I have had a lot of complicated feelings about returning to school in the fall. At the beginning of the summer I was all about going back – for both me and my kids. I thought that kids weren’t big transmitters of the virus, that California was keeping community spread under control, and that we could find a way to make it safe. I saw countries in Europe and Asia opening up schools without a huge change in virus numbers, and I assumed we could too. I also thought that whatever we did in the classroom would be a huge improvement over distance learning.
As the summer progressed, a lot of things changed. We learned that kids older than 10 transmit the virus at about the same rate as adults (I teach middle school so that made me feel very differently about being seeing 48 middle schoolers a week). Despite a governor, and mayor, who took the virus seriously and waited longer than most states, or cities, to start reopening, numbers in California, and even in the Bay Area rose at alarming rates. I also realized that we couldn’t look to countries in Europe and Asia for guidance on how to open schools safely when their responses to this health crisis look nothing like what we’re doing in the United States.
At this point I stand with teachers who believe it’s not safe to return to classrooms in most parts of the country, including the Bay Area. I understand how detrimental it is that students not return to school, but it’s not appropriate to blame teachers for refusing to put our own health and safety at risk when we had nothing to do with the failures of leadership that lead us to this point.
I get that it looks like teachers are flat out refusing to return to the classroom, when essential workers have been forced to return to clinics, hospitals, grocery stores and other essential businesses. While educators have not been classified as essential workforce in California (and I doubt other places), I appreciate that society is starting to recognize what an important service we provide. If teachers and other school staff are eventually classified as essential, I think it’s important to remember that teachers are being asked to return to work in the exact conditions that have been identified as the most conducive to spreading the virus: spending long periods with the the same group of people, inside a small, poorly ventilated space.
We also are acutely aware of what happens in classroom and we know how trying to return to school while following masking and social distancing guidelines will look.
We know students aren’t going to want to wear masks and that many of them will be getting messages from their parents that they don’t actually have to. We know that even the ones who do want to wear them will struggle because kids, especially younger ones, have only developing body awareness and masks are tricky to manage for long periods of time.
We know some parents will send their kids to school even when they are sick, because they have always done that and they will continue to do that.
We know that tests will be hard to get and that results will take a long time to come back, and that all the uncertainty and waiting will be stressful for everyone.
We know kids will show up with no symptoms, but will actually have the virus and be spreading it to their teachers and peers.
We know we might have the virus, and not realize it, and that we might actually be spreading it to our students. We know the guilt we would feel if we gave it to our students, and they gave it to their families, and a student or family member died, would be crippling.
We know we will feel we should stay home at the slightest sign of illness, and there won’t be subs available to take our classes. We know that if there are subs available, they will have been in other classes with other groups in other schools and even districts.
We know that when there is a confirmed case, the teacher and entire class will have to quarantine for two weeks before returning to school. We know that when there are enough confirmed cases, the entire school will have to shut down. We know there will be a lot of confirmed cases, and a lot of disruption for students, parents, and teachers.
We know some kids will be hanging out with their friends outside of school, and they won’t be following social distancing guidelines, and that the actual number of contacts we’ll be seeing will be far greater than the number of kids sitting in our room.
We know our classrooms are small, and cramped, that our windows don’t always open and that our ventilation systems don’t work, or are very old. We know that when we request things be fixed, the maintenance staff can’t respond in a timely matter, or at all, because there are way more requests than staff and resources to address them. We know the maintenance staff will be stretched thin already trying to make an old, decrepit building safe for staff and students.
We know that our schools and districts are chronically underfunded, so much so that providing basic learning tools like paper, pencils, and books can be a challenge. We know that public schools are facing massive budget cuts, and that the protocols required to make it safe for students and teachers to be together in classroom will cost significant amounts of money. We don’t understand how our school districts, that struggle to provide the resources required for successful learning during a normal school year can possibly provide the PPE and other resources necessary to keep teachers and students safe now.
We know that we are not valued or respected by society, and that we are popular scapegoats for society’s failures. We know that when kids start getting sick, people will come after us personally, and professionally.
We know that we can’t look to other countries who have successfully reopened their schools because they have:
– testing capacity that FAR exceeds our own
– robust and effective contract tracing in place
– safety nets to support for people who have to isolate for 14 day
– national and local governments that recognize the threat of the virus and have taken the appropriate actions to contain its spread
– nationally and locally required safety measures that are understood and accepted by the general population
– much lower rates of percentage positive and community spread
We know that socially distanced school will look nothing like what kids are used to. It will not bring them the sense of normalcy their parents want so desperately for them. It will not allow for the socialization that parents recognize kids are desperate for, and it will not foster effective instruction or learning.
We know that having 10-12 kids in a classroom, with masks on for the duration, unable to work, or socialize with their peers, and unable to approach their teacher or to even see their teacher’s face, spending 30 seconds x the number of students in the room washing hands every hour, constantly aware of the threat of the virus, is not an effective way to learn.
We know that the belief that in-class learning is somehow a far superior option when compared to distance learning, does not take into account the reality of what school will actually be. We know that until we get this virus under control we will not be providing optimal learning experiences at school or with distance learning, but at least with distance learning everyone has a chance to stay safe and healthy.
Teachers know this because they are in classrooms every day and they know what it will actually look like. They know what kids need in order to learn and socialize and they know neither will happen in classrooms where kids can and will be transmitting the coronavirus to their teachers and peers.
We know how this is going to play out, and we know it’s not going to provide the security and socialization that parents are arguing for when they insist their kids return to school. The school experience parents think their kids are missing out on by returning to distance learning does not, and will not, exist.
Yes, parents need child care to return to work. Yes, under served students need support so they can engage in distance learning successfully and receive the services they need. State and local governments should be addressing those very real and exceedingly important issues. But sending kids back to school now, while the viruses ranges, is a solution buttressed by anxiety, panic, and wishful thinking.
I know these are desperate times and they call for desperate measures, but please don’t ask students and teachers to risk their lives when the return on investment is, in reality, shockingly low. Please don’t attack and demean teachers for not wanting to return to schools, and instead remember that we are not responsible for this reality, and there is nowhere we’d rather be than in our classrooms.
Very well said! I completely agree with you and I’m puzzled by people who take the opposite position. But I am hyper vigilant and don’t let my kids interact with anyone outside the household. So I can’t imagine sending them to school or why anyone else would think it was a good idea (I understand that some people have no other choice or kids that will be severely harmed by lack of, for example, IEP services..)
I hope that when it is safer to return, the students who need it most will be prioritized when returning to school. I worry affluent parents, the ones all these articles and post are written by (including this one and me!), will cause an uproar when under served students are invited back before their children are. Things could get really, really ugly.
I found this from SHU. Very much appreciated. Our district announced last night that we’ll be online at least through September. I agree of course that public health comes first. It will be a nightmare in my house. My son, 8, is already dreading the zoom component.
What enrages me is that it is STILL possible, per folks like Andy Slavitt, to shut the country down NOW for 4-6 weeks and then have something resembling a legit reopening. That’s all it would take,. About six weeks of unified response. We–as a govt and larger culture–have clearly decided we’d rather have some semblance of summer instead. It’s truly mind boggling.
I couldn’t agree with you more – so many people who have blindly followed the politicizing of this when the scientists are saying, just wear your masks and this could be in control in 6 weeks. Only 6 weeks! Nope, it’s more important to attend a basketball tournament (yes! In my area if you can believe it) and go to a house at the lake with friends than get this under control. Don’t tread on me gone crazy. And the people who think this is all a hoax, having attended the Facebook school of medicine. It’s ludicrous and selfish and short sighted and keeping us all in this even longer.
I think one of the things that most changed my mind was watching our numbers go up in the Bay Area, where the vast majority of us believe the virus is real and the steps we need to take to contain it are effective and necessary. If our numbers can rise in the ways they have even when most people are doing the right thing, and we can even be outside because the weather is mild in the summer, helped me realize that the idea of returning to school without massive community spread was absolute fantasy.
We really could do something about but our politicians are cowards. Even here in California, no one wants to make the hard call and ask people to do the hard thing. It’s really disappointing.
Yeah. I thought the governor was strong at first but I feel he capitulated to the pressure and let stuff open way too soon. Same with my BOS. Filed our attestation despite not meeting 2/7 criteria. And the state approved. 🤔
When we were making the decision we were only thinking about safety. When DC2 sat down she actually thought about what it would be like to be at school this year, complete with group bathroom visits, and decided she’d rather stay home.
My son and daughter feel the same way. They both struggle to wear masks for long periods of time and may daughter, who is 10, especially struggles to keep it over her nose effectively. The idea that kids can sit in rows, six feet apart, without snack or recess, and with masks on, for even 3-4 hours a day is… wishful thinking.
Very very well said.
Thank you.
This is exactly what all my teacher/retired teacher friends have been saying on social media. (Including the ones here in Ontario/Canada, where the situation is relatively better than in the U.S., but still not risk free.) I completely agree.
Thank you for your support. I’ve heard some teachers are making the profession as a whole look bad right now, but it’s nice to know that many of them are trying to help parents understand.
This:
“We know that the belief that in-class learning is somehow a far superior option when compared to distance learning, does not take into account the reality of what school will actually be. We know that until we get this virus under control we will not be providing optimal learning experiences at school or with distance learning, but at least with distance learning everyone has a chance to stay safe and healthy.”
I don’t understand why more people don’t get this. The things that were being proposed (with good intentions) by my district were just dystopian and destined to fail. And there are still some parents here (generally privileged, at least middle class white people) who are like “my child needs structure” and I’m just thinking suck it up! At least they’re alive!
I think it’s hard for people to wrap their head around the reality of it. When we went into quarantine four months ago we couldn’t fathom that the virus would still be out of control at the end of July. We held on to the hope of the fall, and built up what it would look like in our minds and now we can’t see the forest for those imaginary trees. They can’t wrap their heads around the reality because they have a different picture in their minds. I get it. I can’t believe we’re doing this either. Our country failed spectacularly at containing this and now we have to face the consequences and I hope more people start projecting their anger where it belongs.
I definitely agree with you.
There’s an article at the Atlantic today that certainly doesn’t help!
Grrr….
And i enjoy reading The Atlantic regularly but the tone of this article just adds further to the mixed up, fucked up discussions that continue to happen around the opening of schools!
Yeah, that article is not very compelling.
“The idea that I might have to continue to work while facilitating another subpar semester of virtual learning is almost too much to bear. Even though COVID-19 cases have spiked where I live in Texas, I want to send my children back to school in the fall. I don’t want to have to repeat the spring, for my kids’ sake and my own. Schools simply need to find a way to make reopening safe.”
But schools simply cannot find a way to reopen safely, at least public schools can’t, and that woman doesn’t suggest any because she knows there aren’t any that would work.
“I’ve been researching the risk of COVID-19 infection or death to children under 18, and it appears to be small. I’m also sympathetic to the risks to teachers. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics urged school systems to reopen this fall, arguing that children are less likely to become infected, show symptoms, or spread the virus.”
Less likely does not mean won’t at all, and kids over 10 actually do spread it quite well, and they represent over half of school aged children.
I get that this sucks. I don’t want to spend more time teaching online while trying to help my own kids. It was hell and it will be hell again. But right now there isn’t an alternative and it’s not teachers’ fault.
(Sorry, I’m realizing this response is more to the article than to you. 😉
Here is the article in case others want to read:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/please-open-schools/614605/
I’m so done with the “I’ve researched this and the risk to kids is small.” Um, schools in the US all closed as the pandemic was just hitting us and most kids have stayed inside. So no one really knows. And the data from other countries is from places that have things under control. So yeah, if there are very very few cases then transmission will be low, bc those kids likely won’t get it themselves since no one has it.
I keep close tabs on my county’s data (like I check every day). Unfortunately they report only 0-17 and don’t break that down further. But there have been 428 positives in that group so far-11% of total in my county. 5 have been hospitalized (2% of hospitalizations). That may seem low to some but I’not taking that risk with my kids. Death are only reported so far as 0-54 (7) and 55+(16) so I don’t know if any kids have died.
Where does it say kids over 10 spread it as well as adults?Looking for the scientific research, specific papers and links pls. This is a really key component of your argument and one that will be in many peoples risk management analysis to send kids back to school, including mine. Thanks
Sorry, I should have linked to that in the post. I went back and added it. Here is one article that talks about the study but there are more:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/18/health/coronavirus-children-schools.html
Thank you.
You are so clear.
I fully agree with you. AND, WE DID NOT NEED TO BE IN THIS POSITION. The lives of our nation’s children did not need to be at risk. We COULD have done what other countries did. We could have really shut down the country for 6 weeks and as the richest country in the world we could have paid full salaries to all people out of work but a group of people with power wanted tax breaks and profits more than living healthy people … particularly when they realized the demographics of who was most impacted. And, we might have prioritized school safety over the need of young and older adults to go to a bar or party without safety precautions.
That wasn’t the path chosen. THIS WAS A PURPOSEFUL AND DELIBERATE CHOICE FOR PERSONAL GAIN.
Today the CA Secty of State sent an email requesting I verify my voter registration and vote by mail address. I did not click on the email link but went to the .gov site on line through an on-line look up. WE ALL need to be checking our registrations routinely and make a paper copy proving when we checked and were registered. All states are facing voter suppression efforts including limiting ballot access in person, limiting vote-by-mail, and erasing at the last minute people from polling lists. Now is time to be prepared, to verify your registration, to learn when your ballot should arrive and get ready to vote the day you get your ballot so you can be sure it is returned in ample time prior to election day. Mail it not from your home mail box or the blue USPS corner collection box but at a post office or carry it to you local county office.
BE safe and stay healthy…….. and for the children of this nation please vote!
Yeah… it’s definitely not safe to go back to in person learning now for most kids in this country. My mind was blown by people insisting that would happen a few weeks ago, and also by people who are like, “AHHHHHHH!!! The coronavirus is out of control!!!” No, politicians and citizens have decided not to control it. That is not the same thing.
I just wish the virtual options involved less than 7 hours a day of screen time, though maybe (I hope I hope I hope!) it won’t be as horrible as I fear. I honestly think that virtual learning could be completely amazing, and a fantastic opportunity for customized education for kids. But you’re right, we don’t value education enough to ever invest in anything like that in either the short run or the long run.
I agree with you completely. It’s not comparable to grocery workers. Grocery shoppers are adults who are usually not there for more than an hour and can wear masks and practice basic hygiene. Transmission is way too high in most of the country to open schools safely. The risk to kids and teachers is just too great, not to mention family members of teachers and students. Maybe in areas where transmission is low (e.g., the northeast) they can open elementary schools and make use of empty middle school and high school space, but still, they need PPE and more staffing to make this work. I am so angry about California’s reopening. Had we kept closed in June, maybe we would be in a much better position to discuss how to open schools, but the governor and some local officials inexplicably decided to prioritize bars and restaurants over families and we are in a horrible situation. This country is so broken. I’m so upset about this.
“And the data from other countries is from places that have things under control.” Ditto Working mom of 2 with this.
So many people keep saying “But X country is opening up schools”. Yes and are we doing even one thing that X country is doing to reduce the spread? NO we are doing the absolute opposite. Maybe it’s because one of my best friends is a teacher but in all our texts about looking at the fall, neither of us can understand why anyone would think that in person learning is so critical if most of the components of in person learning have to change to make the classroom a little less risky. Masks for all, distance for all, no recess for the younger ones, no idea how they’re going to manage the younger ones and consistent masking, no socializing. If you want to set safety for all aside, and I don’t, those other conditions make an already risky proposition even less appealing.
I am glad that more that one of us has made the point that the underserved students must be prioritized if and when we do go back though, because it sounds like our district has heard us and is planning to do so.
We’re going to keep pushing for better solutions than reopening schools willy nilly, because until this country gets its act together, it’s on us to fight for our community: parents, teachers/staff, students and everyone else.
This is the government’s failure, not the teachers’.
I hear you. Thank you so much for posting this – I get so selfishly wrapped up with *my* family and *my* issues that I fail to consider how the teachers may feel.
In addition to known risks of severe symptoms, hospitalization, and death, associated with COVID-19, there is also the issue of long-term organ damage. This is such a new disease, we simply don’t have the data to know whether or not people who recover (even those who were asymptomatic) may end up with health issues years later. Here is a solid study just published on heart damage and related editorial:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768916
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamacardiology/fullarticle/2768915
As much as I want to send our3 kids back to school… this really gave me pause. Most likely, my immediate family would survive coronavirus, but the potential health issues down the road are scary. I just want to know more about it before taking too many risks. There is such dearth of information. Including studies on COVID-19 in kids – if you search medical journals (use pubmed.gov) there is just not much out there yet. Also, beware of studies that have not been peer-reviewed (meaning they have not been critically reviewed by experts and may be a bunch of rubbish, anyway).
What a great post! I think you nailed it!!! Of course teachers know what it takes to educate our kids and they know this is a terrible way to do it. Why not stop focusing on this holy grail and instead focus on doing some really good distance learning and finding a way to give extra support to the kids who are really in need? Can I share this? I would love it if the mayor of Chicago and the health commissioner would read this. You rock!
You can share this with whomever you’d like. Thank you for reading.
Great post, and I appreciate hearing your perspective. I am eager for my sons to return to a physical classroom for instruction — I think it would benefit them for a number of reasons — but I don’t think that teachers should be expected to literally risk their lives so that they can do so.
I’m not sure how widely this is being shared outside of Georgia (where I live and this occurred), but if you haven’t read it, I suggest you do (scary!) – outbreak at a camp showed a high attack rate among participants (44% overall). Broken down by age, the attack rate was 51% among those aged 6–10 years, 44% among those aged 11–17 years, and 33% among those aged 18–21 years.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6931e1.htm?fbclid=IwAR2E4dawGCd4zXC6Xh-SMwZCViB0Mtw6Sr6Tp_zQyDRxtBk-FDQj8NGJt40
My kiddos will definitely be home with me for the foreseeable future.
We are watching plans get walked back here…and I am both relieved and sad. I wish my university would do the same, realizing it’s a fool’s errand to open with just the staff there, putting our/their (more so dining and facilities) lives at risk.
Just popping in to say I’m glad you’ve had such a great response to this post. I feel for my US teacher friends who are facing this – both in terms of decisions about their own kids, and the idea that they might be forced to teach in a classroom. You guys are going through a terrible time in the US. Kia kaha (stay strong). Sending love.