Not Until It's Safe: A Call to Action for SAISD Workers

Our Union's Statement on Reopening

Today, our coalition of students, educators, parents and guardians, and public health experts is calling on state and local leaders to keep public schools closed for in-person instruction for at least the first nine weeks of the new school year. This is not a position we take lightly. Schools are vital to our community and the educational, social, and physical development of our youth. As an inclusive coalition  representing educators’ unions, parents, students, community members, and public health experts, we have carried out research on best practices for reopening and created a detailed roadmap for the next steps in safely reopening Bexar County public schools. The conditions laid out in our Blueprint for Safely Reopening Bexar County Schools are necessary but not, in themselves, sufficient to allow for a safe start to the new school year. We’re committed to the task of returning safely to in-person instruction in school buildings, but present conditions across our communities make a safe return impossible. Hear the full statement from our Union's President by clicking the video below.

We call on all elected leaders, our members, educators, parents, guardians, and students in our schools to intervene to prevent dangerous and premature school reopening plans from taking place. The spread of COVID-19 in our community has not been contained; rather, cases have grown exponentially since the spring semester, when schools were closed to protect our communities from the pandemic’s effects. Call your school board member, call the superintendent, call your principal, the Mayor and City Council. Call the Governor, and the TEA. Speak with the families you serve and ask them to understand that it’s simply too dangerous to start in-person instruction at this time. Speak with your coworkers, and let’s fight together to keep our school communities safe. It’s going to take all of us to pull this off - every educator, parent and guardian, every community member. So let’s get to work. You can find links to action steps below. The lives of students, educators, and their families must be prioritized above all other considerations, and none of us should be returning to school campuses, not until it’s safe. Our message is clear and unambiguous: no in-person instruction until it’s safe. That means at least 9 weeks.

Take Action

The first and easiest step you can take is to sign our petition. Following that, call and email your representatives. We've included links to contact information and scripts you can use to the right, just go through the steps below. It's important that you contact as many of your representatives as possible to keep the pressure on. No other city, state, or country has attempted to open schools while viral spread is uncontrolled; we can't let it happen here.

Step 1: Sign our petition Step 2: Find your representatives

Step 3: Call in with this script

Step 4: Follow up with an email Step 5: If you haven't yet, take our reopening survey by clicking here

Stay Informed

Click the above image to see COVID-19 updates from Texas AFT

Join the Only Union for SAISD Workers

None of us can do this alone. We can only influence district policy by working together. When you join our union, your dues support legislative and policy work; quality, up to date professional development; and organizing to give teachers and support staff more control over the work they do. If you want a say in reopening, for yourself or for your students, the best thing you can do is join our union and get involved.

We're stronger together: Join Alliance Local 67.