Indiana’s second-largest teachers’ union says it wants schools to reopen, but only if it’s safe to do it.

American Federation of Teachers Indiana president GlenEva Dunham says some schools it represents have enough precautions in place to bring students back. She applauds seven others who are sticking to online. But she says schools can’t cut corners on safety precautions. She says schools need to have enough masks and sanitizer on hand, and the resources in the community to conduct testing and contact tracing when needed.

The national A-F-T has authorized strikes if teachers don’t think it’s safe to return, and Dunham says that’s an option, even though Indiana law prohibits teacher strikes. She says she’s concerned about three schools which had coronavirus cases on the very first day of school. She charges other districts have asked for Plexiglas partitions and can’t get them.

The state has shipped bundles of masks and sanitizer to hundreds of districts, but Dunham says teachers need assurances there will be enough cleaning supplies for the whole school year, not just the start of school. And she says schools need to confront other obstacles to operating schools safely during a pandemic, from classrooms too small to accommodate social distancing to parents who defy orders to have their kids wear masks.