Important Message from POE's Legal Team

‌

An update from the POE legal team:

On Wednesday, March 25, the Oklahoma School Board of Education will most likely be shutting down all onsite, in-person school instruction for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year and instead go to a distance or virtual model of instruction for Oklahoma students starting April 6, 2020.

There are a myriad of issues and questions associated with this plan moving forward. Here are a couple of key points that may be brought up at the board meeting on Wednesday:

Blake Sonne, General Counsel

The board will most likely start allowing virtual or online teacher meetings and professional development as long as these “meetings” are not in-person. This would lift the complete ban on such meetings issued last week and would allow collaboration to prepare for “distance learning” across Oklahoma while still complying with CDC guidelines on social distancing to protect the safety and well-being of school employees and students.
With respect to pay for hourly, support staff employees, there is not yet a federal or statewide solution for paying support staff workers who are only paid for the hours they work. There may very well be such a remedy in the future but nothing to report at this time.
The State Department of Education will provide further guidelines on numerous issues including IEP compliance, TLE evaluations for the spring, and emergency certification for teachers.

Again, in the next few days there will be numerous guidelines and answers to commonly asked questions associated with this unprecedented time in our nation’s history and its impact on Oklahoma education. We encourage all POE members to be patient and understanding during this difficult time.

Thank you,

Blake Sonne

General Counsel

Professional Oklahoma Educators

Read more on State Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister's proposed plan for distance learning.

Professional Oklahoma Educators