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4 Manteca Unified Employees Test Positive For COVID-19

MANTECA (CBS 13) — Four employees in the Manteca Unified School District - including two teachers - have tested positive for COVID-19, less than a week after classes started.

This comes after repeated protests over the safety concerns of staff returning to campus. According to the Manteca Teachers Union, more than a dozen teachers must now quarantine due to possible exposure.

Manteca teachers have been rallying and protesting, trying to get district leaders to allow them to work from home while the students are distance learning.

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A spokesperson for the Manteca Unified School District said these four positive cases were self-reported and were not workplace transmissions.

The district believes having teachers on campus is necessary for instruction. But the teachers union disagrees. CBS13 spoke to the union president Tuesday night who said teachers were not provided with hand sanitizer or batteries for thermometers.

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"All we want is the option to work from home. let the teachers decide like the other 12 districts in San Joaquin County. The district would get a lot more out of their teachers if they showed compassion," said Ken Johnson, President of Manteca Teachers.

District leaders said they have spent more than a million dollars on protective gear, including face shields and masks. The teachers union called this bragging and said they expect coronavirus cases to increase if teachers stay on campus.

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