ESEA STATEMENT ON LAUNCH OF T.I.E.S.

On September 14, 2020, the Nevada Department of Education and the THT Health (formally Teachers Health Trust) announced the Statewide launch of the Task Force Initiative for Educator’s Safety & Screening (T.I.E.S.)

The Education Support Employees Association (ESEA) has received numerous calls and emails about this new COVID testing program, and we hope our comments below will clear up the confusion.

While there have been reports that the Clark County School District will make such testing mandatory, after speaking with the Department of Education, we were assured that would not be the case. Per our conversation, we were informed that members can “opt-out” of the COVID testing so long as they have not been exposed to an individual who has COVID-19 or has tested positive.

Aside from opting out, we have major concerns about privacy. As you recall, during the first week of school in August, CCSD was the victim of a ransomware attack affecting employee data. Because this new COVID testing program comes with an app, we remain apprehensive about our personal information ending up in the wrong hands again.

Lastly, we remain unclear how this app will be effective at getting our members back to work. At this point, the District is having members quarantine for 14 days even though their test is negative. We look forward to further clarification, if any, on that topic.

PDF of this statement may be downloaded here: http://www.esea-nv.org/wp-content/uploads/9.15-statement.pdf