BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) Mandatory professional development meetings are underway for East Baton Rouge Parish Teachers.
“These three days of professional development should be virtual,” said an elementary school teacher who did not want to be identified.
Some of them refuse to attend because of the surge of the delta variant.
“It is extremely dangerous for us to be in crowds, gathered sitting right on each other. It’s just not safe,” said the elementary school teacher.
Teachers expressed their concerns to district leaders and their teachers’ union.
“Imagine a teacher or a support worker catching COVID at one of these PDs and not finding out about it when they are back in the classroom next week with our babies. That’s not fair to the teachers, nor is it fair to the students, nor is it fair to the parents,” said Angela Reams-Brown, President of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers.
District leaders said they have taken precautions at the different sites by requiring masks and taking temperatures.
Superintendent Dr. Sito Narcisse said, “We’re working hard to bring back some sense of normalcy into the work. We’ve had just as many teachers who have concerns, We have teachers who want to be back in person.”
Because there is no virtual option, some teachers will continue calling out sick for the rest of the week.
“I will not be at work tomorrow, or Thursday,” said the elementary school teacher.
