COVID teacher questions
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Anonymous
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I’m new to MCPS this year and mad they got rid of the extra COVID leave after I signed a contract. I have 2 kids so I know I could have used it. One of my kids and myself started having fevers today. Yesterday, I had a student email me to say he was out with COVID through Mo day and needed his missing assignments. I last saw him in class on Wednesday with over 50 other students in a room without working AC. What happens next? My rapid test is negative and just scheduled an appointment for Sameday testing.
Why didn’t the school alert me about a positive case in my class? Now I wonder about all the other kids that are already out sick. Who is making sure this kid wears a mask upon his return to school? If I have COVID, who’s making sure I mask upon return? It just seems like it’s going to be a big cluster that could have been prevented. I literally just got my first paycheck and now I’m sick. If this is COVID I am definitely filing worker’s comp. My room was 78 degrees without students. I complained about it and they brought in a little box fan. |
Anonymous
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This must be a troll, right?
If not, then the OP should definitely hire an expensive lawyer about that workers comp claim… |
Anonymous
| What were you expecting? A large school without masking, testing or other precautions. Feel better. |
Anonymous
| 50 students in a class? Chorus? |
Anonymous
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OP, you need to bring a HEPA filter into the classroom with you, regardless of the school's HVAC status.
Are you surprised you caught covid in a classroom where no-one was masked? |
Anonymous
| Were you masked? I wore a kn95 all last year and I worked closely with small kids who regularly coughed in my face and I didn't get sick at all. Note I'm not masking this year, but if/when I get sick I won't be blaming the world. |
Anonymous
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You still have sick leave, just not bonus sick leave for covid. If you burn through your sick leave, you still have the union sick leave bank.
https://www.mceanea.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/10/Sick-Leave-Bank-Rules.pdf |
Anonymous
Well, yes. But she is brand new to the county which means she’s probably accrued about 2 days of leave at this point. OP, you are able to take sick leave before you’ve “earned” it all. It will just come out of the time you would earn on the next pay cycles. As for the sick leave bank, you have to exhaust all of your own leave first and then can apply. It is difficult to accrue leave during your first couple of years and when you have young children. As for who is responsible for communicating/masking/etc. You already know the answer, you are. Feel better. |
Anonymous
The sick leave bank won’t help here. 1. OP is too new in the county and 2. It doesn’t kick in until 30 consecutive days after your first day of illness. |
Anonymous
+1. Anticipate being responsible for just about anything you want to be done right. |
Anonymous
| This sounds terrible and I do empathize with the fact that you are put in an impossible position and unsupported. Just wanted to point out, though, that if your child in your household has a fever too, and your rapid isn’t showing up positive yet, it’s likely your child is patient zero and infected you, not the student at your school. I know that doesn’t change anything about the challenge you find yourself in, but you can’t know for sure you became sick at work. |
Anonymous
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I am pretty sure that you can negative on leave if you need more than two days. It will be be filled back in as you work for each pay period.
Also look into FMLA if you need to cover sick children. Obviously not as useful as paid leave though. |
Anonymous
| You have the option to protect yourself and wear a good mask. |
Anonymous
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You don’t need a positive test. If you have a fever, do not go in!
I am a teacher who spent the full last week home with Covid. I hated using 4 days of leave within the first couple of weeks of school, but it is what it is. Plus, I was way too sick to consider going in. Even though I felt horrible, I felt worse about the coverage nightmares my school had to deal with due to me being out. Instead of focusing on the unfairness, work on sub plans. Your school will thank you! |
Anonymous
| Grow up. I had Covid a few weeks ago and world kept going. |