My view of back to school is as varied as the number of my children and grandchildren. Of my six children (3 biological, 3 spouses), 4 are educators. They are being directed to either return to work with essentially no mitigation, or resign their jobs. These are people with 20 years in their professions, administrators and classroom instructors. Here is what my middle son sent me two days ago:
“March 13th was our last day of school. When we walked out of the school that day there were only 42 confirmed cases in the entire state. School is starting with 100% face to face instruction in 27 days. As of today, there are over 97,000 cases in the state. With 27 days to go, it will be in the 150,000 to 200,000 range when we open. It was unsafe to continue operations with 42 statewide cases but somehow it is ok to resume with over 100,000? I know we must somehow get kids back in school. I know how important that is, especially due to the inequities caused by "virtual learning" but educators are being forced to put ourselves and our families at risk. We accepted this risk decades ago and have to be vigilant in every moment knowing there will be a time when we have to risk our own lives for the sake of our students. We practice active shooter drills and have to have detailed plans to address being shot at. As disgusting as that sounds, we accept that risk, plan for the worst, and hope for the best. That is a contingency for something that is beyond our control. But this is different. Our state and federal leaders are intentionally putting us in harms way. How many educators will have to die in August before our government gets their heads out of the sand.? We are not expendable. Not only are we required to return, but we will do so with a $950 million budget cut. We all accepted inherent risks when we made the choice to become educators, but there is no way to do this safely. Four of your six children will effectively enter a war zone in a few weeks. I have been internalizing and downplaying my feelings about all this, but it really hit home when a friend and lifelong educator died from covid yesterday. This is not what I signed up for…”
Virtual learning. Requires fast internet access, right? We choose to live in a wonderful, natural environment about a mile from any company that will provide internet.
Now, my grandchildren. The oldest two will be juniors this coming school year. To continue with their chosen fields of study, they will have to participate in the classroom for American Sign Language 3, Nursing 2 and Drama, or drop these studies for online courses that are not in their fields. Their maternal great-grandmother is 94. If they continue with their chosen courses, they may never see her again.
Then there is my 9 year old, non-verbal, autistic granddaughter. Even the four educators, who only see her a couple times a year, can see the regression that five months without instruction and therapy have wrought.
Our county resumed Extended School Year (ESY) last Monday. If they were willing to offer it, how could we not let her attend? Maybe I should say at this point, there are four generations living here. It is not just her physical health that is at stake, it is her two siblings, her parents (one of whom has asthma), her grandparents (that’s me!) and her 84 year old grandmother (of the mechanical heart valve).
So, here we are. Do I want schools to open? You betcha! Am I terrified that schools are opening? Absolutely!! I like to think that we are an educated, informed bunch. But it seems as though the “experts” still do not know enough about this disease to provide us with “expert” guidance.
(I’m not even going to bring up the fact that three of my family have exhibited symptoms of covid-19, have been tested, waited 7-10 days for negative results, that cannot have possibly been accurate...)