3/9/2021 * Please feel free to share this letter with your contacts *
Dear Friend of Albany Teachers:
We know you share our commitment to giving our best for every student in our schools, and that is why we feel compelled to reach out to you today and ask for your support. We know that you have also been supporting your family and community, trying to be your best for those around you. We don’t want to burden you, but our efforts are interconnected and we must work together.
When the schools closed in March last year, ATA teachers, counselors, librarians and psychologists did our best to keep it together for the kids. We worked through the summer to bring our best ideas to remote learning. Since August, we have been doing our best to support every student remotely and ALSO figure out how to get back in-person with them safely. We have participated in every committee meeting at our sites, negotiated with the District office, and studied the research from around the world. After nine months and many consultations with every ATA member, with parents, with students, with public health experts, we were pleased to ratify an agreement to resume in-person services TK-12. We were ready to implement it quickly when the Board approved it on March 5. We are shocked and heartbroken that the Board is now considering abandoning a carefully considered, legally binding agreement in a hastily called emergency meeting on Tuesday March 16.
For us, the memorandum of agreement approved March 5 represented a first step, on which we hoped to build in a collaborative and deliberative way, towards improved offerings for students and a full re-opening by the fall. We struggled in collaboration with administrators, parent and student leaders to do our best for every child, even as we monitored the changing situation of our students, including their diverse special needs and many kinds of crisis.
For example:
- We know we must offer as much in-person instruction as possible without sacrificing a robust remote program for those students who need it.
- It is our expert opinion that we cannot equitably meet the needs of every student teaching in-person students and remote students simultaneously, “simulcasting”.
- We know you expect the very best possible safety measures to limit community spread of the virus.
We still hope to implement the plans that were negotiated and approved. We will learn from that implementation the best way to do more. Unfortunately, we must first convince the Board to stand by their agreement with us and work with us to do the best for every student.
So today we are hoping you can do one more thing support that collaborative process. Could you either:
- Sign on to this letter to the Board of Education or
- Attend the special School Board Meeting on Tuesday 3/16 7pm by Zoom. If you attend, we recommend changing your Zoom name to “I Support Albany Teachers” so that the Board can see your support even if you do not speak in the meeting.
For our part, we are committed to a sustained relationship with you – our community. Please let us know your thoughts and questions at this email address – please feel free to consult our website (ata-ausd.org) for more details – please look for more news in the coming days.
Yours truly,
Chris Knight and Stephen Naiff
Albany Teachers Association Co-Presidents
albanyteachersassociation@gmail.com
ata-ausd.org