I’m going to repost, and add on, to a comment I posted in another diary that addresses the Should We Open Up The Schools Issue?
It’s obviously a highly charged issue that many in our country are caught up in, personally, and it’s frankly rather a mess. That’s because the teaching profession and our schools are yet another critical aspect of our lives that the previous administration completely failed to properly support in their complete mishandling of this National Emergency.
And, once again, Republicans are trying to deny our communities the funding and good governance needed to actually Open Safely. Instead, they are trying to re-direct financially stressed out parents’ anger at 2 of the Republican’s favorite targets: Unions and Teachers.
Teacher’s Unions are raising the sane and sensible concerns involved with making this complex effort Safely happen. They want to minimize the deadly risks for school staffs, and reduce the risks of possible long term physical/ mental harm and/or death for our children. Those are not bad things.
As a teacher, I’ve obviously given this quite some thought, and I thought I’d share the very real world things that need to be done. Many have been started and President Biden’s Covid Act is needed for others. In some cases, State Laws need to be changed ASAP. I’ve summarized the concerns and the possible actions needed. Plus, I’ve flagged ways you could help if you’d like to help parents, children and teachers!
- I am concerned about: The already high % of (15-20% in our school) of children being raised by Grandparents, and usually just 1: namely, Grandma. This is primarily due to the largely unaddressed Opioid Epidemic. These children have already been through a lot of trauma in their lives. As a result, they are some of our kids who were already the most at risk for depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse issues, and self-harm. If these kids lose their last adult care-giver, Grandma, because “they” brought Covid into their home … ? Yeah. First, the child would need to be placed in the Foster Care System, and second, I don’t know if we’d ever be able to persuade them that it wasn’t their fault that Grandma died. I have yet to hear or see anyone elevate this issue, (except Teacher’s Unions) but this is one of the issues that Teachers are VERY concerned about, because we care about our kids. To Open Safely: We MUST vaccinate ALL Grandparents raising their children, along with our School Staff. Many are under the 70-75 yo cut-off, but we must include them in the 1B Group. We CAN do this. Schools know who these people are. They could be invited to participate in vaccinations being done with school staffs. If you’re truly concerned about kids’ mental and emotional well-being, please, help Teachers protect this group of kids by asking your local politicians and school boards to make this happen.
- I am concerned about: Our bus drivers! When we tried to go 4 days a week in the Fall, when community transfer was half as high as it is, now, we only lasted 5 days before we didn’t have enough drivers to continue. Our driver population is primarily made up of retired folks from our community. 2 of our drivers died right before Thanksgiving. We had so many either sick or in quarantine that we had to end our Fully Back-in-School effort after 5 Days, and revert to Virtual, again. We got 5 days of in-person learning, and 2 grieving families. Our Transportation Department has been desperately trying to fill positions ever since that debacle, to no avail. Driving buses is a part-time gig for many of our Drivers who do it to augment their retirement incomes. We currently do not even have enough drivers to go fully open while maintaining Physical Distancing on the buses. Even going back to Hybrid in the last few weeks, they are having to do triple runs, with the drivers they have left. To Open Safely: We may need to get really creative and establish partnerships with Public Transit Systems to provide additional drivers in rural and suburban areas. THAT would cost money. Please, contact your US Representatives and Senators to pass President Biden’s Covid Act, so local district could have the funding to do that if they needed to.
- I am concerned about: The research done in the WI study is both flawed, and not universally transferable. First: What kind of ventilation did they have? Second: What was the community Test Positivity Rate? The school I was in prior to the one I am in, now, had an infamously horrible heating and cooling system. Do Districts have the time and money to replace their dilapidated systems? Plus, due to the laws passed bc School Shootings, I am not allowed by law to open my 1st floor classroom windows, and my door must always be closed and locked. Currently, Teachers in our state can be fired if they do not follow this law. Before we can Safely Open, schools must be evaluated for air flow, and many classrooms will probably need air filters. We will also need to have our State Law amended to allow us to open windows and doors. Plus, we’ll need to develop alternative Lockdown Procedures and do Lockdown Drills, because School Shootings are real. That risk is real because Republicans seem to love guns more than our children, and this is a risk our children and Teachers still endure in addition to Covid. Lastly, has everyone forgotten that the CDC Guidelines for School Openings state that it’s only Moderately “Safe to Open,” when the community transmission (Test Positivity) rate is less than 5 to 8%? I don’t know about your area, but we haven’t seen rates that low since September. To Open Safely: We need to re-educate the public about the need to get community transmission levels DOWN for our children’s and schools sake, conduct air flow studies in schools, put air filters in deficient classrooms, change the State Laws regarding School Shooter Protocols, and develop new Lockdown Protocols and do Drills. Again, we need President Bidens Covid Act and you will probably need to contact your State Representatives to get the State School Shooting Laws Changed. Finally, your local Health Dept. could help by going on local News Shows to beg people “to wear masks for the children’s sake.”
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- I am concerned about: Our lack of knowledge about the long term effects of Covid on adults, let alone the effect it may have on children’ developing lungs and brains. Look at the damage Covid is causing in 70% of even asymptomatic patients’ lungs. “Post-COVID lungs worse than the worst smokers' lungs, surgeon says” Have we done studies like this to see what damage may be happening to Covid Positive and asymptomatic children’s lungs? There has been recent research showing that Covid can pass the blood brain barrier, which may explain the brain fog that Longer Termers are experiencing. What impact may Covid have on children’s developing brains? Right now, the dominant strain of Covid attaches to ACE2 Receptors, which children have fewer of, and this has given them some protection, up. to. this. point. However, the UK Strain radically changes the equation, because it can attach to 3 other types of receptors, which children have in abundance. This means they can be infected much more easily with the UK mutant strain. Estimates are that the UK strain could be widespread in the US by mid-March. What could this mean for Lord knows how many of our children? I am concerned that we don’t even know what Covid could do to children’s developing lungs or brains. I hear talk about how being out of school is causing grave harm to an entire generation. Yes, we may need to do more extensive Summer School offerings and more targeted Tutorial efforts, for a couple of years, to get many kids caught up. However, I’d like to reassure you that teachers and schools do know how to help kids catch up! Sadly, we regularly have children come to us from seriously traumatic backgrounds that were inflected on them by immature, addicted, or downright criminal parents where these traumatized children are YEARS behind, educationally. I am seriously concerned we could see large numbers of children in this generation become physically and mentally harmed by the UK Strain. When our children’s lungs look like those pictures, and they have had brain damage, who is going to remediate that? Plus, with more children contracting Covid we are going to see more getting the cytokine storms 4-6 weeks post infection. We will have more children dying. Given this kind of potential for potentially dire physical health harm, I think we had better thing long and hard about what we choose to do. This is not an oopsie that could be remediated with Summer Schools. To Go Back to School Safely: THIS is the one that scares me to the bone. Frankly, I would not put my son in school right, now, and if I wouldn’t do it to my kid, I shudder about doing so with your precious child, either. I think the best way to deal with this one is to Get The Community Transmission Rate DOWN (see above item for ideas.)
- I am concerned about: The emotional cost of changing, changing, changing, changing and the changing, yet again … of our children’s learning and our professional’s educators’ work environment. It’s infuriating, stressful, and more than a few teachers and kids are frankly getting burned out from it. We grimly joke about having had “5 First Weeks of School” already, this year. Each time, we’ve rallied and shepherded our dear students through the dramatic changes, that we were usually given 2 days notice to somehow make it all happen! This keeps happening, just as we and our kids are starting to settle in to a Daily Routine and hitting our stride learning-wise. This is particularly hard on our SPED students for whom changes of any sort can disrupt their learning for weeks. To Open Safely & STAY OPEN: We need to do the hard work of doing it RIGHT. No, we shouldn’t be going at this like it’s some sort of trial-and-error, experimental class project. Or, getting frustrated because it’s hard work, and WE have to get back to work! I’d rather see desperate parents get the financial support in the Covid Act, and make sure we can make this actually work! Please, call your US Congress people to tell them to pass President Biden’s legislation.
- I am concerned about: Our Substitute Teacher issue, or I should say, our District’s chronic, lack of substitute teachers that we’ve been barely coping with, for years. Let’s be honest. How many college educated people do you know want to come into a potentially life-threatening environment at the age of 65-70 years of age, right now? That’s who our subs usually are, Retired Teachers, and the few who were subbing are taking a pass year. To Open Safely and Lure Our Subs BACK: We need to vaccinate our Substitutes along with the full-time school staffs. This is a State Level decision for the most part, due to the failure of the last administration. 24 States are vaccinating their school staff, now; however, not all states are including the Substitute Teaching Corps! Please, contact your school board and Governors.
- I am concerned about: Going into the buildings, full time, without Substitute Teachers means that our teaching staffs across the country will be called upon to give up their Planning Periods to “cover classrooms” for teachers who are out due to the inevitable quarantines. This means that teachers will be working without planning periods day after day after day ... teaching from 7:30 to 2:30, non-stop, except for 30 minutes at lunch, which they will eat in classrooms with students. Without the Planning Periods to prepare lessons and grade papers during the day, teachers will regularly need to do 2-3 hours of additional work at home, as a regular thing. Add in dealing with technology required in a newly paperless work environment (all done without IT or a Training Dept. to help) plus all the extra, high-level, stressful vigilance involved with making sure that 32 children or teenagers have their masks on correctly and stay 6 feet apart all day, every day? A recent study said that 27% of our current teachers think that this may be their last year teaching. For many teachers, this year is proving the final straw after years and years of lack of funding for the schools that they make up for out of their own lower than normal, professional salaries. The terrible effects that the Standardized Training Regime has had and the Teacher Bashing and Devaluation that has gone on for years in this country. The hard truth is that Teachers are highly educated, Masters Degree Level Professionals, and they do have other, higher paying options in life. We have had 2 Science Teachers resign since this September, alone. I will soon be changing assignments to take on 6 Middle School level Science Classes per day — which means prepping 3 lessons for 3 different Grade Levels and trying to manage a 180 student workload. Hmmm. Could I possibly find something else to do with my BS in Science and a dual MBA/ MS in Education in the professional world where I could make more than $56,378 (after 15 years experience in teaching)? I am seriously concerned with the: “Teachers are Lazy & Just Phoning it In” comments I am seeing even on this site. If that is here, imagine what we are going to see as the Republicans begin their real campaign to Target Teachers instead of providing the funding and competent governance needed to do all the things I’m raising: which are out of the control of Teachers. This is what causes serious stress — being held accountable and getting beat up for things you actually have no control over. What in the world are we going to do, next year, if we burn out and lose 25% of our Teachers? I don’t doubt that the digital learning experience is sub-optimal in many situations! The question becomes: Why? What do the teachers NEED to be able to give the kids the kind of learning experience they’d really like to give them? Beating up on stressed out, over-worked, unempowered workers who have already been pretty darn abused is NOT going to make anything better. (PS: BTW — I’m not going anywhere. I love my kids, and I’m pretty tech savvy. Plus, I’m an experienced Instructional Designer, as well as a teacher, so I may be able to manage this.) We already have teacher shortages all over the country, and our Educational College programs are woefully depleted due to the Teacher Bashing that’s gone on in this country for decades. While I know that it’s a common conceit, that anyone can teach, that is a fallacy that I hope I do not need to deal with within this community. To Open Safely, and not lose ¼ of our Teaching Profession in this country, we need our Substitute Teaching Corps vaccinated along with our Teachers. (See Above)
- I am Concerned about: Dying. Lastly, yes, teachers are concerned about dying. Teachers are in rooms with variable ventilation, with 30-35 other people with the doors and windows locked for 7 hours a day. They EAT lunch in their rooms with their children, 5 days a week. If it isn’t safe to eat in restaurants, then how can it be safe to eat in smaller, lower ceilinged classrooms? Schools are petri dishes. IF, no when, the UK strain hits a school, it will probably roar through it. The CDC says that it’s probably safer, now in schools, than it is in the community — but will that STILL be true when the UK strain hits in force in March? Would any of you want to be in that school where it pops up? Do we want to be that beloved teacher who passed away that they do a lovely 60 second spot about on the Local News? Not really. To Open Safely: We must vaccinate Teachers, and we should consider vaccinating any of their older family members. The average age of teachers is currently 42.4 years old, and 18.8% are above 55 years old.
Quite a few of these concerns could vanish, IF we could prioritize vaccinating teachers, bus drivers, Substitute Teachers, and the older guardians raising children.To get this done, and if we started right now, it would take about 6 weeks before everyone would be safe. This effort has been started in 24 states; though, none that I know of have purposefully included elderly guardians. (BTW: Our Teacher’s Union has been fighting for inclusion of elderly guardians’ vaccination, from the very start. It is one of our big sticking issues, because we understand the very real, permanent harm this could do to thousands of kids and their families. )
Assuming we had the inventory of vaccine needed and ability to get shots in arms, we could be back in school the first week of April — with our 6th First Day of School. We would have 7 weeks of school, and then, we would be out for Summer Break. With funding from President Biden’s Covid Relief Act, we could then focus the kids who actually did fall behind and have them attend Summer School Sessions to help them get caught up.
The only BIG Concern & Wild Card Left … Is the UK Strain. We ALL need to do our best to get Community Transmission down, because we really don’t know what Covid is capable of doing children’s developing lungs and brains. This is the one that frankly downright terrifies me. Thinking about the mutated virus hurting my beloved kids’ bodies, in long term ways? If you know any teachers, you know that we are willing to take bullets for our kids -— so, the thought of this virus attacking our kids? Grrrrrrr. THAT brings our the Grizzly Teacher in me.
I hope this may help folks realize that there is a lot more to think about than simply liking and going with the Headlines that read: CDC Says It’s Safe to Open Schools. Like most scientists, they may begin with that line, but there there are always a whole bunch of “as long as ….” conditions that go with the statement. If you care about the children, I hope you take some of the actions that could actually help make Schools Open Safely. If you are a Progressive or Democrat, I hope you will not fall for one of the Republicans favorite tactics — Union & Teacher Bashing. Bashing Teacher’s Unions is a twofer in their playbook.
Any actions you choose to take, Thank You so very much, because I want to be BACK in school with my kids SO MUCH, that sometimes hurts. But hey, what do you expect?
I’m a teacher! : — )