OPINION: Westport deserves a better education plan than the one the School Committee has devised

Norman Abrahamson is president of the Westport Federation of Teachers.

I was disappointed but not surprised to read Antonio Viveiros’ mischaracterization of the negotiations between the Westport School Committee and the Westport Federation of Teachers ("The science-guided plan to reopen Westport schools is educationally sound," Oct. 15).

As president of the WFT, I have attended each negotiation session, as opposed to Viveiros who has not attended any. In fact, despite his statement that the School Committee has been “negotiating in good faith,” no School Committee member has attended any negotiation session in well over a month, a substantial departure from past practice. As someone who was present, I would like to take this opportunity to accurately inform the public of the WFT negotiation status.

Viveiros inaccurately portrayed our most recent position as requesting an additional 28 sick days per teacher. In fact, our last request was for 14 additional days that would be limited to use in the event of Covid 19 illness or quarantine. This seems hardly unreasonable given the fact that in the Junior-Senior High School building two staff members have already tested positive, resulting in several other staff members needing to quarantine. And this is while students are still remote! The WFT also requested that teachers who must quarantine due to Covid 19 be allowed to work from home if they are able to. We were told that is not possible. So the teachers in Westport are in a position where the district requires them to come into the buildings but does not provide additional sick days or allow work from home in the event that we get ill taking the additional risks demanded by the school committee, all while local cases are on the increase.

Viveiros also misstates our position with regard to “live streaming” of classes to remote students. Right now grade 5-12 students are learning remotely and teachers are in the buildings, providing live online rigorous content to our students every day. The School Committee demands that when the district goes to a hybrid model of learning, with half the students in school and half at home on any given day, that classes be “live streamed” to students at home. Viveiros states without a scintilla of evidence that this plan is educationally sound. It isn’t. For years our district, along with every other district in the state, has stressed student-centered classrooms where teachers do not simply sit or stand and lecture from the front of the room. We walk around the room and ask students questions to gauge understanding. We encourage and provoke discussions and require student collaboration.

The model the Westport School Committee seeks is for students at home to passively stare at a computer screen and watch while their teachers teach other students. Any time a teacher moves away from his or her laptop it will be difficult for students to hear anything. They will not be able to hear any of the questions or discussions of the students in the classroom, none of whom will be wearing a mic.

Educators will not be able to stare at their computer screen to pay attention to the students who are remote, because that would mean ignoring the students in front of us. Far from being educationally sound, this model of teaching will result in little learning and even less student engagement.

Ironically, some of these same problems which Viveiros expects students and teachers to deal with for six and a half hours a day were insurmountable for the Westport School Committee itself. At the October 1, School Committee meeting, Viveiros brought up the prospect of moving to live School Committee meetings. The other school board members brought up several of the same problems we have pointed out with their plan. There are no plexiglass dividers in classrooms, it will be difficult for people at home to understand masked speakers, and the Westport Board of Health hasn’t specifically approved the plan. Viveiros ended the discussion by saying, “The last thing I want to do, though, is have a meeting with a mask on...I'd probably rather be home than be at a meeting with a mask on.”

Despite the fact the Westport School Committee understands it is not feasible or safe for them to meet in the school building where they already require the faculty to be and simultaneously “live stream” it to the public for two hours once every two weeks; that is exactly what they expect of the teachers and students of Westport all day, every day.

Finally, I need to point out an obvious safety issue with beginning hybrid learning in the Westport Junior-Senior High School. The administration has not used student pods or cohorts to keep the same groups of students together for all or most of the day, as is done at the elementary schools. Their proposed hybrid schedule is to have the ordinary class periods with all high school students and junior high school students changing classes at the same time. Even with only half the students in the building, that will lead to extremely crowded hallways where social distancing will not be possible and mask enforcement difficult if not impossible. Students will move to a desk that had just been occupied by someone else for over an hour without it being disinfected. All members of the school community will be exposed to one another in short order under this model. Add to that there has yet to be any kind of mask break schedule for staff or students discussed.

The hybrid plan endorsed by the Westport School Committee is neither safe nor educationally sound for the students or teachers of Westport Community Schools. When the faculty voted on whether to accept the plan, not one teacher, nurse, guidance counselor, adjustment counselor, or service provider for the students of Westport voted in favor. We recognize this plan has serious safety and educational deficiencies.

The teachers of Westport have been loud and clear that the School Committee’s plan is not in the best interest of the students and staff. I hope that families and other members of the Westport community let the members of the School Committee know that the children of Westport deserve a better plan.

Norman Abrahamson

President, Westport Federation of Teachers