Teachers across the State are at home with their own children wondering if they will see less of a paycheck. Here in the Treasure Valley teachers are worried about their students and their pay.

Already underpaid teachers and parents received this message from Eric Exline of West Ada School District:

“West Ada School District Parents & Guardians,

During this COVID-19 pandemic, as our schools remain closed, educational services through the West Ada School District are closed.  The difficulty of a closure like this is that we are unsure of the length of time that we will be closed.  There is also a likelihood that we will have a requirement to make up at minimum some of the days we miss due to this closure. 

The reality of the situation is that we do not have the capacity to offer remote and/or online learning to all students in our district.  We do not have the computer hardware to provide to those that don’t have devices, and many of our families do not have access to the internet at home. 

For us what that means is that while school is closed, educational services are closed for all students as well.  Legally, we can’t provide services for some students while not being able to provide those same services for all students. 

This is difficult because we care about our students, their health and also their continued learning.

Additionally, while our teachers demonstrate amazing dedication and professionalism, while school is closed due to COVID-19 those teachers are not expected to be working, answering e-mails and preparing work for their students.”

In multiple places through the email message it points out that teachers will not be providing educational resources for parents or students. The West Ada email states the reasons the teachers are not allowed to provide educational materials for students is because West Ada can’t provide online educational services to all of the students.

We ran a poll from our Facebook Page to see what the Social Media Verse thought about this issue. Out of 460 comments in the Treasure Valley Crime, Traffic & Community group page only about Five people had an issue with teachers receiving their regular pay.