AUSTIN, Texas — Education Austin, the union that represents Austin Independent School District teachers and staff members, has filed grievances on behalf of 127 educators who were denied medical accommodations by the district.

Union leaders say Austin ISD denied more than a thousand requests for teachers and staff for the spring semester. Those teachers wish to continue working remotely. While the wishes of some teachers were granted for the fall semester, they were largely denied for the upcoming semester. Some of the teachers who made requests have health issues.

Those teachers believe their pre-existing health issues would put them at greater risk if they contracted COVID-19, and they’re worried about returning to the classroom.

Malin Lindelow, a curriculum specialist for the district, says that since March she and her team have been working overtime to create online learning modules.

“We all like willingly put in extra hours to make sure that families and teachers felt supported,” she said. “What’s become kind of exhausting is that now we’re nine months in and we’re still in that sort of emergency mode.”

Lindelow says that on top of working 60 hours per weeks, she’s in graduate school and is helping her two children with their online learning.

“It’s a lot to juggle, with not enough hours in the day,” she said.

Still, she’s been making it work, due in large part to the medical accommodation she got to work from home in the fall.

“I grew up with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. And because of that, I’m very susceptible to getting sick, especially when I’m under chronic stress. And so when I get sick, my system just sort of shuts down,” she said.

Lindelow was among the nearly thousand AISD employees to receive accommodations to work remotely in the fall only to be denied for the spring semester.

“I was quite heartbroken, especially as hard as I’ve worked for the district, to feel like that I would have to risk my health in order to do my job,” she said.

Annie Dragoo is an AISD teacher who has undergone multiple open-heart surgeries for a rare heart and autoimmune disease. On top of that, she’s fighting cancer. Her request for accommodations in the spring were also denied.

“Teaching from home has not affected my ability to connect with my students or teach my students, but being in the classroom is going to put my life at danger,” she said.

Education Austin has filed 127 individual grievances with the district, challenging its denial of accommodations. With the spring semester quickly approaching, Lindelow felt like she had no choice but to apply for a leave of absence.  

“I already don’t have enough hours as it is to be a parent and juggle grad school and work,” she said. “And I love my job, I feel passionate about what I do. But I also feel like I’m kind of hitting my limit, if I have to make priorities right, and I’m going to prioritize my family and my health first.”

A leave of absence isn’t an option for all teachers with health conditions.

“I am scared, but I don’t have … I don’t have a choice,” Dragoo said.

In an email made available Tuesday, Austin ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said the district is monitoring health conditions in the county and if it’s needed the district will return to 100% virtual learning after the winter break. They district could shut schools down for a period of time as well.

Spectrum News 1 reached out to Austin ISD for comment. AISD Chief of Staff Dr. Jacob Reach said, “For many students, they need to be served in person. That’s the best way to provide them those services. Our data has shown that the actual spread that is occurring on campus is very minimal, in many cases nonexistent. People are getting ill outside of the classroom.”

Austin-Travis County has reached the threshold for Stage 5 guidelines on the color-coded chart created by Austin Public Health. That includes the most stringent public health recommendations.

According to state tracking data, nearly 60,000 Texas students have tested positive for COVID-19. That’s in addition to more than 30,000 teachers and staff members. As of October, more than 2.8 million Texas students are back on campus.