A second union calls for Clark County to close schools

On the same day the district reminded parents that classes are expected to begin as normal Monday morning, the National Education Association of Southern Nevada wrote to CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara, asking that classes be halted as organizations and governments close or slow business in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“Besides the potential spread among otherwise healthy individuals of COVID-19,” the union wrote in the letter Saturday, “you have hundreds (or possibly thousands) of immune comprised students and educators who will be even higher risk by schools remaining open.”

The district in an email to parents on Saturday afternoon, reiterated that classes are expected to begin as normal Monday morning.

“At this time,” Jara said in the email similar to one sent Friday, “we are opening CCSD schools as normally scheduled this coming Monday.”

He also said the school district has “not ruled out a short-term closure” to schools.

Another union sent a letter to the district on Friday. In it Stephen Augspurger, executive director of the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Professional-Technical Employees, called the district’s current plan to cancel travel and after-school activities while still requiring students to attend school in overcrowded classrooms is “contradictory and confusing.”

“Crowded hallways and lunchrooms are realities in every school and without question are places where COVID-19 infections will easily occur. Crowded school buses transport thousands of students to hundreds of schools every day, further exposing students to infection,” the letter said. “Closing schools removes students and staff from these dangerous conditions.”

The union requested that schools be closed through the end of spring break Apr. 6-10.

Contact Dalton LaFerney at dlaferney@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0288. Follow @daltonlaferney on Twitter.