Unions file unfair labor practice complaint against Elmhurst District 205 on return to in-person learning

ELMHURST – The unions for teachers and staff in Elmhurst Unit District 205 have filed an unfair labor practice charge against the district with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board, alleging that the district has violated its own health metrics without bargaining in good faith in its return to hybrid learning.

The Elmhurst Teachers Council and the Elmhurst School Related Personnel Council on Thursday released a statement on its complaint on its Facebook page. It came a day after the district’s board of education disclosed in an email to district families that the union had filed the claim to seek an injunction to stop the resumption of hybrid learning.

District students, who have been almost entirely in remote learning since mid-October, are scheduled to resume in-person instruction in the hybrid model Jan. 11.

In November the school board voted on a set of county and local metrics to establish when a hybrid of in-person and remote learning would resume.

Metrics were to include that the DuPage County Health Department reports either minimal or moderate community transmission risk under its COVID Schools Metric Guide, or that the district seven-day average for COVID-19 cases per 100,000 is below 100 and the district seven-day average test positivity rate is below 8%.

But the union claims that the district ignored its own metrics in December and announced that hybrid learning would resume on Jan. 11 – regardless of circumstances.

“The board’s own metrics were not satisfied in December, and they are not satisfied now,” the unions said in the statement on its Facebook page. “The data still shows a substantial community spread, which poses a clear risk to the health of students, staff and their families.

“State labor law is very clear that the Board of Education must negotiate matters of health and safety with the union. By unilaterally discarding its own health metrics and choosing to expose all employees to elevated risk without bargaining in good faith, the Board of Education has failed to follow the law.”

Elmhurst Teachers Council President Max Schoenberg elaborated on that claim in an email Friday.

“One metric is the county classification, which was substantial transmission in December and still is that way now,” Schoenberg said. “The other metric are local (the District 205 attendance boundaries). I cannot independently calculate their weighted average by attendance area, but the local positivity rates were above 8% in December and still are at or above that level, depending on which zip codes you use.

“The new cases per 100,000 residents indicator is the most problematic. At the time of the Board’s decision to resume hybrid, the new cases were at a rate of about 500 per 100k, which is five times the limit set in the metrics. The new cases are still being reported at a rate of over 300 per 100k even now. The Union believes that the Board’s decision to resume hybrid learning on Monday is not justified by its own metrics.”

The union in its statement said that its complaint is the “proper legal recourse” to address violations of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act.

It said in its statement that the vast majority of teachers and paraprofessionals are opposed to a “hasty school reopening under conditions of substantial community spread,” but their complaint goes beyond those concerns to what is said amounts to an illegal action.

“The Unfair Labor Practice charges were filed because the Union is opposed to the Board of Education voting one way and acting another,” the union said in its statement. “Employees must be able to trust their employer. District 205 deserves a governing body that conducts business transparently and follows the rules, regardless of the passions of current circumstances.”

The board notified parents in an email Wednesday evening of the union’s complaint, but said that it would not impact the return to hybrid learning on Jan. 11.

“While we intend to vigorously defend against these charges, we have also directed D205 leadership to continue working with our staff to shore up any concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic as local health data continues to stabilize and the availability of a vaccine nears,” the board wrote in its email.

While the union is making its complaint to the labor relations board, its leadership said that teachers will be in school next week when classes resume.

“Although teachers strongly disagree with the Board of Education’s decision to resume hybrid instruction when a return to hybrid is not warranted by the substantial community spread in the area, nor by the Board’s own health and safety metrics, the teachers will return to school on January 11 to support our students,” Schoenberg said in an email. There would be exceptions for teachers who are required to quarantine, or who cannot attend in person due to medical reasons.”

District 205 in October was the first unit district in DuPage County to bring back all students to school for hybrid learning, but after two weeks announced that it was transitioning back to remote learning, citing COVID-19 county metrics.

In a district survey, 366 families who were in remote learning this past fall indicated an interest in returning to in-person learning at school for the second semester. That would bring the number of students in school to about 85% districtwide, with some schools as high as 95% or 96%.

The district in its email Wednesday encouraged anyone interested in becoming a substitute teacher or student learning lab supervisor to apply.

“While some of our families have made the choice to remain in remote learning, many of our families have indicated that their children need the benefits of being in-person and seeing our dedicated teachers and assistants on a regular basis,” the board said in the email. “To that end, we are calling on our school community to help support efforts in the classroom when absences occur.”