SFUSD just announced their recommended “return to school” plan to the board and it will be distance learning for at least the first two months.
My school district is still planning to return to the classroom in the fall, despite the fact that community spread is worse, and the death rate is higher, in San Mateo County, than in San Francisco (which is weirdly a city AND county).
This means I am eligible to take Families First Coronavirus Relief Act leave up to 12 weeks at 2/3rd my pay.
So why in the world wouldn’t I do that?
Well, as is always the case with taking leave from one’s job, it’s complicated.
I am very reticent to take off entirely for any length of time, so I highly doubt I will do that. If I’m not working, my students will not be getting Spanish at all (there is no way they will hire a sub) and if it’s find for students not to learn Spanish for a couple months, it should be fine indefinitely, right? As an elective teacher at the middle school level, I need to take into account the long term stability of my position. I’m tenured and have seniority, but I am not guaranteed my position (teaching Spanish at my school), only a position at my current FTE that can be taught with my credential (which is why I keep my multiple subject credential valid – so they can’t just get rid of Spanish and let me go because I can’t teach anything else). If I want to protect my position, I should definitely be teaching Spanish remotely.
That doesn’t mean I can’t request FFCRA leave at all. I believe I can request it for part time coverage of my job. If I use FFCRA leave to not work the four mornings a week we are currently required to be at school, that would be ideal.
It’s still a hard choice though. If I don’t come into work in the mornings, my school is down one teacher, and every teacher is incredibly important when you’re trying to keep the number of students in each group down. While I don’t appreciate that the parents, board, and superintendent, want us back in the classroom, it’s not my principal’s fault and she is ultimately the one who has to make it work at our site. I don’t like the idea of letting her down.
At the same time, I believe the ROI of middle school students getting just six hours of classroom time a week is not worth the risks we are taking to provide it. I understand taking risks to get elementary students into the classroom 12 hours a week (an A group would come every morning for three hours and a B group would come every afternoon for three hours, four times a week); that ROI makes sense to me. Bringing two separate groups of 350 middle schoolers on campus just two times a week (on an A/B schedule) for just six hours of non-content-specific instruction, does not seem like a smart use of human capital or resources. So in that sense, I don’t feel so bad about requesting the leave, because I don’t think what we’re accomplishing in the classroom – at the middle school level – is worth the risks and use of resources at all.
This may all be a mute point anyway, because evidently employers can reject requests to use FFCRA leave when it is requested for childcare. If my district CAN reject my request, it most certainly will. The have been rejecting requests for leave that are written into our own contract for years and they always have some reason they feel is legitimate (usually a lack of funding). I’m sure they can find a reason now, during a pandemic.
If I can request the part time leave, I will consult with my union and probably do it. If the district wants to refuse it they can, but I want them to be very aware that they are telling me: no, you cannot stay home and care for your children, you have to be here, risking your health and safety to appease the parents of this community.
I know things could still change, and with community spread in San Mateo County on the rise maybe they will. There are still five weeks until students in my district are supposed to return to the classroom, and if this pandemic has taught me anything it’s that A LOT can change in five weeks. I’m going to plan for going back to the classroom while my kids learn at home, because that is what I’m being told will happen. And honestly, even if I get to stay home, I will be required to teach a lot more via “live” zoom meetings, while pushing less asynchronous work, which means I’ll have way less flexibility to help my kids during their school hours than I did in the spring. I will need a lot more support to make this work in either scenario.
No matter where I’m teaching in the fall, it’s going to be really difficult. At least I can be sure of that…
I’ve been thinking about the point you made regarding having novelty to look forward to and feeling distant from your spouse even though you see more of them, since I feel similarly a lot of the time. I also do basically all the emotional / relationship maintenance labor in our relationship, which if I think about it too hard makes me really angry and upset (grrrrrrr…. thinking about it right now). I actually did NOT find the Jessica Grose article helpful for tips on making it better – she had no suggestions!! But it does help to know that I’m not alone in my feelings, so thank you for linking and sharing your own experiences as well.
Solidarity.
I also can’t think too hard about the fact that I do most (I want to say all, but that is probably not accurate) of the emotional labor in my marriage, or I get ragey. My go-to cycle is to
1. Do all the emotional labor for a long time.
2. Get really resentful about it.
3. Bring it up in a halfhearted way that isn’t very productive.
4. Be sulky for a couple of days, expecting him to say something about it.
5. Start a fight about it that is totally unproductive.
6. Feel bad for perpetuating the cycle and finally starting a more productive conversation about it.
7. Watch as nothing changes in the long term.
Lather, rinse, repeat.
I finally got to a point where I realized that my husband will NEVER take on the emotional labor in the ways I want him to, so I’ve learned to better service myself emotionally and physically and, and to change my expectations. It has helped tame the cycle mentioned above so that it happens less frequently and with less vitriol, but it still happens. I don’t know what the answer is. Our whole culture needs to change for most men to really step up in this capacity and I don’t see that happening any time soon.
Hoping 5 weeks creates change now that some counties have been re-shut. WIshfully all of Bay Area counties develop and maintain estimated R projections below .75. Right now San Mateo is running just a tiny bit above at 1.11, San Francisco is 1.4. Estimated R being projection/estimations of number of new cases each sick person generates on average. Below 1 helps move towards running out of new cases.
Unfortunately looking at he graphs counties move ALOT over these numbers, and Since San Mateo didn’t (yet) fall on the Governor’s SHUT IT BACK DOWN AGAIN list, there is experiential evidence San Mateo’s R may go back up again and then the district will need to readjust, again, their plan. Yes, I routinely think of you and check the San Mateo numbers in addition to those (3) counties where my family members live.
It is VERY difficult. And complex decision/planning. Is your mom still working? Might she be safely able to do some additional supervision of your children & school work? I think you are considering correctly the implications of requesting leave and the probability of it being approved and the long term implications for a Spanish program at your school.
Can your windows open at school? Can you get one of those plastic face shields to wear over mask. Will masks be required by state and enforced by school district?
You HAVING to work at school would really shift the childcare/schoolwork issues to your husband. That must be another HUGE stress in your family. Wish I thought it would help you.
VERY hard times. If I lived in Modoc County CA (zero zip cases ever) it would be easier to send children to school……. right now. But I don’t think any on here have that freedom.
WEAR MASKS. VOTE. We didn’t have to ended up in this situation. New Zealand didn’t.
I don’t understand what happened in SF. It seems so sudden. I thought it stayed pretty shut down so I am surprised the R0 is creeping up. I guess it can’t stay shut off from the rest of the state. What a tragedy.
Wow I didn’t know employers could deny a ffcra request ( other than for lack of documentation). That sucks.
My school board just voted last night to go all online until at least Oct. Thank goodness. Teachers were overwhelmingly against returning to school, with good reason. We all know distance learning isn’t ideal but these aren’t normal times.
I’m glad your district is doing what you want, and that now you know and can plan accordingly.
My district is going 5 days/5 hours for students, teachers have a regular full contract day. My kiddos are in a different district and will have 5 days/5 hours but will get out 2 hours before I can get home. Instead of sending them to before and after care we are making changes. My husband is going to go into work later and work later so he can drop them off when school starts instead of before care. My in-laws and parents are picking our twins up from the bus after school and watching them. We decided our youngest will not go to preschool but return to the in home day care he has always attended 3 days a week, my mother in law watches him the other two days.
This could all change and I am preparing to go completely remote. In both districts students have the option to go remote, so I am waiting to see if I will be teaching a remote class during one of my class periods.
Thinking of you as you navigate the craziness of the upcoming school year as a teacher and parent.