This week we conclude the second week in the ongoing Special Legislative Session, bringing us to nearly the half way point. Due to the oncoming Hurricane Delta, some meetings were moved up until earlier in the week, most notably both the House Education and Senate Education Committees conducted their weekly meetings at the same time on Wednesday morning. They both considered important legislation, but here are some of the highlights:

One of the most important bills that we will hear in this abbreviated legislation is Senate Bill 31 by Senator Cleo Fields. If passed, this bill would prohibit the use of statewide student assessments conducted during the 2020-2021 school year from being used to evaluate teacher performance. Essentially, schools could (and likely would) still have testing this year, but the scores couldn't count against a teacher's performance evaluation.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those impacted by Hurricane Laura. Federation representatives have been reaching out to our members directly, but if you haven't heard from us yet please take a moment to review these relief resources compiled by AFT, https://www.aft.org/our-community/disaster-relief-emergency-preparedness/hurricane-preparedness-relief

We also want to take a moment to update you about last week's Monroe City School Board meeting. We will be working to bring you regular updates from the School Board meetings throughout the school year:

Louisiana Federation of Teachers has compiled the following resources to help inform members of their rights as schools begin to reopen in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic:

AFT Frequently Asked Questions Q & A

AFT Know Your Rights

U.S. Dept. of Labor Employee Rights

U.S. Dept. of Labor FFCRA Excerpt

U.S. Dept of Labor FFCRA Q&A

LFT has conducted a comprehensive survey to evaluate the concerns of educators and community members with regards to schools reopening later this summer. LFT received responses from nearly 15,000 teachers, support staff, parents, students and concerned community members regarding the reopening of schools. The survey was conducted electronically between June 30-July 10, 2020 and distributed widely through various online platforms.