Welcome to Area Today

Dear AREA Members,

Tonight the Alum Rock School Board took action at a special board meeting, by a vote of 3-2 (Bejarano, Herrera-Loera, and Quintero "yes"; Chavez & Pham "no" votes) to reopen our schools beginning April 12, 2021, to serve 1,832 students in person.

WE STILL HAVE NO MOU IN PLACE to define the terms and conditions of the reopening. While AREA has been working tirelessly to come up with an agreement with the district to determine the number of hours, the number of days, the safety conditions, prep time, a stipend, etc., the district made a unilateral decision on their own to begin on-site instruction April 12, with no agreement in place.

The most disappointing and utterly disgusting action taken was Dr. Bauer going back on her word! Remember when she promised that no one would be forced to return? Well...her word can't be trusted! Rather than coming up with a plan that would attract teachers to volunteer to return in person, she is concerned that enough teachers won't step up. So, in order to ensure that there are enough teachers, the district claims that they have a right to force teachers back if they are needed. Talk about losing credibility....!

AREA certainly did not anticipate finding ourselves in this position. We were trying so hard to work out a reasonable, safe return in a limited amount of time with so many unknown variables....all the while trusting what we were being told.

Where do we go from here? We are reaching out to CTA legal for direction.

In the meantime, be prepared to be return to work, unless you are pregnant or have a doctor's note. That doesn't mean you will be directed to return, but be ready in case you are. If you are directed to return, you must or you will be in jeopardy of losing your job.

Please understand that all of this just took place tonight, so we have no answers yet. We are just as shocked and stunned as you probably are. This is certainly not the way this should have played out.

For those of you who spoke at tonight's meeting, we thank you very much.

Thank you,

Jocelyn Merz, on behalf of AREA's Leadership