Teacher says Thanksgiving break floor polishing left students sitting on floors, disrupted instruction at Challenger

Theresa Womack, an 8th-grade teacher at Challenger, told the Glendale Elementary School District Governing Board on Dec. 12 that a floor-polishing project scheduled over the Thanksgiving break led to the removal of classroom furniture and instructional equipment and left students sitting on classroom floors for about an hour and a half, disrupting classroom instruction.

Womack said school staff had been told IT would remove computers and phones on the Tuesday before break between 2:30 and 3 p.m., and that maintenance would remove furniture while students were away. She said IT actually removed desktops and classroom phones at about 7:15 a.m. that day, and a maintenance crew removed bookshelves, teacher desks, small-group tables and student desks while students were at lunch. "When our students came back in from lunch at 2:30, they had to sit on the dirty floors for the remainder of the day," Womack said. She added that when teachers returned after break some rooms were not returned to their prior setup and that a maintenance dean later helped restore some classrooms.

Why it matters: Womack said the disruption reduced instructional time and caused distress for teachers, students and staff. "These maintenance projects should be planned for the summer when our rooms are already empty," she told the board. She asked the board and executive team to prevent similar scheduling decisions in the future, saying, "I just don't want any other teachers or students in our districts to have to go through the stress and frustration that we did at Challenger."

The statement was made during the meeting's public-comment period. Board rules read aloud before public comment note that board members may, at the conclusion of the public-comment period, (A) respond to criticism, (B) ask staff to review the matter, or (C) request the matter be placed on a future agenda. The transcript does not record any boardmember direction, referral or formal action taken on Womack's complaint during the meeting.

Details Womack provided: she said IT removed desktops and phones at about 7:15 a.m.; maintenance removed classroom furniture at about 2 p.m. the same day, placing those items in an outdoor courtyard used for student transitions; students were in classrooms sitting on the floors for roughly 90 minutes before dismissal; when teachers returned after break, some rooms were not fully reassembled and one maintenance leader later assisted in restoring rooms.

The meeting record shows the comment was followed by routine business, including approval of the consent agenda and policy second readings. The transcript does not show the board asking staff for a follow-up on the Challenger maintenance scheduling during the public-comment response period.