‘This surpasses COVID’ | Teachers continue cries for help in School Board meeting, citing ‘lack of communication,’ professional treatment

LIVINGSTON -- Dozens of angry teachers and parents voiced their frustrations during Thursday’s meeting of the Livingston Parish School Board, with many doubling down against the “unprofessional” treatment and “lack of communication” teachers claim to be experiencing in the current school year.

Unable to get inside the School Board office due to capacity limitations set by the state, teachers and parents gathered for a watch party outside in the parking lot, with some arriving as early as 90 minutes before the meeting started.

While outside, attendees filled out comment cards and expressed their concerns with one another, with reporters from multiple news outlets, and to the group at-large through a microphone connected to a pair of speakers.

Representatives from the Livingston Parish chapter of the Louisiana Federation of Teachers even passed out specially-made face masks that read, “See Teachers! Hear Teachers! Help Teachers!” Nearly all who gathered outside immediately put on the red face mask.

“This is going to be a long fight,” Andrew Pullman, an art teacher in Walker, told the group before the meeting. “We’re not gonna go in there tonight and have change happen tomorrow. Do not be upset if nothing really changes after tonight.

“We'll be at the next School Board meeting and the next School Board meeting and the next until you start to listen to us.”

Those outside gathered in groups to watch the meeting unfold while others entered one at a time to make public comments to the School Board, which has received much criticism during the past several meetings. The group could be heard loudly cheering for those who spoke when they came back outside.

Teachers and parents — and one student — repeated the concerns they’ve voiced at recent meetings, referencing the district’s hybrid learning model, the lack of training teachers received before the school year, the online platforms they’re using, the lack of cleaning supplies, the lack of teacher input on determining this year’s educational plan, and the “overwhelming” workload placed on teachers.

But according to Tamara Cupit, a civics teacher and Livingston Parish chapter president, it all boils down to one thing — a lack of respect for “those on the front lines.”

“I’m relieved to hear that our children matter to you, School Board and superintendent,” Cupit said during the meeting. “I just wish you felt the same way about your teachers. We don’t feel the love at all.”

Many teachers and parents have voiced these same concerns since the start of the 2020-21 school year, a school year unlike any other amid the coronavirus pandemic. The local school district began the school year in Phase Two of its “LPPS Start Strong” reopening plan, which is based on the phase Gov. John Bel Edwards has set for the state.

Phase Two featured a mixture of in-person and virtual learning, and students were placed in one of four groups to start the year: Groups A and B, which received a combination of traditional and online instruction; Group C, which received 100 percent virtual instruction; and Group D, which received five-days-a-week on-campus instruction.

The hybrid model has been met with criticism from both teachers and parents during recent School Board meetings, with teachers saying they’re “overworked” and parents claiming their children are being “left behind.”

Tensions reached a boiling point in the previous meeting, when teachers stormed out of the building after all but two Board members supported a vote that negated a proposed COVID-19 committee to include teacher and parent input.

Dr. Keith Courville, executive director of Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, recalled that scene when he spoke to the School Board on Thursday and said he was “shocked” following the vote, which he felt pointed to “not only the divide between the board and the teachers, but also the divide among yourselves.”

“The fact there was a powerful motion up there and there wasn’t a lot of discussion… there needs to be vibrant discussion back and forth,” he said. “That was a chance for the School Board to show the teachers how much you loved and cared for them. That opportunity unfortunately was missed.”

The scene of the Sept. 3 meeting led to a call for teachers and parents to “pack the parking lot” at the next meeting Sept. 17, which was moved to the customary School Board office for the first time since the start of the public health emergency.

For many who came, the issues transcend those stemming from the coronavirus.

“Tonight surpasses COVID and a lot of things they think were upset about,” Pullman said. “We’re dealing with years of neglect. We’re dealing years of feeling like we don’t have an avenue or a voice to say, ‘Hey, this isn’t working? How can I help?’”

Cupit, who noted that the federation represents about 350 Livingston Parish teachers, said the “lack of respect” for teachers has “been going on for awhile, but it’s very apparent this year.” A teacher in the parish for 17 years, Cupit said “the morale is really sad” and has reached an all-time low.

To Cupit, teachers aren’t as concerned with being the ones who come up with a solution to the challenges brought on by COVID-19 as they are with being included in the decision-making process.

She said the lack of teacher input — a notion central office staff and multiple School Board members have repeatedly disputed — has made teachers feel “unprofessional” and “not respected.”

“If we’ve got so many teachers unhappy, how could there be enough input from your teachers?” she asked. “That’s why we’re here. We just want to be heard — that’s it. We want to simply be heard. We want to be a part of the team and not on the side.”

“There’s not a perfect answer,” she said later. “But until we speak out and show up and stand up, there will be no change… and that’s what we need to see in Livingston Parish. Some teamwork. All we want is to be heard and helped. We’re not asking for more money. We’re just asking for help. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.”

Over the last 40 or so minutes of the meeting, teachers and parents expressed their thoughts to the full School Board, which heard a wide range of concerns.

One parent asked for paper towels for “my friends at North Live Oak Elementary,” who she said are holding a paper towel drive due to a shortage in their stockpile. One teacher said the district’s online platforms, particularly Google Classroom, are not working and vary depending on the device.

One teacher said juggling virtual and in-person students is “too much for one person to do” and added that teachers at her school received one day of training in Google Classroom and one day for other platforms, “and none of that time was compensated.”

Another parent brought up an alarming concern she’s currently experiencing with her own children: Some students were academically behind after missing the final two months of the last school year but were still forced to move to more advanced classes despite not understanding “the simple beginning concepts.”

That sentiment was echoed by others who spoke, with one teacher saying she is “scared for next year.”

“I’m worried about the future of our children,” said Leslie Sunde, a second-grade teacher. “They’re coming in at a deficit, and the virtual children are not getting our best. I’m scared for next year. It’s gonna have long-term consequences if we don’t turn this bus around.”

Superintendent Joe Murphy addressed some of those concerns at the start of the meeting, spending the first 25 minutes going through a list of actions the district has taken since May in preparation for the school year.

Murphy noted the Start Strong committee — which was expanded and now consists of 10 teachers, two parents, seven principals, one board representative, and six central office staff — and a lengthy list of other measures regarding health and hygiene, virtual students, devices, CARES Act funding, teacher training, and online platforms.

“We know this process has not been perfect, and we know we must be better at what we do,” Murphy said. “We are committed to this, and we’re committed to making this better as we go through.”

With Edwards pushing the Phase Three of reopening, the school system is in the process of bringing students in grades 6-12 back to campuses for traditional instruction five days a week.

The move to Phase Three will shrink the number of groups teachers have from four to two: Groups C and D. Group C students — which were at 2,242 as of Thursday — will still be able to receive 100 percent virtual instruction.

However, many teachers said the move to Phase Three does not fix all the problems teachers are facing. 

“Phase Three does put more students in the classroom, but we really have no room to social distance them,” Cupit said. “It doesn’t take away teachers having to plan additional lessons and material for virtual students or give teachers more time to prepare.”

Said Pullman: “Phase Three did not change how we are treated or how we are able to teach.”