OEA, citing data, calls for school districts to issue temporary mask mandates
“We are now seeing a record numbers of kids with COVID-19 and hospitalized in ICUs throughout Ohio and the nation,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “It is clear from the data we have gathered that the Delta variant poses far greater risk for our students, especially those who have not been vaccinated,” he continued, adding that more than half of all Ohio students aren’t even eligible for vaccinations.
Across the state, there are a growing number of districts in which large numbers of students, teachers, and staff – even entire grades have had to stay home from school because they have contracted COVID-19 or must quarantine due to their close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. However, Ohio Department of Health guidance allows for unvaccinated individuals to remain in school if they have consistently worn a mask and maintained social distancing. Therefore, had there been a mask wearing policy been in-place at the time of these exposures, it is likely that many of these quarantines could have been avoided.
On September 2, the state reported 4,446 new COVID-19 cases among Ohio school students, and 873 cases among school staff. So far this school year, there have been 7,705 cases involving students and 2,254 cases among school employees. The number of cases is increasing daily.
“We want in-person learning to continue unabated,” DiMauro said. “However, without widespread student vaccinations, the only way for that to happen safely for students is temporarily requiring masking in schools.”
COVID-related school disruption data compiled by OEA show that 16 of the 17 disruptions OEA has tracked were in districts that made masks optional. Delta has hit districts of all shapes and sizes from Huber Heights in Montgomery County to Shelby City in Richland County to Bethel-Tate in Clermont County. Typically, when these spikes do happen, districts immediately call for masking. Unfortunately, that may be too late to slow the spread of the incredibly contagious Delta variant.
“No one. And I mean no one wants to be back to normal more than our educators, students and parents,” DiMauro said. “But this pandemic is not over yet. Temporarily requiring masks in school buildings will allow in-person learning to continue.
“Our focus is to ensure students remain learning in school the whole year,” DiMauro said. “We believe the data show that mask requirements give us the best chance to see that happen. Without them, we fear we’d be looking at another school year of disrupted learning for an entire generation of Ohio students. And no one wants that.”
Ohio Education Association urges all Ohioans to participate in public redistricting reform hearings
“OEA urges members of the Commission to live up to the spirit of these reforms with a transparent and bipartisan process,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “Fair districts are vitally important and Ohio citizens should be provided with ample opportunities for meaningful input in the process.”
“Earlier this year, OEA sponsored a contest for K-12 students to develop fair maps and we had dozens of children who were able to do so on a tight deadline. Certainly, state leaders can do the same. For too long, partisan gerrymandering has subverted our democracy. OEA urges our members, contest participants, and all concerned Ohioans to participate in these public hearings.”
OEA Statement on Latest Mask Wearing Guidance
As a result, our educators, students, parents, school districts and communities are being forced to grapple with how best to limit the potential lethality of these new variants.
“Educators want nothing more than to return to full, in-person instruction this fall,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “But we want to make sure that when we do, we do so safely for our kids and communities.”
OEA urges communities and school districts to use every tool at their disposal to ensure the safe return to in-person instruction this fall. The recent spike in COVID infections, driven by the highly infectious Delta variant, is especially concerning because the variant is more deadly to students and a youth vaccine has not yet been approved for students younger than 12. This means that most students will remain unvaccinated, for at least the first half of the coming school year.
However, that doesn’t mean our schools have no protection from these new variants. The science is clear that masking, appropriate ventilation, social distancing, handwashing, and vaccinations — all in combination — is the best way to keep students, families, and educators safe and keep community transmission rates low.
“Our members’ primary concern is for the health and safety of their students and the potential danger the fast-spreading Delta variant could pose for their communities and families,” DiMauro said. “We know that mask wearing has been scientifically proven to be effective in slowing the spread of COVID infections and should remain a key tool for avoiding further, unnecessary learning disruptions.”
DiMauro urged leaders to follow science, not political rhetoric when making these decisions.
“Local decisions about mask wearing need to be made based on science and not politics,” DiMauro said. “These decisions should made solely in the best interest of protecting the health of educators, students, and their families.”
DiMauro is especially concerned about politicians limiting the ability of school districts and communities to protect their kids from these new, more lethal COVID-19 strains.
“The best way to ensure a safe return to in-person learning this fall is to follow the science and listen to the medical experts.’ DiMauro said. “We can’t let politicians substitute their political ambitions for public safety when our kids’ health and safety are at stake.”
2021-2022 OEA Member Resource Guide
Use this guide as an overview to help you make the most of your OEA Membership. Within, you’ll learn more about:
- Ways to Become Involved
- Fighting for Public Education
- OEA Staff, Leadership, and Board of Directors
- OEA Higher Education Benefit
- Awards and Scholarships
- Valuable NEA Member Benefits and Services
Throughout our more than 150-year history, OEA members have been involved in every struggle and effort to advance the finest of America’s dreams: a quality public education for every child.
If you have additional questions, contact us at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or send us an email to: membership@ohea.org.
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
Oh Yes, We’re Social — Join the Conversation!
June-July 2021 Ohio Schools
- COVER STORY: Celebrating School
- Award-winning Art for 23rd Annual Create a Cover Contest Highlights What Ohio’s Students Love Most About Their Schools
- EXTRA CREDIT
- Share Your Thoughts in Ohio Schools Magazine Reader Survey
- MAKING THE GRADE
- OEA Honors 2021 Award Recipients
Moved recently? Contact the OEA Member Hotline to update the address on file at 1-844-OEA-Info (1-844-632-4636) or email, membership@ohea.org. Representatives are available Monday-Friday, from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. | OhioSchools — Past Issues
Oh Yes, We’re Social — Join the Conversation!
OEA thanks Superintendent Paolo DeMaria for his long service
“Paolo deserves a lot of credit for the way he has brought people from divergent perspectives together to work toward bettering the lives of Ohio’s students,” said OEA President Scott DiMauro. “His leadership on the strategic planning process and commitment to equity and inclusion deserve high praise. He has set a high bar for the next person to hold the position.”
OEA and all Ohio taxpayers also owe DeMaria a debt of gratitude for his department’s investigation into the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), which revealed the largest taxpayer fraud in the state’s history. The school eventually shut down in 2018 after DeMaria’s department had revealed ECOT had been paid at least $80 million to educate students the school didn’t actually educate.
“Paolo showed courage taking on ECOT – a school that had long been held unaccountable by policymakers,” DiMauro said. “Revealing the taxpayer fraud that school perpetrated sent an incredibly important message that continues to resound in Ohio’s education community.”
Ohio Education Association praises decision to implement Fair School Funding Plan in state budget; Concerned about future funding commitment
In addition, OEA welcomes the provision in the budget to allow districts to get out from under the failed Academic Distress Commission law, though OEA remains troubled by the massive, unprecedented boost to taxpayer funded, private school tuition vouchers and the creation of tuition tax credits to further use taxpayer money to subsidize private school tuition.
“We are extremely pleased that the Fair School Funding Plan will be our school funding system during this biennium and appreciate the House negotiators for providing a convincing argument that our kids are worth the investment,” OEA President Scott DiMauro said. “It will provide the framework for the state of Ohio to finally meet its constitutional mandate of providing a world-class education to every Ohio public school student, regardless of location or station. But in order to do so, the state must fulfill this plan’s great promise beyond these next two years. So the work continues. But the good news is advocacy from our members, communities, parents and students made a difference. And it will continue to do so.”
OEA is especially concerned that the committee report does not make future commitments to the Fair School Funding Plan because Ohio Director of the Office of Budget and Management Kimberly Murnieks told conference committee members Thursday that state revenue would be more than $3 billion above original projections for this fiscal year.
“The state had more than enough money to fully fund the Fair School Funding Plan as originally calculated, rather than delay its full implementation,” DiMauro said. “The plan only required about half of the additional revenue to fully fund it in this budget without delay. It’s disappointing the Senate wouldn’t allow the state’s strong revenues to benefit students more quickly.”
OEA is also pleased that the Senate’s approach allowing all three school districts currently forced to operate under the failed Academic Distress Commission law to seek dismissal from the commission’s oversight.
“For too long, districts have been forced to adhere to this failed law that takes local communities out of the decision-making process for their schools,” DiMauro said. “We are glad that the budget allows districts to get out from under this unnecessarily punitive law.”
Of vouchers and tuition tax credits, DiMauro said, “We remain concerned with the legislature’s blind loyalty to a program that provides taxpayer funded private school tuition subsidies to folks who never intended to send their children to public schools in the first place and does not generally improve student outcomes. Add the new tuition tax credit to the vouchers and it appears that the priority is the 8 percent of students in private schools, not the 92 percent of students who are in Ohio’s public schools.”
OEA: ‘No excuses. Pass the Fair School Funding Plan now.’
“Every single student in Ohio deserves a world-class education, no matter where they live, what they look like, or how much money their families or their neighbors make. Ohio’s lawmakers have the once-in-a-generation chance right now to deliver on that promise, and the state has the resources to make it happen,” Ohio Education Association (OEA) President Scott DiMauro said. “The lawmakers who continue to push for a continuation of the status quo under the partisan Senate school funding plan were put on notice today: There is zero excuse not to fix our school funding system right now.”
The Fair School Funding Plan was developed over the last three and a half years through scores of public meetings and with input from school finance experts, educators, and community members. It has twice passed the Ohio House with wide bipartisan support and would provide a permanent, predictable formula to ensure all public school students in Ohio can get the resources they need to succeed while ending the state’s unconstitutional overreliance on local property taxes to fund our schools.
While critics of the Fair School Funding Plan have made misleading claims about the sustainability of the Fair School Funding Plan, confirmation from the Office of Budget and Management about the amount of funding available for the Fair School Funding Plan today makes those claims moot.
“Not only is there plenty of money in the state coffers to fully implement the Fair School Funding Plan for Ohio’s kids, there is enough to phase it in fully in this biennium, rather than over the next six years, removing just about any potential question marks about fully-phased in costs,” DiMauro said. “Even if they wait to fully fund it until next biennium, knowing what they know about the state’s flush finances, Ohio’s lawmakers should set aside the additional phase-in funding for future legislatures so there will be zero question in the next budget cycle about whether the revenue will be there to deliver for Ohio’s kids. They’ve waited too long for a school funding system that meets their needs; now, there is no reason they can’t have the fairly and fully funded schools they deserve.”
OEA Condemns Bills Seeking to Ban ‘Divisive Concepts’ in Ohio Schools
Ohio Education Association President Scott DiMauro released the following statement in opposition to House Bills 327 and 322, which both aim to ban Ohio’s public schools from teaching so-called “divisive concepts,” after hearings in the House State and Local Government Committee Tuesday morning:
“The Ohio Education Association (OEA) is disturbed, disappointed, and disheartened by recent efforts to white-out American history by hiding the truth from Ohio’s children – depriving them of the world-class, truth-based education they deserve. For our children to thrive and become critical thinkers, we must trust Ohio’s dedicated educators to have age-appropriate conversations about the tough subjects, as they do every day in their classrooms now. No matter where they come from or what they look like, our kids need a well-rounded, intellectually stimulating school curriculum that celebrates all of Ohio’s history, including the countless contributions made – and challenges faced – by people of color in our state. Over my 30-year career as a Social Studies teacher, I have seen for myself that when our kids learn from the past, they can help build a better future for all of us.
Instead, cynical political operatives seek to divide and distract us from their decades of failure to fix Ohio’s broken school funding system that has left so many communities behind. As Ohio’s House and Senate leaders work to finalize the next state budget, OEA continues to demand fully and fairly funded schools that have the resources to meet every child’s needs and a curriculum that nurtures every child’s curiosity and honors their integrity, whether they are Black or white, Latino or Asian, native or newcomer. Ohio’s educators know we can’t lie our way around the hard truths; our children can handle them, and they deserve nothing less.”
OEA Pathways Mentor Program
This Program is Not Accepting any Additional Applicants for 2022-2023
You can make a difference. in students’ lives
Pathway Mentors will work with students in the Pathways Program at Central State University and Eastern Gateway Community College to:
- Provide Guidance as a trusted role model
- Assist students towards a meaningful experience in their education licensure program
- Provide career mentorship towards their career
We want to help you become an Ohio change leader for the next generation.