Regional Roundup

From Across the State HEADLINES

Arkansas 1 And the Band Played On

With schools temporarily closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Roma ISD’s Varsity Mariachi program turned to technology to keep the instruction and rehearsals going. Gathering via videoconferencing software, the students were able to practice and perform together while still staying safe at home. Their first virtual performance not only showed the students thriving despite the distance but also proved to be uplifting for others: It went viral and was shared more than one million times on Facebook. romaisd.com

Louisiana c o 2 Keeping Spirits Up

When COVID-19 closed schools across the state, educators utilized technology not only to educate students but also to help keep students connected with teachers and classmates. One example is Pflugerville ISD’s Wieland Elementary School, which held virtual spirit days. Each morning, Principal Jared Stevenson posted a prompt to the school’s Facebook page naming a different theme. Students would then take pictures of themselves participating and post them to the thread. They celebrated hat day, sports day, and pajama day as well as activity-based prompts. School leaders said it helped students interact and feel more normal about the strange situation they were in. pfisd.net

3Gaming for a Job

Students in Burleson ISD are getting hands-on training to prepare for jobs in the billion-dollar video game industry. The district created an “esports” academy that allows students to learn science, math, and language standards through the lens of video games. The district aims to help students earn STEM certifications that would make them employable immediately after graduating. burlesonisd.net © Photos courtesy of Roma ISD, Pflugerville ISD, Austin ISD, Waco ISD, Burleson ISD, and Wylie (14) ISD.

4High School Pitmasters

In a city famous for its barbecue, some high school students are learning skills that could one day make them the next great pitmaster. Once a month, before school, students at Juan Navarro High School in Austin ISD meet for hours around the barbecue pit, practicing their craft. The club, which started four years ago, is led by agricultural science teacher Tracey Cortez. The students learn the fundamentals of smoking barbecue, including firing up the smoker, seasoning meats, and monitoring the cooking process. The team has even competed in statewide competitions against other schools and has placed in at least a dozen categories. austinisd.org

5Galactic Military Oath

Fourteen Waco ISD students recently swore to protect and serve their country with some out-of-this-world help. They were just a few of more than 800 students who took the Oath of Enlistment at over 100 locations across the country. Col. Andrew Morgan, an Army astronaut broadcasting from the International Space Station, led the students in the oath. During the ceremony, Morgan floated the various flags of the U.S. military branches and then did a flip to show the lack of gravity on the space station. wacoisd.org

6Helping Protect Medical Workers

A group of students at Wylie High School in Abilene are using their knowledge of engineering and their school’s equipment to lend a helping hand to those fighting COVID-19. Students from the engineering and robotics class are using the school’s 3D printer to create face shields to protect medical workers. The students can produce about 20 a day, which are then shipped to the Abilene Regional Medical Center. wyliebulldogs.org

Key Takeaways from Distance Learning

BY PAUL TAPP

ATPE Managing Attorney

Everything has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The statewide switch to distance learning has profoundly changed public education, and the changes have also raised awareness of a few longstanding employment-related truths that have assumed greater notice than before. Here are a few key takeaways.

There might be normal working hours, but “contract hours” rarely, if ever, exist

Distance learning has resulted in many teachers being required to remain virtually available to parents and students beyond the normal workday. It is a common misconception that teacher contracts set the number of hours a district can require teachers to work. A teacher’s contract certainly could set the number of work hours or the workday’s start and end times, but to do so, the contract would have to explicitly state those hours and times or clearly reference some other source that did. This is rare and may in fact be nonexistent. Most teacher contracts do address hours and work schedules, but they invariably state that hours and schedules will be set by the district and may be changed. All districts, like all employers, establish normal working hours so everyone knows when they are supposed to arrive at work and when they are free to leave (barring notice otherwise). But if a teacher has a contract that says those hours can be changed, then those hours can indeed be changed.

Legitimate questions exist regarding who has the authority to change the hours and whether an exception may apply in a specific case. For instance, most teachers know a principal can direct a teacher to stay after hours to attend a meeting. There is more question, however, about whether a principal can permanently change a teacher’s schedule to come in an hour early every day or whether a district could require a teacher to be “on call” for 12 hours a day. And while work hours can change, a teacher may have recourse if the change interferes with some types of other commitments, such as needed medical care. Job descriptions can change

Distance teaching is different from classroom teaching. It requires different resources, methods, and skills. It may also include more parental involvement, which requires increased communication. Because of these changes to the actual work, many districts modified their official job descriptions for distance teaching during the pandemic, reflecting what the actual job of teaching now entailed. In some cases, the administration simply notified the teachers. In others, they appeared to ask teachers to agree to accept the changes. Many teachers wondered whether they could refuse to accept the changed job description.

Generally, if the new job description is reasonable and fits the professional capacity stated in the contract—for example, “certified classroom teacher”—a district can change the job description. Whether the description is “reasonable” will depend on whether any additional expectations would also fall within the contract, which generally gives the district flexibility to change duties and assign additional duties. It would likely come down to general expectations for what teachers are regularly called upon to do.

Some decisions come locally, some come from Austin

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the often-complex relationship between the local continued on page 38

BECAUSE OF THESE CHANGES TO THE ACTUAL WORK, MANY DISTRICTS MODIFIED THEIR OFFICIAL JOB DESCRIPTIONS FOR DISTANCE TEACHING DURING THE PANDEMIC, REFLECTING WHAT THE ACTUAL JOB OF TEACHING NOW ENTAILED.