CHARLESTON, W.Va. − During the delegation portion of the West Virginia State Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, WVEA President Dale Lee gave the following remarks to board members and department staff.
WVEA President Dale Lee addressed the West Virginia State Board of Education this morning advocating for several pandemic-related items. They include:
-
Due to the all-time high rate of COVID positives and quarantine-related absences, we ask the WVDE to go back to the map that was used last fall. When outbreaks reach the orange and red thresholds in communities, mask requirements for students need to be implemented in those corresponding counties.
-
As a result of the widespread outbreaks and required quarantines, employees are currently being required to use their own personal/sick days to quarantine. This is simply wrong. Counties have ARP funds to be used for such occurrences and should be required to set aside some of the funds for just such incidents. We ask the WVDE to direct counties to use some of their funds in that manner.
-
Due to COVID outbreaks, our educators are once again being required to provide both remote and in-person learning to their students. The amount of extra work and preparation to do this is tremendous. Once again, some ARP funds should be set aside for educators when such situations occur, and we ask the WVDE to require counties to offer stipends for those employees.
-
Our educators are working every day to ensure that our students continue to receive high-quality instruction. We ask the WVDE to make our educators a priority in receiving any vaccine boosters.
“I understand that this pandemic has created a divide in our citizens, but we should all be committed to providing a safe and healthy environment at school for our students, employees, and their families,” said Lee. “Our educators are doing a great job and we need to take every health precaution that we can. We should be doing all we can to ensure in-person learning and to assist our school employees as they work to provide a high-quality education for all of our students.”
#IamWVEA #ForOurStudents #SafeSchools #COVID19