Teachers outraged after they say Richland 2 rejected requests for remote work

Some teachers in Richland 2 school district wrote in to a public meeting Tuesday to voice displeasure with the decision to resume some in-person classes in the district.

Many of the teachers who spoke at the meeting said they suffered from pre-existing conditions such as asthma and that the district’s human resources office denied their request to teach virtually.

Richland 2 “leadership has always been outstanding...unfortunately that is no longer the case,” said Kristina Chamberlain, a teacher at Longleaf Middle. “This is not what I signed up for. This is not teaching.”

Melissa Gilbert, a teacher at Kelly Mill Med Pro Middle, said she told her doctor about the reopening plan and the doctor advised Gilbert to stay home. Gilbert said she has an underlying health condition that could worsen a COVID-19 infection, but did not elaborate on what health condition. Her request to teach virtually was denied, she said, and she feels she is being forced to choose between her school children and her own safety.

At the moment, she has filed for medical leave, she said.

“If my request for leave is denied I will have no choice but to resign,” Gilbert said.

At least 10 teachers commented at the meeting were critical of the district’s decision to reopen.

After The State reached out to Richland 2, the district explained its process for remote work requests, termed “Reasonable Accommodations.”

The broad rules of whether to approve a remote work request was based on district lawyers’ interpretations of federal guidelines surrounding the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Once someone applies for accommodations, Richland 2’s chief Human Resources officer decides whether to approve the request.

In cases where the district was unsure whether a request should be accepted or denied, a committee of five people reviewed the application and considered medical information, advice from the employee’s boss and legal advice, according to the district’s response.

In cases where a request was denied, employees were told they could get additional information from their doctors to support their request or help them find alternative ways to return to school as safely as possible, according to the response.

Employees can appeal the decision, but if they are still denied, they can apply for Family Medical Leave Act or Non Qualified Medical Leave, according to the response.

Maggie Boyte, a Spanish teacher at Blythewood High, said she has underlying health conditions that make her more vulnerable to COVID-19 and that her request to teach virtual-only was denied.

“I don’t want to abandon my students or career, but I don’t want to die either,” Boyte said.

The district has denied requests to teach virtually even when one of its own students may be harmed, said teacher Myra Oliver, whose 6-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year. Despite a letter from her son’s oncologist, Richland 2 rejected her request to work remotely.

“His life is worth the remote accommodation,” Oliver said. “I understand there are other duties that are better performed in person, but my team and school have agreed they do not mind my being home in order to protect one of their own students, my son.”

After a barrage of angry messages — electronic messages have supplanted in-person public comment periods — board member Monica Elkins-Johnson said she was disturbed by the amount of teachers with underlying health conditions who said their requests were rejected. Elkins-Johnson called for the district to investigate how many teachers have filed requests to work remotely and how many of those have been approved.

“I’m quite concerned about the amount of messages we’ve received from teachers with health conditions,” Elkins-Johnson said. “On the other side, parents are demanding students return back to school. It’s a very tough decision to make.”

Parent Mike Remia said the district gave parents little time to respond to the new, hybrid schedule, causing childcare and transportation issues, especially on Fridays, when his child will be doing a half-day.

“A vast majority of parents are back to work full-time now and can’t afford to take the time off to pick up their children at 11:30 every Friday,” Remia wrote.

Board member James Manning agreed the district is stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to returning students to in-person classes or staying virtual. For example, certain groups such as special education students need to have an in-person education to learn properly, Manning said.

“There’s no easy way to do this,” Manning said.

Superintendent Baron Davis defended the district’s decision to return to some in-person classes. He said he is willing to return to online-only if the coronavirus spread in Richland County increases to an unsafe level. He also pointed out the district has made exceptions via a pilot program to get special education students back into the classroom.

S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control classifies the COVID-19 spread in Richland County as “medium,” as of last week. While Richland County’s incidence rate per 100,000 and trend of incidence rate per 100,000 is listed as “medium,” the percent positive rate is considered “high” at 10.6%, according to DHEC data.

Under Richland 2’s plan and the S.C. Department of Education’s AccelerateEd recommendations, a “medium” designation calls for classes to be a “hybrid” mix of in-person and online classes.

“What has remained constant in this is we laid out a plan back in May, April, June and we communicated that plan to the community, and that was our reentry plan to the schools,” Davis said. “In other school districts, when they decided to vacate their plans… we followed our plans.”

During his comments at the end of the meeting, Davis hinted there was underhanded pressure to push the district in one direction or another, but did not get into details.

“I have sat very quietly and watched members of our community fabricate facts and fashion falsehoods into their own personal truths and push their own personal agenda,” Davis said.

“At every turn of our plan there was criticism of our plan by people in the community and even in leadership,” Davis said.

Starting Nov. 4, Richland 2 students will have two full days of in-person classes with a “flex day” on Friday, when teachers can meet individually or in small groups with students. Students are split into two groups that alternate online and in-person classroom days on Monday through Thursday.

Several teachers said at the public meeting they are required to work physically in the school building on Fridays, even when no students are arriving for in-person learning. Chamberlain, the Longleaf Middle School teacher, noted Richland 2 school board meetings are still being held virtually.

“I feel like a pawn in a political game,” Chamberlain said.

Richland 2 is far from the only school that plans to — or has already — expanded in-person classes. Richland 1 added two weekly in-person classes Monday for pre-K through 2nd grade students and plans to expand that to all students starting next week. Lexington 1 has been having in-person classes four days per week for weeks. Many other school districts are also requiring teachers to teach from the school while classes are remote.

“We held out longer than most districts,” said Richland 2 board member Teresa Holmes. She supported investigating individual cases of denied requests and possibly reversing them.

While coronavirus cases nationwide are surging — last Friday, the U.S. hit a new record for number of new cases in a day — Richland 2 has seen few cases in schools. Teachers want to keep it that way.

“I do not believe being physically present in the building, other than on days when students are present, will have any positive impact on our ability to do our jobs,” said teacher Steve Nuzum.

Only one school in the district, North Springs Elementary, has reported coronavirus cases in the last 30 days, according to data from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control. There were fewer than 5 cases reported there and all of those cases were employees, according to DHEC data.

However, Richland 2 has already lost a teacher to COVID-19, though it is unclear where the teacher contracted coronavirus.

Several teachers warned forcing teachers back into the classroom risks alienating teachers at a time when the education industry statewide and nationwide continues to see a shortage of teachers.

“This will be a year when education loses some of the best,” said Richland 2 teacher Mandey Collins. “Teachers are watching.”

This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 11:44 AM.