Teachers unions mandate COVID testing for students, while lobbying to eliminate testing academic outcomes.

August 6, 2021
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Testing for thee, but not for me.

That’s the message sent to parents by the United Teachers Los Angeles. In its latest demonstration of epic irony, the union is demanding all 600,000 students subject to its reign be tested weekly for COVID-19 in order to return to the classroom, while simultaneously lobbying the district to eliminate academic tests that would reveal just how poor a job this union is doing educating students.

After holding out for months and extracting a bevy of concessions ([link removed]) from taxpayers, the union finally agreed to return to the classroom in two weeks, but only if certain conditions are met, including mandating that every student and staff member produce a negative COVID test to be allowed on campus. Concerns that labs will be unable to meet the unprecedented demand are causing parents to worry that this requisite in particular could prove untenable, and ultimately, prevent the promised reopening.

This week, a small school within the district reopened, and parent watchdog group UTLA Uncensored reported ([link removed]) that half the students were turned away on their would-be first day because labs had not evaluated their samples in a timely manner. The scenario raises questions about what will happen in two weeks, when approximately 675,000 students and staff are being tested each week.

“If getting COVID tests back on time was a struggle when only a handful of charter schools opened and certainly was a struggle this past winter, what happens when all of LAUSD schools open and a large number of these tests are not returned,” Jonathan Zachreson, leader of Reopen California Schools asked in an article he authored explaining the extent of the looming, logistics nightmare ([link removed]) . “It’s very possible tens of thousands, if not over a hundred thousand, of students don’t get timely test results. What then?”

According to Zachreson’s research, UTLA’s requirement will increase testing demand in the county by 192 percent, and the district will have to swab 346 students and staff a minute just to keep up. LAUSD’s Chief Communications Officer Shannon Haber told CPC that test results will be turned around within 24 hours, but would not address the district’s contingency plan for what seem like inevitable delays.

Only time will tell, since the district won’t.


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While COVID tests don’t scare the UTLA, there does appear to be one type of test that makes them nervous: scholastic tests. The union continues to lobby against tests ([link removed]) that would reveal the extent of their refusal to educate children. Throughout bargaining negotiations, the union has pushed LAUSD to stop testing students, and successfully got the district to scrap the benchmark tests for the past two school years ([link removed]) . Teachers unions even compelled Sacramento to pass a new law allowing parents ([link removed]) to change students’ D and F grades to “pass” or “no pass.” Together, these push their neglect of duty under the proverbial rug.

But, even with the union’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy regarding student achievement, we do have some idea how students are faring, and how much the union-induced school closures set them back. New research by McKinsey & Company ([link removed]) found students were, on average, four months behind in reading and five months behind in math. Minority students and those from low-income families fell even further behind. Unfortunately, this data is an “optimistic scenario” because it was derived from students that were on campus in the spring, when most California kids were still locked out.

Perhaps the union itself is the best judge of student success. In a recent interview ([link removed]) , UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz shed light on her union’s terrible outcomes, while also revealing the true reason she’s so opposed to evaluating students. “People want to talk about learning loss and I want to say, ‘you can’t lose what you never had.’”

Quote of the week

“Serrano is one of the city’s highest-compensated employees with total pay and benefits exceeding $500,000 as of 2019, all while doing no work for the city as part of his full-time release provision under the police union’s labor contract. But Serrano wants more.” – Brandon Pho and Nick Gerda, Voice of OC ([link removed])

More from CPC
* More union-induced GPA inflation ([link removed])
* Listen: The coming bacon apocalypse ([link removed])
* The annual teacher shortage canard ([link removed]) [link removed]

CPC and allies in the news
* Analyses of California’s dismal public school system highlight the need for education choice in the Golden State ([link removed])
* Union front’s appeal of Heber geothermal work denied ([link removed])
* California’s public schools need more choices and flexibility ([link removed])

Classroom headlines
* Low grades? No problem. New law allows high school students to change them ([link removed])
* OC Board of Education looking to sue Gov. Newsom over classroom mask mandate ([link removed])
* East Bay school board meeting shutdown as parents speak out against face masks in classrooms ([link removed])
* California ‘abuses its authority’ with K-12 mask mandate, Modesto school board says ([link removed])
* Mask guidance questioned as parents pressure Turlock Unified Board ([link removed])
* Chicago Teachers Union says coronavirus delta variant opens door to potentially ‘pause in-person instruction’ ([link removed])

Union news
* Police union boss threatens to ‘burn the place down’ to boost his pension ([link removed])
* Prison guard union buys politicians ([link removed])
* Democrats and teachers unions did this to our children ([link removed])
* Editorial: The teachers union’s opinion on the Middle East is neither needed nor wanted ([link removed])

Other things we’re reading
* As drought worsens, regulators impose unprecedented water restrictions on California farms ([link removed])
* US pension funds lost $400 billion on China investments in July ([link removed])
* Dr. Drew: Vaccine passports are ‘modern day segregation’ ([link removed])
* L.A. Dems introduce motion to require proof of vaccination to enter retail stores, dine inside restaurants ([link removed])

Connect with CPC

Want to keep up with CPC and our partners during the week? Follow us on Twitter ([link removed]) , join our Facebook ([link removed]) community, and sign up to be part of the growing Parent Union ([link removed]) .


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