Queen Creek teachers have started a petition on issues they see with their district’s school reopening plan, including an invitation to resign. Some of the biggest concerns include potentially large class sizes and no face covering requirement.
Jacob Frantz, president of the Queen Creek Education Association, describes his district’s reopening plans as a recipe for disaster.
"The entirety of what we are doing for preventing the disease is really just sterilizing the surfaces, which doesn't help much with an airborne virus," he said.
He said he’s heard many teachers say they will resign over what they see as unsafe work conditions.
“We are losing good teachers for no reason at the end of the day," he said.
After bringing up these issues, Frantz said the district gave certified employees a week to decide if they wanted to resign and offered to waive liabilities.
“There are a lot of issues with this offer of, ‘Well, you have a week to resign if you don’t like our plan," he said.
The district told KJZZ in a statement that the resignation offer was a good faith effort by its governing board to support teachers who are considering resigning and wanted to remove one of the barriers to making that decision, the fees associated with breaking your contract.
The district said its class sizes may be reduced depending on the number of students that choose its online learning option. Although the district is not requiring masks, it is recommending them, and said it could revise its policy as it considers further guidance.
"Our focus right now is on remote learning and making sure we have a robust online learning option," the district said in its statement.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been modified to correct the spelling of Jacob Frantz's name.
