APS - why are teachers so terrified?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

I work for a covid vaccine company. Our researchers working on covid have been in person the whole time and vaccinated employees are 100% expected to be back in the office with masks. It's literally a company run by scientists.

By the time you multiple the APS measures with the vaccine, the risk really is negligible. That's where you're wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are afraid because opening schools is a political move dictated by irate parents, and the administration always sides with parents over teachers so when you mask non compliance they know it won’t be handled in their favor.

Also, she may been reading about B117 which they believe spreads more easily among children and is more deadly.

ridiculous post - irate parents?? it's been almost a year for this poor 2nd grade student to not set foot in a classroom. get a clue.

I didn’t know that virus could read calendars and knows it’s time to go. I mean our new cases at just now down to the April peak.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/us/arlington-virginia-covid-cases.html

The availability of test now as compared to last April is completely different. If you want to compare impact over time you have to look at hospitalizations. Here's NOVA:

That’s also weighted by outbreaks in nursing homes vs today. In truth we don’t know where we are except we have enough spread we can’t contact trace.

This

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this young, healthy, vaccinated teacher should steer clear of any public places like grocery stores, restaurants, bars, etc.. this is shameful.

Sounds like she would be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

The “not 100%” is what I don’t understand. There is literally nothing 100% risk free.

I don’t think anyone expects it to be 100%. Way to miss the forest for a single acorn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

I work for a covid vaccine company. Our researchers working on covid have been in person the whole time and vaccinated employees are 100% expected to be back in the office with masks. It's literally a company run by scientists.

By the time you multiple the APS measures with the vaccine, the risk really is negligible. That's where you're wrong.

Except that your staff is entirely vaccinated. These children aren’t. And our parents are not keeping the kids apart. And most of the kids aren’t wearing masks when they’re together outside of school. it’s not the same situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

I work for a covid vaccine company. Our researchers working on covid have been in person the whole time and vaccinated employees are 100% expected to be back in the office with masks. It's literally a company run by scientists.

By the time you multiple the APS measures with the vaccine, the risk really is negligible. That's where you're wrong.

Except that your staff is entirely vaccinated. These children aren’t. And our parents are not keeping the kids apart. And most of the kids aren’t wearing masks when they’re together outside of school. it’s not the same situation.

Also I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be in. Who can work and feels confident in the situation should absolutely be in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand, either. I don't understand why a parent, after hearing one young, inexperienced teacher talk to one 2nd grade class in APS, would assume that ALL APS teachers are "terrified."

If you have a complaint about this teacher scaring 2nd graders, take it up with the AP or principal. But FFS, do not assume that all teachers are in agreement with this teacher.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

I work for a covid vaccine company. Our researchers working on covid have been in person the whole time and vaccinated employees are 100% expected to be back in the office with masks. It's literally a company run by scientists.

By the time you multiple the APS measures with the vaccine, the risk really is negligible. That's where you're wrong.

Except that your staff is entirely vaccinated. These children aren’t. And our parents are not keeping the kids apart. And most of the kids aren’t wearing masks when they’re together outside of school. it’s not the same situation.

No, the only people who are vaccinated are those who are high risk or who are >65 right now. Most people at work aren't vaccinated, but are working in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

I work for a covid vaccine company. Our researchers working on covid have been in person the whole time and vaccinated employees are 100% expected to be back in the office with masks. It's literally a company run by scientists.

By the time you multiple the APS measures with the vaccine, the risk really is negligible. That's where you're wrong.

Except that your staff is entirely vaccinated. These children aren’t. And our parents are not keeping the kids apart. And most of the kids aren’t wearing masks when they’re together outside of school. it’s not the same situation.

Also I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be in. Who can work and feels confident in the situation should absolutely be in.

Can we please stop talking about how people feel and start looking at data? You can't feel covid. I see posts on other boards and people say things like "I went to the indoor trampoline park and it was a little crowded, but I felt safe" or "Disney was great and felt so safe" or "I go to yoga every week and it totally feels safe." Total hogwash. You can't feel covid. It's the same with teachers. They "feel" unsafe without any data to back that up. You can't feel covid. The vaccine data is great. That's what we need to be looking at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of you are not going into the office for the foreseeable future. I work in person. Not a teacher. Vaccinated. But I understand their hesitation. If you weren’t loaded with protective survival instinct reactions you might have done empathy. All of the classrooms need more ventilation and open doors. The kids need to go in, but if student families are offered the choice or virtual or hybrid it follows the instructor should as well. The vaccine isn’t 100%. It will be safer than not having it, but it’s not a negligible risk we’re all about to join in on. To not allow this onto our thought process underserved us all.

That said. We’re in hybrid. And while our 5 year old has a new teacher, we’re thankful for the opportunity. I do hope their teacher isn’t there under duress, we’ll do everything we can to not deepen that. Masks on.

I work for a covid vaccine company. Our researchers working on covid have been in person the whole time and vaccinated employees are 100% expected to be back in the office with masks. It's literally a company run by scientists.

By the time you multiple the APS measures with the vaccine, the risk really is negligible. That's where you're wrong.

Except that your staff is entirely vaccinated. These children aren’t. And our parents are not keeping the kids apart. And most of the kids aren’t wearing masks when they’re together outside of school. it’s not the same situation.

Also I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be in. Who can work and feels confident in the situation should absolutely be in.

Can we please stop talking about how people feel and start looking at data? You can't feel covid. I see posts on other boards and people say things like "I went to the indoor trampoline park and it was a little crowded, but I felt safe" or "Disney was great and felt so safe" or "I go to yoga every week and it totally feels safe." Total hogwash. You can't feel covid. It's the same with teachers. They "feel" unsafe without any data to back that up. You can't feel covid. The vaccine data is great. That's what we need to be looking at.

Awesome, sign up to be a classroom assistant. They need them

[Anonymous]

I am an assistant principal in Arlington and the facebook posts are nuts. You would think we are walking them into a fire. It's time to go back people!



Wow. Way to throw your employees under a bus.


As I said in PP, administration will side with parents

Even though APs are a lot closer to the decision-makers in APS than teachers are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am so at a loss. All of the data I've seen show that the vaccines are incredibly effective at protecting the person who is vaccinated and reducing transmission. Having a vaccinated teaching force, combined with APS's mask requirement, cohorting, health screening, distancing, air cleaners, etc, the risk to teachers is insanely low. Yet my 2nd grader's teacher today told her class that she doesn't want to return to school but that APS is making her. Putting aside that this was completely inappropriate information to tell to second graders, where is this fear coming from? She's young and healthy and vaccinated. Elementary is completely cohorted. She doesn't have to do concurrent learning. And her hybrid class is small enough to fit in a single classroom. Why are all these vaccinated teachers so afraid? The data is amazing. These vaccines work terrifically well, with strong efficacy starting shortly after the first dose. I just don't understand.

I agree with you OP. I am so excited to go back and I think the measures APS is taking are reasonable and will be effective when combined with the vaccine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Could the OP make more of a sweeping statement?! I teach at an elementary school in APS and none of the teachers are "terrified". Most are excited but cautious, which is the appropriate reaction.

+1 I am an APS teacher and I wouldn't at all say I am terrified. It feels very big after a year of being home- most of you who have been home this whole time will feel this way when you first have to go back into an office. It DOES feel like a really big deal to go in for 6-8 hours and being in PPE the whole time. I have some worries about the new variants too. But I am not terrified. We have to get back and we have to start somewhere. It might not be perfect but my hope is that we can work together and get the kinks worked out. My teacher friends are excited to see the kids, but overwhelmed by the logistics of it all. I think that it is totally fair and reasonable. You are acting like teachers are kicking and screaming!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That's ridiculous. Could the OP make more of a sweeping statement?! I teach at an elementary school in APS and none of the teachers are "terrified". Most are excited but cautious, which is the appropriate reaction.

+1 I am an APS teacher and I wouldn't at all say I am terrified. It feels very big after a year of being home- most of you who have been home this whole time will feel this way when you first have to go back into an office. It DOES feel like a really big deal to go in for 6-8 hours and being in PPE the whole time. I have some worries about the new variants too. But I am not terrified. We have to get back and we have to start somewhere. It might not be perfect but my hope is that we can work together and get the kinks worked out. My teacher friends are excited to see the kids, but overwhelmed by the logistics of it all. I think that it is totally fair and reasonable. You are acting like teachers are kicking and screaming!

A second grade teacher telling her class that she's afraid is the metaphorical version of kicking and screaming.

It's certainly not all APS teachers who are afraid, but there is a significant cohort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand, either. I don't understand why a parent, after hearing one young, inexperienced teacher talk to one 2nd grade class in APS, would assume that ALL APS teachers are "terrified."

If you have a complaint about this teacher scaring 2nd graders, take it up with the AP or principal. But FFS, do not assume that all teachers are in agreement with this teacher.

My thoughts exactly! I agree this is inappropriate, and extreme, but there are 7,000 staff members in Arlington. If you want to believe the worst of your teachers, you will. It’s ONE teacher.