100 signatures reached
To: UTLA
Re-Opening of Side Letter for Nurses
Dear Cecily Myart-Cruz,
The school nurses of LAUSD would like to formally request a re-opening of the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles Sideletter Addressing Conditions for In-Person Work by School Nurses signed December 18, 2020. It is stated in the agreement that the “parties may request a re-opening of the terms of this side letter one month after its signing by making a written request to the other party.”
Our union representatives did not appropriately consult with school nurses prior to making this agreement. We are concerned that this agreement asks us to work outside of our scope of practice as credentialed school nurses. We are medical providers for students, not all adults in the community. We are being told to neglect our responsibilities to our students and our school sites. Instead, we are being forced to participate in a business endeavor that is the responsibility of the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Gavin Newsom and Tony Thurmond announced recently that schools will be getting further funding for COVID-related matters. This funding should be used to staff testing sites, so that we may fulfill our duties as credentialed school nurses. The FDA has approved COVID testing that does not require a medical professional to administer. Yet, the district has partnered with a company, SummerBio, that requires this. Even so, SummerBio only states that a medical professional needs to present while the tests are self-administered. This does not need to be a nurse and especially not a credentialed school nurse. Our expertise is best utilized at the school sites, as no other professional can legally replace us in completing our state-mandated duties. As medical professionals we have taken an oath to serve our students and not abandon them in their time of need. This side letter is requiring us to go against that oath by abandoning our schools as we plan for safe re-opening and abandoning our students for the first two weeks we return to school. Our nursing licenses are not granted by LAUSD or UTLA and we must answer to a higher medical authority.
We need to negotiate new terms for this side letter in order to maintain our obligations as credentialed school nurses. We need clarification on how to prioritize our duties when we are now being told to complete 100% of our regular duties while spending 60% of our time at testing sites. Mandatory overtime is not an appropriate solution, as presented by Pablo Murillo. The schools will need our services the most in the two weeks prior re-opening and there-after. We cannot be full-time at testing sites those weeks prior and properly implement safe re-opening plans. We need to be working with our principals and school staff, training everyone for re-opening. This is explicitly written in the Containment Response and Control Plan release by LAUSD last month. School nurses are the Exposure Management Advisors of the LACDPH Required COVID-19 Compliance Task Force and must work in that role to plan for re-opening and to manage the students’ transitions back to in-person learning and manage associated health services required by federal and state law. We must be able to end our service to the testing program and return to our school sites at a minimum of two weeks prior to re-opening in a hybrid or regular instruction format.
It is clear that UTLA is unaware of the school nurse duties with respect to re-opening. The last-minute meeting with UTLA was highly inappropriate and ineffective. Our concerns were not listened to or addressed. The meeting was disguised as a forum, when in fact all decisions had already been made without our input and without a vote. This is supposed to be collective bargaining and this was not done collectively. As our union, it is your obligation to represent us democratically, not authoritatively.
We expect a response to this letter within 2 business days. If you do not address this request, we will be forced to file an Unfair Practice Charge with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB-61).
Thank you for your prompt attention,
Concerned School Nurses
The school nurses of LAUSD would like to formally request a re-opening of the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles Sideletter Addressing Conditions for In-Person Work by School Nurses signed December 18, 2020. It is stated in the agreement that the “parties may request a re-opening of the terms of this side letter one month after its signing by making a written request to the other party.”
Our union representatives did not appropriately consult with school nurses prior to making this agreement. We are concerned that this agreement asks us to work outside of our scope of practice as credentialed school nurses. We are medical providers for students, not all adults in the community. We are being told to neglect our responsibilities to our students and our school sites. Instead, we are being forced to participate in a business endeavor that is the responsibility of the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. Gavin Newsom and Tony Thurmond announced recently that schools will be getting further funding for COVID-related matters. This funding should be used to staff testing sites, so that we may fulfill our duties as credentialed school nurses. The FDA has approved COVID testing that does not require a medical professional to administer. Yet, the district has partnered with a company, SummerBio, that requires this. Even so, SummerBio only states that a medical professional needs to present while the tests are self-administered. This does not need to be a nurse and especially not a credentialed school nurse. Our expertise is best utilized at the school sites, as no other professional can legally replace us in completing our state-mandated duties. As medical professionals we have taken an oath to serve our students and not abandon them in their time of need. This side letter is requiring us to go against that oath by abandoning our schools as we plan for safe re-opening and abandoning our students for the first two weeks we return to school. Our nursing licenses are not granted by LAUSD or UTLA and we must answer to a higher medical authority.
We need to negotiate new terms for this side letter in order to maintain our obligations as credentialed school nurses. We need clarification on how to prioritize our duties when we are now being told to complete 100% of our regular duties while spending 60% of our time at testing sites. Mandatory overtime is not an appropriate solution, as presented by Pablo Murillo. The schools will need our services the most in the two weeks prior re-opening and there-after. We cannot be full-time at testing sites those weeks prior and properly implement safe re-opening plans. We need to be working with our principals and school staff, training everyone for re-opening. This is explicitly written in the Containment Response and Control Plan release by LAUSD last month. School nurses are the Exposure Management Advisors of the LACDPH Required COVID-19 Compliance Task Force and must work in that role to plan for re-opening and to manage the students’ transitions back to in-person learning and manage associated health services required by federal and state law. We must be able to end our service to the testing program and return to our school sites at a minimum of two weeks prior to re-opening in a hybrid or regular instruction format.
It is clear that UTLA is unaware of the school nurse duties with respect to re-opening. The last-minute meeting with UTLA was highly inappropriate and ineffective. Our concerns were not listened to or addressed. The meeting was disguised as a forum, when in fact all decisions had already been made without our input and without a vote. This is supposed to be collective bargaining and this was not done collectively. As our union, it is your obligation to represent us democratically, not authoritatively.
We expect a response to this letter within 2 business days. If you do not address this request, we will be forced to file an Unfair Practice Charge with the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB-61).
Thank you for your prompt attention,
Concerned School Nurses
Why is this important?
We need to be present to plan for a safe-reopening of our schools. We need to provide vital training, medical care and support for our students and staff at the school sites. We cannot be removed from the care of our patients to assist in a business endeavor that is discouraged by the scientific community and the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. We have an obligation to our patients and this Sideletter violates this obligation, forces us to go against our duties as credentialed school nurses and as licensed registered nurses.
How it will be delivered
Please email the link to the petition to school nurses who are employed by LAUSD. Please DO NOT use LAUSD emails and instead send to personal emails.