Glendale teachers support our counselors, our teacher specialists, and our nurses

The Glendale Teachers Association is composed of more than teachers. We are also counselors, teacher specialists, nurses, service providers, and coaches.

Right now our school district is demanding that three groups of our members return to work on campuses while the majority of our members may continue to work remotely. This, at a time when Covid-19 rates continue to rise to all-time highs and school districts around us have either shut down campuses or have already agreed that their unit members may continue to work remotely for the remainder of the school year.

Current county health guidelines state that “work processes are reconfigured to the extent consistent with academic requirements and student needs to increase opportunities for employees to work from home.”

Our counselors and nurses are sharing with the Board of Education and superintendent clear reasons for why they should continue to preserve their professional integrity as adults who best know how to serve our students and their families in the manner that is most effective and safe at this time. And our teacher specialists have made clear that they should not be “repurposed” and have new jobs, in addition to their regular duties, for which they had never imagined when they applied to be teacher specialists.

We, the teachers of GTA, stand with our counselors, nurses, and teacher specialists. We ask that the GUSD recognize all GTA members as educators who best know how they can do their jobs during this pandemic and who should be afforded the same professional treatment.

Taline Arsenian, President (Glendale Teachers Association)    Contact the author of the petition