Irving ISD denies 150 staff requests to work from home as teacher shortage worsens
Some school staff in Irving say they feel pressured by the school district to return to in-person teaching despite health concerns as more children return to the classroom during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Irving school district, like other Dallas-Fort Worth schools, has started to fill the hallways with students this month as more families choose in-person learning. Irving began optional in-person learning for students on Sept. 28. Every six weeks, students can choose to return to school or continue virtual learning.
At the end of October, the district told staff who were previously allowed to remotely teach due to health concerns that they needed to come back to campus by Nov. 9. A teacher’s aide currently on oxygen support, a special education teacher on immunosuppressants and a teacher of 20 years who just completed chemotherapy were among those asked to return to campus.
“What Irving has done is ripped the rug out from under a lot of employees who are at-risk,” Steven Poole, executive director of the United Educators Association union, said.
The school district said it is working to provide a quality education to students “while staying committed to the health and safety of our employees,” district spokeswoman Nicole Mansell said in an email.
But the district is in a tough spot. The number of face-to-face students has increased “at a rapid rate,” Mansell said, and the district has such a shortage of in-person supervision that central office staff have been sent as substitutes to supervise classrooms.
“Because of the increased number of face-to-face learners each six weeks, it had become an undue hardship for the district to continue allowing remote work arrangements to occur,” Mansell said. “Quite simply, we do not have enough teachers (or paid substitutes) to adequately supervise the face-to-face learners.”
As of Friday, 150 teachers in the Irving school district had requested to teach virtually for the next six weeks. All are being asked to return to campus, Mansell said.
Staff members who spoke with the Star-Telegram asked that their names not be used out of fear of losing their jobs.
‘We’re expendable’
As COVID-19 cases climb in Texas schools, staff members face an increasing threat of catching the virus. Those with health problems face even greater risks.
A teacher’s aide was excited to start the year at Irving ISD. When the pandemic forced teachers and students into remote learning, she remained optimistic. On Sept. 11, two weeks before the district allowed students back in the classroom, she started to work from her classroom to make sure everything was in order.
But on Sept. 21, she started to have horrible back pain. She went to the nurse’s office and ended up collapsing and being rushed to the hospital. She had pneumonia caused by COVID-19 and one of her lungs had collapsed. She had been sick in August, and while she tested negative for coronavirus at the time, an antibody test revealed she had had the virus.
“I thought I was going to die,” she told the Star-Telegram.
Last week, the district’s Human Resources director called her on Sunday and said she needed to return to campus Wednesday.
“From one day to the next, he wanted me to go back,” she said. “But I have an oxygen tank. I have to get a portable oxygen device. And oxygen makes me immunocompromised. I was healthy before and my lungs couldn’t take it, what if I go back now while I have one collapsed lung?”
She understands the district needs help, and that children need to have an education. But her students seem to learn well virtually, and she believes the spread of the virus will only increase as more kids return to school.
“It’s like we’re expendable,” she said. “Like we’re just bodies.”
Two teachers in the district said they face a similar situation.
One woman has been a teacher for 20 years, four of which she’s spent in Irving ISD. She recently finished chemoradiation and her oncologist recommended she stay home because her immune system is compromised. On Nov. 15, the district called her and said they denied her appeal to continue remote teaching and she would need to go to work Monday.
Instead, she used emergency sick days and is trying to figure out how to fight the denial.
“I only have 10 days to fight and after that, they are probably going to fire me,” she said.
Meanwhile, all three staff members said they have received almost daily emails about someone on campus testing positive for COVID-19 or quarantining because of an exposure.
Since Aug. 10, 205 staff members and 172 students have tested positive for COVID-19 in Irving ISD, according to the district’s website. The district has 33,000 students.
“It’s not that I don’t want to work,” the teacher said. “But I am afraid to go into the classroom.”
A special education teacher was approved to teach remotely in September because she has an autoimmune disease, kidney disease, asthma and is on immunosuppressants. On Oct. 29, the district emailed her a denial of her request to continue to teach virtually “because of the undue hardship it places on the district.”
In the email, which was provided to the Star-Telegram, the district’s Human Resource department offered alternative accommodations, including providing additional personal protective equipment, a staggered work schedule to minimize exposure, increased distance from students and other staff and more frequent cleanings of shared workspaces.
The special education teacher has still not returned to campus out of fear for her health. Her other options are to take a family medical leave or emergency leave. If she does, she does not know who will teach her students.
“I feel like it’s more of a hardship on the kids than the school to not allow me to work remotely,” she said.
Undue hardship in school districts
Legally, the district is required to provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees — such as allowing them to virtually teach — unless doing so would cause “undue hardship,” according to the Americans with Disabilities Act. An accommodation that was previously considered reasonable may be considered “unreasonable” if the district’s circumstances change.
Irving ISD is not alone in the challenge of filling teacher positions as students return to the classroom.
Celina ISD in North Texas struggled to find substitutes as early as November, the assistant superintendent for administrative services told NBC DFW. Texas Teachers of Tomorrow, a certification program for teachers, urged people to apply to become a substitute on its website due to the extreme shortage.
Other schools have shut down due to COVID-19 cases. Harwood Junior High in Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district announced on Nov. 11 it was canceling in-person classes and moving all students online until Nov. 30. Sanger ISD, Keller ISD, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD and Coppell ISD have also had closures.
Crowley schools are is going to exclusive remote learning until after Thanksgiving because of staff shortages, the district announced last week.
Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told CBS DFW that the district may have to return to remote learning as cases increase, especially if schools see a spike after the holidays.
This story was originally published November 23, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
