AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Independent School District is facing backlash from more than 900 teachers whose medical accommodations requests to teach virtually were denied for the spring semester. 

Out of the 1156 requests submitted for the upcoming semester, the district has so far approved 49 requests and denied 940. In comparison, during the fall semester the district approved 1244 requests and denied 66 requests, out of the 1384 requests submitted. 

Austin ISD says it anticipates more students will return to campus for school in the spring. That’s part of the reason why the district granted just over 4% of medical accommodations requests for the next semester, compared to just under 90% in the fall. 

Two teachers who have been teaching virtually since March expressed their shock after hearing their medical accommodations were denied for the spring. 

“It can feel like I can't catch a whole breath," said AISD teacher Rebekah Proffer describing her asthma. "It can feel like I'm getting choked sometimes… which is pretty, pretty terrifying.”

Proffer was relieved when she received medical accommodation from AISD to teach from home this fall due to her asthma.

“I’ve been going into this pandemic knowing that, you know, if I get a case it's going to be probably really serious and I'm probably going to end up on a ventilator because I already have so many breathing  issues," said Proffer. 

She said she was devastated after learning her request for medical  accommodations requests was denied.

"I was just frozen, I didn't know what to feel. But later I just started bracing because I'm so scared," said Proffer. "It made me, just so emotional, to think that you know that I would spend this Christmas thinking it might possibly be my last one."

In a statement to Spectrum News the district said, "Out of an abundance of caution in the fall, far more remote work accommodations were granted in Austin ISD than in other districts in Texas, and–even as other districts rescinded–we honored those remote-work accommodations as new information was provided by the CDC, and more evidence of the success of safety protocols in schools was confirmed. 

As we look toward the spring semester, we are preparing to welcome more students back to on-campus instruction. We know that it is paramount that our teachers and staff are able to provide the high-quality, on-campus teaching and support that each and every student deserves. The Benefits Review Committee consulted with local health authorities regarding the CDC’s list of health conditions that could put employees at higher risk and learned that the risk posed was reduced by the health and safety protocols in place at our campuses. It was determined that only those at the highest risk who could best fulfill their duties remotely would be eligible for remote work, in order to best support teaching and learning for students."

Proffer says she knows plenty of other teachers who also had their accommodations request to work from home in the spring denied, despite having serious health conditions. 

"I love my job. I love my principals. I love my students. This is the perfect school for me. Ever since I started working here I feel like this is, you know, this is the ideal school. This is the ideal work family, and it's really tough to see everyone suffer together like this."

AISD Teacher Rachel Atzmon is pregnant, and also got medical accommodation in the fall, but got the denial letter issued to all teachers and staff whose requests were denied for the spring semester. 

"When I clicked it and read through and it was just denial, it was just so sterile and like not personalized at all and it felt really horrible," said Atzmon. 

She’s due at the end of February, and is considering starting her maternity leave early. 

“Cases are only going up, and I'm not less pregnant. I'm at the same risk level, if not higher," said Atzmon. “Maybe giving me and my fiance like a two week buffer period to just really self quarantine, but then that would mean any time I take after my allotted six to eight weeks I would get docked pay. And at that point it becomes more of like a financial burden of how long can I afford to not bring a paycheck into our household.”

Now she says she’s torn between her and her unborn baby’s health and safety, and her passion for her job. 

“I just feel like everyone's being put in this really hard position, like I really love teaching I've always wanted to be a teacher," said Atzmon. "So like it's really hard to consider leaving that profession just because of like my health not being prioritized. So I don't know I think if my due date was later in the year I would really consider leaving." 

At this point, Atzmon says she isn't sure what she's going to do, but she hopes the district rethinks their decision. 

"I really hope that they look critically at the people and realize that they're going to lose a lot of good teachers across the district, whether it's by them resigning or getting COVID and passing away. And that's like the really morbid truth I think," said Atzmon.