Anyone listen to this week's this American Life? It is terrifying what school closures has done

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to do shoulda coulda woulda on who opened schools and when, surely you also have to pull in the death rates, no?

DC has HALF the per capita death rate of Mississippi, Arizona, and Alabama.

I don't think anybody is arguing that virtual school is great. The choice was never "in person or virtual school, which is better." The choice was "virtual school or killing grandma, which is better."

This has nothing to do with school openings. It has to do with vaccination rates, communal living, and adherence to masking / distancing. Look at the myriad Catholic, Episcopalian, and other independent schools that remained open to no ill effect. We had Elrich and his former health department trying to shut down these schools instead of applying lessons learned to public schools. It was and is a great tragedy.

The kids in those private schools lived with their parents who worked from home. Their home bubble transferred to a school bubble. Not all kids have parents who got to stay at home. When my Title One school reopened last spring, we barely had any parents wanting to send their kids back in person. Why? They had a lot of deaths and Covid illnesses in their families. Covid was something to be scared of because they saw it firsthand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

No. Not even close, but keep saying it anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

No. Not even close, but keep saying it anyway.

I agree, and I’m a teacher. I went back in September 2020 because I teach at a private school. My own child was home most of the year, often left to his own devices. He was old enough to manage technology and work independently, and my partner was able to work from home, so we were lucky. However, my child didn’t do nearly as well as the students in my school, either academically or emotionally. The kids I teach struggled too, but not to nearly the same extent as my own child. I definitely consider teachers to be vital, and I consider education to be a vital part of society. I am a Democrat too, and I think we got this wrong.

[Anonymous]

Pp here and I quoted the wrong thing. That should be “I agree that teachers are vital.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you want to do shoulda coulda woulda on who opened schools and when, surely you also have to pull in the death rates, no?

DC has HALF the per capita death rate of Mississippi, Arizona, and Alabama.

I don't think anybody is arguing that virtual school is great. The choice was never "in person or virtual school, which is better." The choice was "virtual school or killing grandma, which is better."

This has nothing to do with school openings. It has to do with vaccination rates, communal living, and adherence to masking / distancing. Look at the myriad Catholic, Episcopalian, and other independent schools that remained open to no ill effect. We had Elrich and his former health department trying to shut down these schools instead of applying lessons learned to public schools. It was and is a great tragedy.

The kids in those private schools lived with their parents who worked from home. Their home bubble transferred to a school bubble. Not all kids have parents who got to stay at home. When my Title One school reopened last spring, we barely had any parents wanting to send their kids back in person. Why? They had a lot of deaths and Covid illnesses in their families. Covid was something to be scared of because they saw it firsthand.

Did that fear cause them to wear masks indoors when sick and to avoid indoor unmasked social gatherings with non-family members? Or was school with masks the only scary space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

grocery store workers, Lowe's workers, ABC store workers... They all stayed on the job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

No. Not even close, but keep saying it anyway.

I agree, and I’m a teacher. I went back in September 2020 because I teach at a private school. My own child was home most of the year, often left to his own devices. He was old enough to manage technology and work independently, and my partner was able to work from home, so we were lucky. However, my child didn’t do nearly as well as the students in my school, either academically or emotionally. The kids I teach struggled too, but not to nearly the same extent as my own child. I definitely consider teachers to be vital, and I consider education to be a vital part of society. I am a Democrat too, and I think we got this wrong.

Appreciate your calm perspective on this tricky subject, but I don’t know if it really serves to say if we got it right or wrong. I think we clearly got it wrong BUT I would do the same with the same information next time, bc the consequences could’ve literally been life or death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

grocery store workers, Lowe's workers, ABC store workers... They all stayed on the job.

The difference between those people and teachers is teachers have college degrees and other options. We also tend to be married, most of us to non-teachers. Do you have any clue how many of us would have summarily quit if forced to go back prior to vaccines? We can easily live on my spouse’s income, as is the case edit many of my coworkers. And there isn’t some deep bench of non working teachers waiting in the wings. There was already a teacher shortage before Covid. So your pouting and foot stomping is irrelevant.

[Anonymous]

I'm a teacher and it is terrifying. I see it each day. There is something that schools do for children and for families that is an absolute need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

grocery store workers, Lowe's workers, ABC store workers... They all stayed on the job.

The difference between those people and teachers is teachers have college degrees and other options. We also tend to be married, most of us to non-teachers. Do you have any clue how many of us would have summarily quit if forced to go back prior to vaccines? We can easily live on my spouse’s income, as is the case edit many of my coworkers. And there isn’t some deep bench of non working teachers waiting in the wings. There was already a teacher shortage before Covid. So your pouting and foot stomping is irrelevant.

You aren’t the only essential workers with college degrees who were asked to stay on the job, not the only ones married. Again, health professionals, professionals in nursing homes and hospice, police, military. The list goes on. All of whom stayed on knowing how vital their roles were even though there was risk.

As for staffing shortages, privates didn’t see teachers refusing to work, and no they aren’t always paid more - often base pay in privates is less than in public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

grocery store workers, Lowe's workers, ABC store workers... They all stayed on the job.

The difference between those people and teachers is teachers have college degrees and other options. We also tend to be married, most of us to non-teachers. Do you have any clue how many of us would have summarily quit if forced to go back prior to vaccines? We can easily live on my spouse’s income, as is the case edit many of my coworkers. And there isn’t some deep bench of non working teachers waiting in the wings. There was already a teacher shortage before Covid. So your pouting and foot stomping is irrelevant.

Many school districts across the country DID stay open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

grocery store workers, Lowe's workers, ABC store workers... They all stayed on the job.

The difference between those people and teachers is teachers have college degrees and other options. We also tend to be married, most of us to non-teachers. Do you have any clue how many of us would have summarily quit if forced to go back prior to vaccines? We can easily live on my spouse’s income, as is the case edit many of my coworkers. And there isn’t some deep bench of non working teachers waiting in the wings. There was already a teacher shortage before Covid. So your pouting and foot stomping is irrelevant.

Many school districts across the country DID stay open.

Most were not wealthy areas. I have an attorney husband and two kids myself. If we’d been forced back without vaccines, I would have just taken a year LOA, as would a huge chunk of my coworkers. This is why the counties didn’t force it - they knew they couldn’t staff it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is thread is wildly self righteous. As a teacher I hate to tell you that I would do the exact same thing the next time a deadly pandemic came through. I was back as soon as we could get vaccinated but wasn't going to risk my life for my work. Obviously we learned later that some measures weren't needed during Covid, but I'd much prefer being more cautious than aggressive when it comes to my life.

Seriously. I don’t see any of these folks volunteering to teach. Many of them STILL don’t go into their offices!

Teachers are vital, just like police, fire, health professionals - all of whom stayed on the job.

grocery store workers, Lowe's workers, ABC store workers... They all stayed on the job.

The difference between those people and teachers is teachers have college degrees and other options. We also tend to be married, most of us to non-teachers. Do you have any clue how many of us would have summarily quit if forced to go back prior to vaccines? We can easily live on my spouse’s income, as is the case edit many of my coworkers. And there isn’t some deep bench of non working teachers waiting in the wings. There was already a teacher shortage before Covid. So your pouting and foot stomping is irrelevant.

Many school districts across the country DID stay open.

Most were not wealthy areas. I have an attorney husband and two kids myself. If we’d been forced back without vaccines, I would have just taken a year LOA, as would a huge chunk of my coworkers. This is why the counties didn’t force it - they knew they couldn’t staff it.

How do you explain public wealthy districts in NJ, NY and MA who did stay open? It was the wealthiest districts there that went hybrid or stayed open five mornings a week etc in the height of the pandemic, not the ones closer in to the cities that stayed close through the 2021-22 year.