West Ada district cancels school again Tuesday as teachers protest COVID-19 plans

This story was originally published on IdahoEdNews.org on Oct. 19, 2020.

The West Ada School District canceled school for a second consecutive day Tuesday as hundreds more teachers requested sick days in protest over the COVID-19 learning plans at the state’s largest school district.

A pop-up message on the website says there will be no in-person or remote learning on Monday or Tuesday, including the Virtual School House. A West Ada spokeswoman also confirmed Tuesday’s closure.

“Currently, we have 440 teachers who have called in sick for tomorrow (Tuesday). We are sadly unable to safely hold school tomorrow due to supervision concerns,” district officials wrote in a message sent to parents at 2:15 p.m. Monday.

Schools were already closed Monday due to a massive teacher sickout that was organized last week by the West Ada Education Association.

On Monday, district spokeswoman Char Jackson confirmed Tuesday’s closure. About 440 more teachers put in sick day requests for Tuesday.

“We are currently working through solutions to have school,” Jackson said just before noon on Monday.

Parents and political groups voiced mixed reactions to the sickout.

The issue boiled over last week as hundreds of teachers requested sick days in an attempt to amplify their message that they don’t feel safe teaching in-person classes under the red COVID-19 category.

Last Tuesday Central District Health officials moved West Ada and all Ada County schools from yellow to red. CDH uses a three-tier, color-coded system with red being the highest level of exposure and risk.

When CDH moved West Ada to red, public health officials said they support some form of in-person learning, for now. CDH also said physical distancing must be consistently in place throughout the day with in-person learning in the red. West Ada Assistant Superintendent Bret Heller told the school board he can’t guarantee that physical distancing will be possible in all buildings.

Both the West Ada and Boise school boards then approved hybrid learning plans that offer in-person instruction for students on alternating days.

Boise moved ahead with its plans and is holding school as planned.

On Friday afternoon, West Ada officials announced Monday’s district wide school closure, saying they have a shortage of substitutes and could not cover all of the absences.

Shortly thereafter, the West Ada Education Association encouraged its members to continue requesting sick days for Tuesday. The union’s position is that that district should move to full remote learning under the red, as was the case when the district leaders delated the start of the school year and started all online.

“We want to work be able to educate your children in a remote environment so it is safe for everybody in the school,” WAEA President Eric Thies said Friday afternoon.

The bottom line for West Ada is that it does not have enough subs to cover hundreds of teacher sick days.

As of Monday, the district has 215 active subs, Jackson said. At last check, there were 440 sick requests in for Tuesday. For Monday there were 652.

West Ada has seen an increase in substitute teaching applications in recent days, Jackson said. But there are application and fingerprinting rules and laws the district must follow, so parents and recent substitute applicants cannot just cover a classroom. The process takes about 10 business days, Jackson said.

The division over the COVID-19 learning plan is playing out as the virus continues to spread across Idaho. Last week, the state set two grim records for coronavirus cases, including a single-day record on Friday.

West Ada is the state’s largest district based on enrollment, serving more than 38,000 students K-12.

This story was originally published October 19, 2020 at 3:09 PM.