A school district in New York state is catching heat from its teachers association after delaying the start of remote learning for some students amid a shortage of virtual teachers.
Students who are taking classes both in-person and online start school on Tuesday, but fully online students in grades 5 through 12 will have their start date delayed, Williamsville Superintendent of Schools Scott Martzloff told parents in a letter earlier in September.
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The delay applies to more than 1,300 students, and Martzloff did not specify the new start date.
“We are working diligently to fill” more than 80 virtual teacher vacancies, Martzloff said in the letter.
Students arrive to Dallas Elementary School for the first day of school amid the coronavirus outbreak on Monday, Aug. 3, 2020, in Dallas, Ga. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
“Simultaneously, the District has had 90 staff members take a leave of absence due to COVID-19 and 111 staff members resign,” Martzloff wrote.
The Williamsville Teachers Association took issue with Martzloff’s numbers last week.
“50 of them are retirements, 22 of the retirements are teaching staff. Of those, 18 gave notice prior to March 1st, so it is reasonable to expect that those could have been filled in the past 6 months,” the group wrote on Twitter. “55 of them are resignations. [Six]Â of the resignations are teaching staff.”
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“So we are expected to believe that 4 teachers retiring and 6 teachers resigning in the past five months causes the District to be unable to provide remote learning?!?” the Williamsville Teachers’ Association’s statement continued.
Fox News’ inquiry to Martzloff was not immediately returned.