Texas ISD Wins a COVID-19 Legal Battle
The dispute that pitted the Houston-area, 116,000-student Cypress-Fairbanks ISD and the Texas AFT’s local CFISD affiliate (Cy-Fair AFT) is believed to be the first COVID-19 litigation to be filed against a Texas school district.
Cy-Fair AFT filed the suit against CFISD Superintendent Mark Henry and CFISD in a Harris County state court on the morning of Friday, Aug. 14, just after the district was beginning its first day of requiring employees to report for in-person training under the ISD’s mandate that the in-person training was to be held during the three weeks leading up to the first instructional day for students on Sept. 8.
A Houston judge held a 6 p.m. hearing that Friday evening, and by 8 p.m., the judge had granted the AFT’s request for a temporary injunction prohibiting the district from requiring in-person employee training until the start date for the new school year for students. The judge’s order allowed (but did not require) the district to conduct employee virtual-only training until Sept. 7, and set an Aug. 28 hearing date.
The AFT argued that CFISD officials had not properly provided for the safety of school employees, and pointed to orders issued (July 24) jointly by Harris County and Houston city health authorities declaring that “all school sponsored events and activities… in the county must not take place in person, on or off campus, until school systems resume on-campus instruction.”
CFISD, bolstered by “friend of the court briefs” by the state attorney general and (jointly) by the Houston-area Humble, Clear Creek and Katy ISDs, rushed to get the TSC to nullify the judge’s restraining order, which the TSC did, in a three-sentence order issued on Sunday (Aug. 16). The order noted the injunction was only “stayed” for now, pending further proceedings.
The thrust of the arguments by CFISD and the intervenors on the ISD’s behalf was that the AFT lacked the legal standing to sue, and that local health authorities were not empowered to enforce orders that contradicted the emergency declarations issued by the governor, as reinforced by the opinions of the attorney general.
“Teachers’ unions have no authority to override the decisions of schools [sic] administrators about how to return to school safely,” state Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.
CFISD employees reportedly (Houston Chronicle) received emails after the TSC’s ruling on Sunday telling them that while they could undertake professional development remotely on Monday, they had to come back to their schools for training on Tuesday.
Remained Upbeat
Despite the legal tug of war, CFISD Superintendent Henry remained upbeat — telling the CFISD community in a tweet on the Saturday between the two judicial rulings that he appreciates the AFT, ATPE, TSTA and “all of our employees,” adding:
“We’re working now on some additional accommodations to keep our staff safe while serving our students.”