I'm so tired of the "think of the teachers and administrators" rhetoric on every thread.

[Anonymous]

I work in first grade. Kids sneeze in my face. Kids pick their noses. Parents give kids Tylenol and send their kids to school (they are terrible secret keepers.) first graders have little regard for personal space. This is why we are scared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sick and tired of parents saying that schools should be the only institutions to open up at full capacity without any infection control protocols in place. Parents aren’t special. If you can’t care for your children, then you should surrender them.
See how that works both ways?

Nobody said anything about them doing back without any infection control protocols. The discourse I am hearing as that pretty much nothing will be acceptable to teachers no matter what the protocols are. They want 100% DL or nothing.

There have been numerous articles showing data that kids not only don't spread it to each other but don't spread it to adults.

Districts are all putting loopholes in the language about precautions so they can shrug innocently when the first day of school rolls around and there’s almost nothing in place. I expect to receive a “cute” cloth masks with a cheesy teaching theme print, a single large bottle of sanitizer, and class rosters of 30-35 students, plus my advisory and home room above 35 students.

If only there were something you could do, using materials you already have anyway, if you considered the employer-provided masks to be inadequate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody is forcing teachers to go back to work. They are at will employees just like everyone else.

So you are too scared to come back? Don't go back. Of course that means you don't get paid. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

This. Kids need to go back to school and to get a meaningful education - not the sham that MCPS has provided over the past three months.

They’ll get meaningful lessons from the brand new subs hired to replace ill teachers. If you used to run a kiosk at the mall, you are now qualified to be the warm body in a second grade classroom for the rest of the year. DCUM is fine with that, but wait until a 22 year old former health club desk attendant is “teaching“ AP Lit because the experienced teacher has RA, was on immunosuppressive therapy, caught the virus, and is out the rest of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sick and tired of parents saying that schools should be the only institutions to open up at full capacity without any infection control protocols in place. Parents aren’t special. If you can’t care for your children, then you should surrender them.
See how that works both ways?

Nobody said anything about them doing back without any infection control protocols. The discourse I am hearing as that pretty much nothing will be acceptable to teachers no matter what the protocols are. They want 100% DL or nothing.

There have been numerous articles showing data that kids not only don't spread it to each other but don't spread it to adults.

Districts are all putting loopholes in the language about precautions so they can shrug innocently when the first day of school rolls around and there’s almost nothing in place. I expect to receive a “cute” cloth masks with a cheesy teaching theme print, a single large bottle of sanitizer, and class rosters of 30-35 students, plus my advisory and home room above 35 students.

If only there were something you could do, using materials you already have anyway, if you considered the employer-provided masks to be inadequate.

Why should teachers —once again— pay out of their own pockets for materials needed for work. Maybe we should make cops buy their own bullets?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sick and tired of parents saying that schools should be the only institutions to open up at full capacity without any infection control protocols in place. Parents aren’t special. If you can’t care for your children, then you should surrender them.
See how that works both ways?

Nobody said anything about them doing back without any infection control protocols. The discourse I am hearing as that pretty much nothing will be acceptable to teachers no matter what the protocols are. They want 100% DL or nothing.

There have been numerous articles showing data that kids not only don't spread it to each other but don't spread it to adults.

Districts are all putting loopholes in the language about precautions so they can shrug innocently when the first day of school rolls around and there’s almost nothing in place. I expect to receive a “cute” cloth masks with a cheesy teaching theme print, a single large bottle of sanitizer, and class rosters of 30-35 students, plus my advisory and home room above 35 students.

If only there were something you could do, using materials you already have anyway, if you considered the employer-provided masks to be inadequate.

Why should teachers —once again— pay out of their own pockets for materials needed for work. Maybe we should make cops buy their own bullets?

You don't have to pay out of your own pocket. All you have to do is wear the masks you already have.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody is forcing teachers to go back to work. They are at will employees just like everyone else.

So you are too scared to come back? Don't go back. Of course that means you don't get paid. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

This. Kids need to go back to school and to get a meaningful education - not the sham that MCPS has provided over the past three months.

They’ll get meaningful lessons from the brand new subs hired to replace ill teachers. If you used to run a kiosk at the mall, you are now qualified to be the warm body in a second grade classroom for the rest of the year. DCUM is fine with that, but wait until a 22 year old former health club desk attendant is “teaching“ AP Lit because the experienced teacher has RA, was on immunosuppressive therapy, caught the virus, and is out the rest of the year.

The experienced teacher on immunosuppressive therapy would have an accommodation and wouldn't be in the classroom.

Also, what's with using "former health club desk attendant" as a sign of being unqualified? Plenty of qualified people have had a range of work experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sick and tired of parents saying that schools should be the only institutions to open up at full capacity without any infection control protocols in place. Parents aren’t special. If you can’t care for your children, then you should surrender them.
See how that works both ways?

Nobody said anything about them doing back without any infection control protocols. The discourse I am hearing as that pretty much nothing will be acceptable to teachers no matter what the protocols are. They want 100% DL or nothing.

There have been numerous articles showing data that kids not only don't spread it to each other but don't spread it to adults.

Districts are all putting loopholes in the language about precautions so they can shrug innocently when the first day of school rolls around and there’s almost nothing in place. I expect to receive a “cute” cloth masks with a cheesy teaching theme print, a single large bottle of sanitizer, and class rosters of 30-35 students, plus my advisory and home room above 35 students.

If only there were something you could do, using materials you already have anyway, if you considered the employer-provided masks to be inadequate.

Why should teachers —once again— pay out of their own pockets for materials needed for work. Maybe we should make cops buy their own bullets?

You don't have to pay out of your own pocket. All you have to do is wear the masks you already have.

Please. Teaching is notoriously a profession where you are expected to purchase all the supplies necessary to do your job. It won't just be a rotating cadre of masks, it will be: sanitizer, paper towels, the bleach you use when the kids aren't in the room, the "green" spray you use when they are, hand soap to send to the bathroom with your students. All of this stuff runs out quickly when you are washing thirty sets of hands, wiping down thirty desks multiple times a day, wiping door knobs and switches, wiping computer keyboards, cleaning manipulative, etc. This is on top of all the classroom supplies ($1,000+ every year, not tax deductible-thanks Trump!) that we already fund.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody is forcing teachers to go back to work. They are at will employees just like everyone else.

So you are too scared to come back? Don't go back. Of course that means you don't get paid. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

This. Kids need to go back to school and to get a meaningful education - not the sham that MCPS has provided over the past three months.

They’ll get meaningful lessons from the brand new subs hired to replace ill teachers. If you used to run a kiosk at the mall, you are now qualified to be the warm body in a second grade classroom for the rest of the year. DCUM is fine with that, but wait until a 22 year old former health club desk attendant is “teaching“ AP Lit because the experienced teacher has RA, was on immunosuppressive therapy, caught the virus, and is out the rest of the year.

The experienced teacher on immunosuppressive therapy would have an accommodation and wouldn't be in the classroom.

Also, what's with using "former health club desk attendant" as a sign of being unqualified? Plenty of qualified people have had a range of work experiences.

You keep say this, but I’m 48 with RA and in immunosuppressive therapy and have not been offered anything. Wouldn’t they want to start making those offers now before July 1?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sick and tired of parents saying that schools should be the only institutions to open up at full capacity without any infection control protocols in place. Parents aren’t special. If you can’t care for your children, then you should surrender them.
See how that works both ways?

Nobody said anything about them doing back without any infection control protocols. The discourse I am hearing as that pretty much nothing will be acceptable to teachers no matter what the protocols are. They want 100% DL or nothing.

There have been numerous articles showing data that kids not only don't spread it to each other but don't spread it to adults.

Districts are all putting loopholes in the language about precautions so they can shrug innocently when the first day of school rolls around and there’s almost nothing in place. I expect to receive a “cute” cloth masks with a cheesy teaching theme print, a single large bottle of sanitizer, and class rosters of 30-35 students, plus my advisory and home room above 35 students.

If only there were something you could do, using materials you already have anyway, if you considered the employer-provided masks to be inadequate.

Why should teachers —once again— pay out of their own pockets for materials needed for work. Maybe we should make cops buy their own bullets?

You don't have to pay out of your own pocket. All you have to do is wear the masks you already have.

What if teachers don’t already own washable cloth masks? I don’t. I have a couple boxes of N95 that we share as a family of four. We reuse the masks until they get gross, but the truth is that we sheltered in place largely. Those masks would go much faster with daily use.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody is forcing teachers to go back to work. They are at will employees just like everyone else.

So you are too scared to come back? Don't go back. Of course that means you don't get paid. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

This. Kids need to go back to school and to get a meaningful education - not the sham that MCPS has provided over the past three months.

They’ll get meaningful lessons from the brand new subs hired to replace ill teachers. If you used to run a kiosk at the mall, you are now qualified to be the warm body in a second grade classroom for the rest of the year. DCUM is fine with that, but wait until a 22 year old former health club desk attendant is “teaching“ AP Lit because the experienced teacher has RA, was on immunosuppressive therapy, caught the virus, and is out the rest of the year.

The experienced teacher on immunosuppressive therapy would have an accommodation and wouldn't be in the classroom.

Also, what's with using "former health club desk attendant" as a sign of being unqualified? Plenty of qualified people have had a range of work experiences.

You keep say this, but I’m 48 with RA and in immunosuppressive therapy and have not been offered anything. Wouldn’t they want to start making those offers now before July 1?

Of course you haven't been offered anything, because MCPS doesn't know what's going to happen on August 31 yet, because NOBODY knows. Would it be good to make those offers of accommodation before July 1? Yes, of course. Is it a failure that they haven't? No. Does it mean that there won't be any offers of accommodation? No. The ADA requires MCPS to offer accommodation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What if teachers don’t already own washable cloth masks? I don’t. I have a couple boxes of N95 that we share as a family of four. We reuse the masks until they get gross, but the truth is that we sheltered in place largely. Those masks would go much faster with daily use.

Oh good grief. I am sure that you will be able to figure something out. Wear the masks provided by the school. Buy your family some cloth masks, which you will need anyway. Reuse your gross N95 masks. I don't care. Just don't insist that schools must stay closed because masks are an insuperable obstacle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get it they are "scared" they didn't "sign up for this".

It's BS. Kids have never been germ free. If you are that scared and fragile you shouldn't have ever chosen to work directly with kids from the get go.

Once my company returns to the office we don't get to say we don't feel safe. You either come back or you get a new job. Simple.

If your job now feels unsafe to you then you get a new job-it's not your employers job to coddle you.

We all have to choose a level of risk we are comfortable with. And if you are not comfortable with the risk then that's a personal decision, not a decision that should effect everyone else.

I'm just so tired of it. The idea that we are looking at DL in the fall seems to be directly related to all these teachers and staff that continually go on about how they don't feel safe.

Yeah, it’s real tough when the world no longer revolves around your needs, isn’t it?

Since when have the schools decisions EVER revolved around parents? And why should this decision only revolve around staff needs?

The decision most definitely does NOT revolve ONLY around staff needs. There are many more parts of the decision and that is just one of them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

What if teachers don’t already own washable cloth masks? I don’t. I have a couple boxes of N95 that we share as a family of four. We reuse the masks until they get gross, but the truth is that we sheltered in place largely. Those masks would go much faster with daily use.

Oh good grief. I am sure that you will be able to figure something out. Wear the masks provided by the school. Buy your family some cloth masks, which you will need anyway. Reuse your gross N95 masks. I don't care. Just don't insist that schools must stay closed because masks are an insuperable obstacle.

+1. Is the PP going to SIP forever? Once she and her family start going out into the world again, which they'll eventually have to (unless they would rather keep paying others to take the risk of visiting a grocery store for them), they'll need masks like they need clothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nobody is forcing teachers to go back to work. They are at will employees just like everyone else.

So you are too scared to come back? Don't go back. Of course that means you don't get paid. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

I don't know why people keep assuming that when teachers say they won't return that they assume it's a paid leave. They are talking about quitting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If schools open without very strict protocols, adults working in the buildings will be FAR MORE EXPOSED than you or the average working adult, OP. Teachers in the NY public school system died because schools closed too late.

Shame on you. If you are so moronic as to misunderstand the level of risk involved, don't whine about "being so tired".
Everyone is tired of this pandemic!

Accept that some adults have been more exposed than you, or will be more exposed than you, and that a pandemic involves caring for others and making sure they're as safe as they can be. A novel concept for you, it seems.

You guys really come on here and say anything...

Average working adult jobs with just as much exposure as school employees:

Me- medical field (have not stopped working)
Grocery store
Retail
Combination (target/Walmart)
Gas station employee
Fast food industry (drive thru window)
Law enforcement/ public safety
bus drivers

See? Took 2 minutes just for those.

It's different for teachers due to the length of exposure. I am in a classroom with 2-4 other adults (SPED) and my students for at least a two hour block twice a day (breaks for specials and recess.) All of those jobs are risky but for most it is a short duration of exposure to any given person. I am hoping to go back in August but I am definitely worried. I already have masks and have been buying hand sanitizer whenever I go to the store.