United Teachers of New Orleans

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United Teachers of New Orleans, AFT Local 527, is a union of professionals, organized to collectively and democratically ensure quality and equity in public education for students, parents, teachers, and communities in order to protect dignity and civil rights for all.

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RECENT UTNO NEWS:

Educators Can Get the Vaccine Starting Monday!

Today, Governor Edwards announced that K-12 teachers and school employees will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine beginning Monday, February 22nd. As most of you know, LFT members have urged the Governor’s office to grant educators priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine since the State first began assembling its vaccination rollout plan.

In a statement released today, LFT President Larry Carter said “This is an important development for our teachers, school employees, and the communities they serve. Vaccinating teachers and school employees is one of the best tools we have to keep

COVID-19 RELIEF FUNDING

Louisiana school districts are poised to receive nearly 4x more COVID-19 relief funding under the latest federal relief plan. This aid does come with restrictions in how districts may allocate the funds, but it is a much needed and long overdue step towards a reprieve for our educators and students who have been ‘making it work’ for far too long. We are excited about the possibilities this funding presents, but it is vital that teachers

Dear Superintendent Lewis and NOLA-PS Board Members,

Today we are writing to share our concerns about when and how we will resume in-person learning. We support the decision that NOLA-PS made to pivot to distance learning the week of January 4th. However, even in the short time of in-person learning (Jan. 4 - 5), Morris Jeff Community School experienced our first case of in-class, student-to-student COVID-19 transmission. Read the full letter here.

Tell OPSB: Follow CDC Thresholds for reopening

New Orleans continues to experience the highest rates of COVID-19 we have seen since the beginning of the pandemic. Governor Edwards announced on January 16th that the new UK strain of COVID-19, which is easier to spread, has been identified in the New Orleans area.

NOLA Public Schools has indicated that they will not continue to use the thresholds that they used in September to determine a return to in person learning. Those thresholds were based on CDC guidelines which have not changed.

Now is the time to challenge our newly elected Orleans Parish School Board to step up to ensure safety at

New Orleans Moves to Virtual Learning After Outcry from Teachers and Parents

January 4th, 2021- Today New Orleans Public Schools announced that all schools should move to virtual-only learning by Thursday of this week.

This is an important policy change that will help protect the health and safety of students, teachers, and all New Orleans residents who interact with those in our schools. Less than a week ago, the district had decided to insist upon in-person learning, but this caused an outcry from concerned educators, parents and students. The United Teachers of New Orleans published an Open Letter to the Superintendent and School Board outlining these concerns on January 1st, and in the subsequent days, several individual schools determined that they could not safely resume in-person learning at this time and decided to transition once again to virtual learning. MORE

Open Letter to Superintendent Lewis and School Board Members on January 1, 2021

Dr. Lewis and members of the Orleans Parish School Board,

We can see the light at the end of the tunnel with the distribution of the vaccine, but we cannot act with reckless abandon in the face of a rapidly spreading virus.