Union school teachers in Connecticut will be wearing black to school on Wednesday, calling attention to pandemic workplace conditions.
In a survey released by the Board of Education Union Coalition ahead of the "blackout," teachers say the state and school systems are falling short when it comes to providing N95 gear and test kits.
70% of educators responding to the survey say that when they returned to school last week, N95 masks and home test kits weren't available. 62% of respondents say they're lacking the supplies and protocols to do their job safely.
Teachers also say illnesses and absences related to COVID-19 are rampant.
"It is not business as usual right now," says Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association, one of the unions in the coalition. "There is a lot of scrambling to cover for absences. There's a lot of piecing together-- and that's not a great environment to work in for an extended period of time."
The unions are also calling for the state to allow superintendents to put schools on remote for a few days at a time if necessary, without having to make up those days later.
"When we started this school year, I was profoundly disappointed to see that remote option for a day or two, here or there, was completely eliminated," says Dias. "That's certainly better than either a full-on closure."
Gov. Ned Lamont has stuck to his belief that school buildings should stay open: "We're in a pandemic, and there's a lot of infections. Fortunately, milder repercussions. That doesn't mean you're not cautious, but that doesn't mean we deny kids the opportunity to be in a classroom as long as we can keep them there safely."
