Why are most teachers too scared to return to in person teaching, but most parents want schools open

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08/10/2020 01:19

Subject: Re:Why are most teachers too scared to return to in person teaching, but most parents want schools open

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Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My job is much harder to do at home. It’s hard enough to do at school. I live with my mom who is not in great health. So I’ll do much more work in order to keep her safe.

Ok, but parents are just as likely to have a vulnerable family member living with them, as teachers, yet survey after survey shows the vast majority of parents want schools to reopen and the vast majority of teachers want schools virtual. Since there is no reason to think teachers are more naturally cautious than the public at large, I think it’s safe to assume that there something else at play here

The only survey data I've seen has been FCPS and MCPS. In both of those parents and teachers were both divided relatively close to 50/50, just in the opposite direction. Slightly more than 50% of parents chose hybrid, and slightly more than 50% of teachers chose DL, but there were no "vast majorities". There was enough of a difference that it was one factor complicating the hybrid model, but it wasn't a vast difference.

I think there are a few things here that account for the difference in selection rates.

1) Many teachers are parents. Given hybrid learning, I wonder if most parents, given the choice to work from home or to work from their work place, would choose the latter. I'm guessing not. So, some teachers are going to be motivated by the same thing, the need to provide safety and supervision for their own kids.

2) I'm not sure that it's true that teachers and parents are equally likely to have high risk family members. In my experience as a teacher, my colleagues are, on average, older than my students' parents.

3) I'm a teacher (although I have a position that is 100% DL for this year, in part because of 2 very high risk household members), but when I think about what the teachers at my school are being told, which is that they can quarantine/isolate once for themselves at full pay, and once for themselves or a kid at 2/3 pay, but beyond that they won't be paid unless they have saved leave. I have 3 school aged kids, and no saved leave as I'm returning from maternity leave. I can't imagine that if we all returned to school, I wouldn't have to quarantine at least once for each kid when there was an exposure in my class. So, knowing that I was choosing between getting paid all year, or almost certainly having leave at 2/3 pay and leave without pay, would weigh into my choice.

4) We've seen how the sausage is made. I'm a special ed teacher. I have a lot of confidence in my ability to teach my kids to follow social distancing protocols and keep their masks on. I also know that there will be times when kids will need hands on support, and that support will come from me, not peers. For example, I have students with CP who won't be able to adjust a droopy mask, or put it back on after eating, and that would fall to me if I was in the classroom. So, I'm not sure I agree with the logic that the kids are more likely to get it than I am. I also have zero confidence in my school's ability to keep bathrooms stocked with soap and paper towels, and to have ventilation systems that work, and other things, because I have years of memories of bringing my own soap to work, and dealing with vermin infestations, and having it be 100 degrees in my classroom in February to undermine my confidence.

Say whatever you want, but there’s no doubt that a lot of teachers who are answering g on surveys that they don’t want to go back, just don’t want to go back. This is the same for every other profession. Most people prefer working from home. Why assume teachers are different from anyone else. We’ll never know what percentage is truly afraid and what percentage just like the convenience of being home. But my hunch is that a significant number are highly motivated by the convenience of staying home.