ATPE continues to advocate at every opportunity for the health and safety of Texas students and educators and the preservation of the most stable learning environment possible during the pandemic. To that end, we have developed a list of recommendations we urge school districts to implement in response to COVID-19. The recommendations are drawn from concerns expressed by our membership through surveys, emails, and requests for legal representation. 

ATPE shared the following recommendations with Texas superintendents August 12: 

• Implement an orderly and objective process to solicit and consider individual staff health concerns to make the most appropriate accommodations, including staff assignments, consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
• Grant a requested contract release or refrain from pursuing a complaint with the State Board for Educator Certification if a staff member employed under contract resigns solely due to a health concern that cannot be accommodated in a way that ensures the staff member’s health or the health of an at-risk family member.
• Provide paid administrative leave for any staff member ordered to quarantine because of a work-related exposure or suspected exposure to COVID-19, or implement a sick leave bank or sick leave pool specific to the needs of staff ordered to quarantine because of a work-related exposure or suspected exposure to COVID-19.

Read ATPE's letter here.