EMILY SULLIVAN/WYPR
The Baltimore Teachers’ Union staged a die-in protest at school headquarters Wednesday night, demanding that classes remain online through 2020. More than 50 teachers and parents lay on the ground to show they, or someone they know, have conditions such as asthma or diabetes that could make them more susceptible to COVID-19.
The protest came as city school leaders try to decide where the rest of the fall semester will be held. School officials announced in July that classes would be held online through at least mid-October.
“We are here because we love kids and we’re here because we love our educators,” said Franca Muller Paz, a teacher at Baltimore City College High School. “We will not put them on the line before it is time.”
Muller Paz, a BTU leader and a Green Party candidate for city council in District 12, said that city teachers are the experts on successful city school operations – and that the district is not ready to reopen. She pointed to a lack of soap and water, air conditioning, or thorough ventilation in some schools.
The union says it will not support physical re-opening of schools until there are near zero incidents of new cases of COVID-19 in Baltimore for at least a month. They also demand widespread rapid response testing for school staff, students and families, as well as dedicated schools contact tracing.
Once schools are physically re-opened, the union expects that educators and students who self-identify as at-risk be given the option to teach or learn remotely, that adequate medical-grade PPE, full-time nursing and cleaning staff be available at every school and community-based decision-making power regarding social distancing policies, curriculum and grading.
Patrice Pilgrim, a teacher and a mom with two kids attending city schools, said teachers have not yet seen a realistic and thorough reopening plan.
“I have a colleague who has a class size digitally right now of almost 40 students,” Pilgrim said. “If you can’t regulate class size in our virtual environment, how the hell is that supposed to happen in person?”
