈥� who wouldn鈥檛 be affected if the closure continues through the summer, he said.
An Uncertain Future
Susan Bizarro works 25 to 30 hours a week at Parsippany-Troy Hills Township School District in New Jersey as a transportation aide, helping students with disabilities get on and off buses in the morning and afternoon.
Bizarro initially heard that she would have to use sick leave during the district鈥檚 closure, but she had already used up her allotted days earlier this year. She was later assured that she鈥檒l be working during the shutdown, helping with the district鈥檚 meal distribution program and filling out paperwork from home. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how many hours they鈥檙e actually going to pay us,鈥� she said.
She鈥檚 particularly concerned about making rent and staying healthy as a single mother with a son who has asthma. The board of education representative in touch with her has been 鈥渆xtremely sympathetic,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 going to work out in the end.鈥�
Not everyone has had their nerves soothed. Christine Owens serves as site coordinator for a district-run afterschool program that provides meals and activities for students Monday through Thursday at Lyndon Town School in Vermont鈥檚 Kingdom East school district. The program remained open for part of this week, presenting Owens with a difficult dilemma: Stay home and potentially deprive students of their needs, or risk transmitting the virus to her mother and in-laws, who typically watch her son while she鈥檚 at work.
鈥淓verybody right now is extremely scared,鈥� Owens said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e worried about providing for families, they鈥檙e worried about taking care of their kids and their own families.鈥�
Owens has a handful of employees, including a couple of senior citizens and some college students, some of whom also work at the school as instructional assistants or substitute teachers. Because they are considered staff and aren鈥檛 protected by a union, they don鈥檛 get paid time off or most other benefits, despite working full-time, she said.
Starting next week, she鈥檒l be working largely from home, but she said she might be required to ask school principals for work instead of getting assignments from her supervisor, the district鈥檚 director of afterschool programs. She thinks she might end up working from home, mainly at night, about 20 hours a week.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of ifs and not a lot of solid answers right now,鈥� she said.
Keeping People Working as Much as Possible
That鈥檚 in part because decision makers across the country are charting new territory, identifying tasks that employees can do without risking exposure to the virus and staying in compliance with the federal government鈥檚 social-distancing guidelines.
At the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District in Texas, district leaders have done just that. 鈥淥ur grounds crews, they鈥檙e still working and mowing. They鈥檙e outside, they鈥檙e not in a confined space, usually working by themselves, not close to anybody,鈥� said Karen Smith, the district鈥檚 chief financial officer.
In Washington state, where coronavirus first surfaced in the U.S., state officials have implored agencies that support school districts to 鈥渕aintain staff pay,鈥� says Trisha Schock, executive director of administrative services for the state鈥檚 North Central Educational Service District.
On Tuesday, Schock and her colleagues brainstormed ideas for 鈥渙ther types of meaningful work that staff can complete, within obviously their physical abilities.鈥� Bus drivers can transport school meals; athletic coaches can maintain fields; tech staffers can provide training on electronic communication platforms. 鈥淥ne person threw out doing some planting of flower beds鈥� or parking-lot striping, Schock said.
69传媒 in the state will be able to keep paying employees as long as state and federal funds continue to roll in, Schock said. 鈥淚f our state government ended up in a situation where they couldn鈥檛 maintain the state budget, then we would be in a whole different ballpark. We鈥檇 be laying people off left and right,鈥� she said.
Despite the grim circumstances, many negotiations have been cordial. Rugola鈥檚 Ohio union has even waived some contractual requirements for school districts to provide additional emergency pay to essential workers beyond their regular allotments. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 pulling together in the same direction on this thing,鈥� he said.
Still, there are plenty of complexities to navigate, said Tricia Schroeder, executive vice president of SEIU Local 925, which represents more than 6,000 custodians, peer educators, food service workers, bus drivers and other K-12 workers in Washington state. Her union鈥檚 advocacy began a couple weeks ago when it secured assurance that no members will be kicked off state-funded health insurance.
Even at the local level, equity is a factor, she said: 鈥淰ery large districts that serve communities with major medical centers and world-class hospitals have a different need versus a rural community where literally nobody has a case reported yet.鈥�
Technicalities can also get in the way, as in Oregon, where leaders in one district say they can鈥檛 pay more than 2,000 classified employees now because they then wouldn鈥檛 be eligible for pay if the school year extends into the summer, .
The need to continue serving the community can also clash with health officials鈥� pleas to avoid going out or interacting in close quarters with other people. 鈥淚f the district鈥檚 like, we need this group of people to report to work and keep our school buildings open that we just told everyone not to be in, that鈥檚 an interesting message for people to digest,鈥� Schroeder said.
Educators nationwide are anxious about the welfare of students as well as their own.
鈥淚 think school employees and our members are handling this really well. They both are reacting to uncertainty, but also so many of them are ready to rise to the occasion and figure out what鈥檚 best in our communities,鈥� Schroeder said. 鈥淭here are absolutely the handful that are medically fragile or live with someone who鈥檚 compromised. They鈥檙e scared. Everywhere in between, there鈥檚 lots of little questions.鈥�
