{"id":116976,"date":"2020-03-10T00:29:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T00:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/10\/dod-teachers-worried-about-their-safety-amid-coronavirus-outbreak\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:29:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:29:34","slug":"dod-teachers-worried-about-their-safety-amid-coronavirus-outbreak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/2020\/03\/10\/dod-teachers-worried-about-their-safety-amid-coronavirus-outbreak\/","title":{"rendered":"DoD teachers worried about their safety amid coronavirus outbreak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Teachers at military schools in northern Italy are at \u201cgrave risk\u201d of coronavirus infection<\/a> because they are having to report to work despite the Italian government\u2019s order for school closures, according to the Overseas Federation of Teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The OFT, along with the American Federation of Teachers, sent a letter to Department of Defense Education Activity Director Tom Brady, urging him to direct DoDEA managers in any countries or areas with outbreaks to close schools and allow teachers to telework from home; to provide coronavirus testing for teachers who have been reporting to work at schools in areas with outbreaks; and to meet with the union to develop a school and staff coronavirus protocol. The Overseas Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the AFT union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are gravely concerned that DoDEA \u2014 through this blatant disregard for the safety of teachers, their families and members of our host communities \u2014 may be inadvertently spreading and exacerbating this global health emergency,\u201d wrote the presidents of AFT and OFT in their March 6 letter to Brady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAsking teachers to report to work every day when students are at home is not only ridiculous, it\u2019s also unsafe,\u201d said Randi Weingarten, president of the AFT, in a press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DoDEA schools are closed in Bahrain, South Korea, and in Vicenza, Aviano, Livorno and Naples, Italy. Schools at Quantico Marine Corps Base are closed Monday and Tuesday for cleaning after a Marine living there tested positive for coronavirus after returning from overseas. He is being treated at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\t