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Easy solutions are few as employers and working parents prepare for online school

School hallway at Stevens Middle School (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter)

When schools closed in March due to the Covid pandemic, Trish Straw was one of the luckier parents.

A mental health associate at Marion County who serves as president of the employees’ union, Straw had six weeks of paid leave she could use to stay home with her 10- and 17-year-old sons.

After using her time off, she got by on unpaid leave.

But with schools still not returning students to classrooms, Straw said she doesn’t know what she’s going to do. 

She’s not alone.

“How are (parents) supposed to teach their children and go to work at the same time?” she said.

As Salem enters a school year without in-person classes, working parents scrambling to balance going to work with again being an educator at home. Employers are looking for ways to accommodate working parents while also keeping their business functional.

The federal and state governments have enacted new laws and regulations that give some leeway for parents juggling the demands of jobs and managing their children’s online school. But two school closures this year is leaving parents with fewer options.

Numbers provided by 211info, a referral service that connects people to health and human services, show that in July of last year 49 people in Marion County inquired about childcare. In July 2020, that number rose to 124.

Employers are still figuring out how to respond. A survey by the Society for Human Resource Management found that just 42% of employers have a plan for employees with childcare responsibilities.

In response to questions sent to employers by Salem Reporter almost none tracked how many employees have school-age children. Employers said that employees are concerned about scheduling flexibility, finding childcare and managing their children’s schooling at home.

Few private employers were willing to comment to Salem Reporter on their plans for the upcoming school year. Almost none offered child care but said that supervisors were working with employees on their scheduling.

“At this time, Salem Health has not made changes to its clinical operations to accommodate employees with school-age children,” said the health care provider. Salem Health is allowing for some flexible work hours encouraging supervisors to allow staff to swap shifts.

SAIF, a nonprofit workers compensation company based in Salem, said that supervisors have met individually with employees on scheduling. While the company said it can’t accommodate every situation, it will allow flexible or reduced hours.

Mike Erdman, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Marion & Polk Counties, said the school year will be very challenging for industries like construction that can’t offer telecommuting options. He said some workers have had to quit their jobs to stay home with their kids.

“There just are no easy solutions for anyone,” he said.

Joe Baessler, Oregon AFSCME associate director, said there is no statewide agreement for state government workers who are represented by his union. He said that counties are in different phases of the state’s reopening plan, meaning they face varying restrictions on employers.

Some state jobs such as corrections or field inspectors can’t be done remotely, he said. The needs of families also vary, he said.

“Nobody really knows what to do,” said Baessler. “The school schedules in the last week or two have been rolling out and everyone’s like, ‘we don’t know.’”

In response to questions, the Oregon Department of Transportation said in an email that its managers have been directed to be flexible with scheduling when possible. “There are some positions that include specific job duties to serve the public’s needs or have set business hours that thereby reduce the managers’ options, such as DMV field offices or highway maintenance.”

Gail Levario, Oregon Department of Corrections assistant director of human resources, said in an email that there is particular pressure on parents who perform shift work at correctional facilities. She said that the department is working with employees and helping them understand the federal leave policy enacted in response to the pandemic.

In March, President Donald Trump signed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act. The law, which is in effect until the end of the year, requires employers with fewer than 500 employees to offer 10 weeks of paid leave to employees who can’t work remotely and must care for children whose schools have closed because of the pandemic. Employers with fewer than 50 employees can seek an exemption.

Congress also extended unemployment benefits to parents unable to work because of school closures. That’s on top of Oregon law, which provides unpaid leave for workers caring for children during Covid-related school closures.

Straw, the head of the Marion County union, said that working parents will still be left with bad options.

In a statement, the county said that employees have continued to telecommute and department heads have been encouraged to be creative and flexible with work schedules or other work-from-home arrangements.

But Straw said that the county has deemed employees in most departments ineligible for paid leave and has been reluctant to approve telecommuting.

She said that going on unemployment isn’t a good option either because it can mean a worker doesn’t have a job to return to once benefits are exhausted.

She said that many parents have already used their protected leave. 

“A lot of employees are really stressed trying to figure out teaching children and work at the same time and paying the bills,” she said. “I know I am.”

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Contact reporter Jake Thomas at 503-575-1251 or [email protected] or @jakethomas2009.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article misstated Trish Straw’s name.