I hope that your week is going well so far. I wanted to let you know about the School Board decision regarding the Reopening of Schools Plan. Last night, the Board voted 5-0 to adopt the plan below.
“The COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread. The board is committed to its obligations to protect the safety of children and staff. The Board acknowledges that distance learning presents unique challenges for our students, parents, teachers, and staff.
1. All students will receive distance learning instruction through the end of the semester.
2. The Board and staff will monitor local and county COVID-19 statistics to determine when it is safe and prudent to reopen.
3. The District will offer the option of distance learning to parents for the remainder of the school year.
4. The Board and staff will continue to investigate and plan for:
• In-person instruction for small groups (fourteen or fewer students) per the Governor’s order for specialized instructional services.
• Phase-in of hybrid instruction when it is safe and prudent.
• Open full in-person only when it is deemed safe or necessary.
5. Upon reopening for in-person instruction, student transportation will be limited to special education services only in order to comply with safety requirements.
6. Daily meal distributions will continue through the end of the school year.
7. The Board will meet and revisit the reopening plan prior to the end of the first semester.”
What does this mean for the Association?
• We will be in Distance-Learning through December. If/when the board votes for some sort of in-person instruction based on the bullet points above, it would not be implemented until we return from Winter Break.
• Once the board votes on a plan, the Association will negotiate the impact on our contract/working conditions (will be through the MOU process like we did for the beginning of this year and last Spring). Because the district will be offering Distance-Learning to families for the remainder of the School Year, this has the potential to effect teaching assignments. Any and all changes are subject to negotiations.
*MOU negotiations are completely separate from our “regular” negotiations.*
• The Association will be working on a survey to send out in the next few weeks. We expect that this district will do the same.
• Reopening is contingent on the State guidelines and tiering. It is very likely based on the most recent numbers that Riverside County will be moved to the more restrictive PURPLE Tier. Jurupa Valley has the 4th most cases in the County and one of the highest confirmed cases per capita (increase of 48 yesterday).
• We will continue having discussions with the District and Board and will be constantly looking at as many “Reopening” plans, return dates, models, MOUs, etc.
*IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT OUR CURRENT MOU IS IN EFFECT UNTIL JUNE 20, 2021.*
In the meantime, thank you again to all of you for everything you do for your colleagues, students, and the Jurupa Valley community. Thank you for your continued empathy, grace, kindness, patience, and understanding. You are so appreciated.
Best to all of you and your loved ones,
In Unity-
Wendy Eccles 🙂
NEA-Jurupa President Office Phone: 951-681-7997, Google Voice: 951-643-4076 Non-district email: president@neaj.org Website: www.neaj.org
