Childcare win: District agrees to flexibility

In response to fierce organizing by UTLA members, the district agreed this week to a new districtwide policy on flexibility for childcare issues related to the return to in-person instruction. This is a great win for families who have been struggling to figure out childcare.

If you are a member with a childcare issue, reach out to your administrator and explore solutions, such as being able to Zoom from home or leaving at a different time to pick up your child. The district issued this memo and held a meeting with local district supervisors this week to tell local school leaders to be as flexible as possible in trying to find creative solutions. Even if you previously asked for accommodation but your administrator said no, try asking again now that LAUSD has clearly communicated the need for creativity and flexibility districtwide.

If you receive an unreasonable denial, talk to your chapter chair, and reach out to your Area rep and UTLA Area leadership. Also send an email to UTLA President Cecily Myart-Cruz, utlapresident@utla.net.

The district has also agreed to extend the deadline for the $500 per child for childcare subsidy for those who missed the previous deadline, until May 14, when the May forms are due. Check instructions at the district’s Human Resources page.

Since the return to in-person instruction, UTLA members have organized around their childcare needs — by driving petitions, amplifying the issue on social media, giving interviews to the press, and turning advocacy into action. UTLA was relentless in our conversations with Beutner, the district’s bargaining team, and various School Board members to press them on childcare issues.

This week we held a UTLA childcare forum with 75 mothers, and the stories shared were heart-wrenching — like the educator who was denied an accommodation for her medically fragile child, the teacher threatened with a negative evaluation if she didn’t return to in-person instruction, and the first-year educator who was waitlisted for daycare at every place she tried.

There were stories of desperation and anxiety — and they are paralleled in working families across the country, from warehouse workers to grocery store employees and bus drivers. Childcare for working families is a right, not a privilege.

Women of color compose the majority of the LAUSD workforce. Access to childcare is a social justice issue, and we will keep advocating for sustainable solutions, on the local, state, and national level.