“As a teacher at a Title 1 school, I have felt a little insulted by some of the attacks on those in my profession as it relates to opening schools and the insinuation that schools that are not open for in-person learning are “closed.” As teachers, we’re harder than we ever have to meet our students needs. Those in my profession understand and truly believe that in-person learning is the most beneficial for our students, especially for those most vulnerable students, but the truth is that there is rapid community spread in communities throughout the country. Also, transmission rates for teenagers are similar to adults.
Opening schools while community spread is rampant goes against The WHO report that you referenced in your most recent episode. At a time when so many communities across the country are experiencing their worst outbreaks yet, we should not be advocating for schools there to be open. The WHO even says that in their report.
Where community spread is low and the virus is under control, then yes, opening schools seems to be a good option. But then we are also experiencing both a teacher shortage and a substitute teacher shortage, which cause a lot of complications in terms of logistics. We also have an aging teacher population, that is more at risk for complications due to the virus. There are also many teachers, myself included, who have an immuncompromised family member at home.
I am not here to say that there are no situations in which it is safe to open schools in the time of covid, but I am saying that there is a way to talk about this that doesn’t dismiss the concerns of teachers and teachers’ unions as if they are being completely unreasonable. Every time schools have been brought up lately, it has really felt like teachers have been blamed for schools not being open. I think you need to dig deeper and look at the bigger picture like you all do in so many other areas.”
julius_caesarrr via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
11/24/20