New Haven and Hamden teachers got help dealing with the extra duties and health hazards brought on by the Omicron-fueled Omicron surge.
New Haven Schools Superintendent Iline Tracey has agreed to pay teachers $32 an hour when they cover for absent teachers during their usual prep time. With so many teachers absent due to Covid, remaining teachers have been taking on additional classes and then sometimes working late into the night on preparation for their regular classes.
Asked how long this arrangement will remain in effect, spokesperson Justin Harmon responded, “We will continue to pay teachers when they give up prep time in order to substitute for another teacher, though the need may diminish after Covid.”
Tracey made the offer in response to concerns raised by the teachers union. The policy change comes during a time when schools are struggling to remain open amid staff shortages.
The teachers union also raised concerns about in-person staff meetings “while Covid rates are so high,” reported President Leslie Blatteau. In response, the central office agreed that “all building level staff meetings and professional learning events [will] be held virtually until further notice.”
Hamden schools also agreed to move staff meetings to remote, according to teachers union President David Abate. And the central office there also agreed to extra pay for covering other teachers’ classes. The hourly rate “depends on the length of time a teacher covers a class. But the going rate for an hour class coverage is $35,” Abate reported.
“Teachers and administrators are doing the best they can with the hand we’ve been dealt,” Abate stated. “As Charlie Munger stated, ‘Sometimes the tide is with us, and something against. But we keep swimming either way.”