3 teachers taught from a empty classroom, all caught COVID & 1 died

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all workplaces are created equal, and people have a right to fear for their lives.

Sure. And you have the right to decide whether or not you go to work. You don't have the right to decide that your employer will continue to pay you. It is the same for all of us.

So what are you going to do when teachers retire or quit rather than go to work, and they can't be replaced (at all, or in time for the school year)? What are you going to do when teachers do go back to work, and then get sick, and then schools have to be closed? What are you going to do when there are no subs, because subs are quite often older women (often retired teachers), and they don't want to work, either? Treating it like a purely individual decision is missing the point. It's a systemic issue that needs a systemic solution.

I'll do the same thing I am doing now. My kid hasn't been to school since February, I figured it out then. The solution isn't to waste more tax money paying teachers not to teach. You can argue all you want, but online school is in no way an equivalent service and should be priced accordingly.

In an environment where teachers and staff are worried for their health and lives and those of their loved ones and constantly having to enforce safety for themselves and their 20-30 students, how much of a better education do you think those kids will get vs the ones learning at home with teachers who are not under the same stressors? In person schools during a pandemic will serve mainly as babysitting and food for working parents.

How do you think your trash gets collected? How do you think your groceries appear? What exactly do you think the rest of the world has been doing? Where do you think those kids are now? Their parents are at work and they are in congregate child care settings where workers who are no less important than you care for them. Why do you believe that you get a pass by saying that you're going to half-ass it no matter what?

Stop equating the risk level of catching COVID for all jobs. Trash collectors don't sit in a room with thirty kids (and other adults) for seven hours a day. They're in a truck with one other person and their job is performed outside. The people in the grocery store are currently sitting behind plexiglass and stores have the right to refuse entry/service to people not wearing a mask. Teachers are going to be stuck in un-airconditioned, unventilated classrooms for hours at a time with groups of people who may or may not be wearing a mask, who require physical assistance with activities such as tying shoes and blowing their noses, and who don't respect social distancing. Just because you pretend that everyone is facing the same risks doesn't make it true.

You cannot possibly think teachers are the only jobs at risk. There are a lot of people who simply cannot work from home and have been going in to work this whole time. People who are exposed to 10, 50, 100 other people every day. Think about gym employees, wait staff, people who need access to classified networks. There are countless employers who are open and the employee has a choice - go to work, or quit. Teachers are no different. Do your job or quit. That’s my choice right now, why are teachers special??

X100000

The rest of the world doesn’t have the starting pay, benefits, or union which teachers have, either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all workplaces are created equal, and people have a right to fear for their lives.

Sure. And you have the right to decide whether or not you go to work. You don't have the right to decide that your employer will continue to pay you. It is the same for all of us.

So what are you going to do when teachers retire or quit rather than go to work, and they can't be replaced (at all, or in time for the school year)? What are you going to do when teachers do go back to work, and then get sick, and then schools have to be closed? What are you going to do when there are no subs, because subs are quite often older women (often retired teachers), and they don't want to work, either? Treating it like a purely individual decision is missing the point. It's a systemic issue that needs a systemic solution.

Many many other countries have dealt with this with covid numbers comparable to the dmv and rest of Northeast. There really wasn’t much of an impact from schools opening.

Because no one travels to the nation's capital from other parts of the country...including those that are having some of the largest outbreaks in the world?

[Anonymous]

Not to mention, the entire summer off! Must be nice!

Give me a break!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all workplaces are created equal, and people have a right to fear for their lives.

Sure. And you have the right to decide whether or not you go to work. You don't have the right to decide that your employer will continue to pay you. It is the same for all of us.

So what are you going to do when teachers retire or quit rather than go to work, and they can't be replaced (at all, or in time for the school year)? What are you going to do when teachers do go back to work, and then get sick, and then schools have to be closed? What are you going to do when there are no subs, because subs are quite often older women (often retired teachers), and they don't want to work, either? Treating it like a purely individual decision is missing the point. It's a systemic issue that needs a systemic solution.

I'll do the same thing I am doing now. My kid hasn't been to school since February, I figured it out then. The solution isn't to waste more tax money paying teachers not to teach. You can argue all you want, but online school is in no way an equivalent service and should be priced accordingly.

And what do you think happens to the economy when millions of Americans have no pay check?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all workplaces are created equal, and people have a right to fear for their lives.

Sure. And you have the right to decide whether or not you go to work. You don't have the right to decide that your employer will continue to pay you. It is the same for all of us.

So what are you going to do when teachers retire or quit rather than go to work, and they can't be replaced (at all, or in time for the school year)? What are you going to do when teachers do go back to work, and then get sick, and then schools have to be closed? What are you going to do when there are no subs, because subs are quite often older women (often retired teachers), and they don't want to work, either? Treating it like a purely individual decision is missing the point. It's a systemic issue that needs a systemic solution.

I'll do the same thing I am doing now. My kid hasn't been to school since February, I figured it out then. The solution isn't to waste more tax money paying teachers not to teach. You can argue all you want, but online school is in no way an equivalent service and should be priced accordingly.

In an environment where teachers and staff are worried for their health and lives and those of their loved ones and constantly having to enforce safety for themselves and their 20-30 students, how much of a better education do you think those kids will get vs the ones learning at home with teachers who are not under the same stressors? In person schools during a pandemic will serve mainly as babysitting and food for working parents.

How do you think your trash gets collected? How do you think your groceries appear? What exactly do you think the rest of the world has been doing? Where do you think those kids are now? Their parents are at work and they are in congregate child care settings where workers who are no less important than you care for them. Why do you believe that you get a pass by saying that you're going to half-ass it no matter what?

Stop equating the risk level of catching COVID for all jobs. Trash collectors don't sit in a room with thirty kids (and other adults) for seven hours a day. They're in a truck with one other person and their job is performed outside. The people in the grocery store are currently sitting behind plexiglass and stores have the right to refuse entry/service to people not wearing a mask. Teachers are going to be stuck in un-airconditioned, unventilated classrooms for hours at a time with groups of people who may or may not be wearing a mask, who require physical assistance with activities such as tying shoes and blowing their noses, and who don't respect social distancing. Just because you pretend that everyone is facing the same risks doesn't make it true.

You cannot possibly think teachers are the only jobs at risk. There are a lot of people who simply cannot work from home and have been going in to work this whole time. People who are exposed to 10, 50, 100 other people every day. Think about gym employees, wait staff, people who need access to classified networks. There are countless employers who are open and the employee has a choice - go to work, or quit. Teachers are no different. Do your job or quit. That’s my choice right now, why are teachers special??

I didn't say that teachers are the only ones at risk-you are the one assuming that. Every job has different levels of risk. I'm in New York and gyms here are NOT opening because it is not safe for people to be breathing heavily in close quarters-period. Restaurants are open at a very low capacity and waiters are wearing masks, menus are either accessed on your phone or they are disposable, etc. There are many safety protocols in place.

The reality of the situation is that schools here are extremely over crowded and now we are paying the price for that. If we had invested in education years ago then we wouldn't be in such a bind now. Because we refused to maintain school buildings and infrastructure, now that there is a pandemic we are totally screwed. Sinks don't work, water fountains found to contain dangerous levels of lead are simply blocked off with plastic bags, teachers find dead vermin in their classroom closets, there is no air conditioning. They just told us that we will not be receiving the (meager) stipend we get each year to purchase classroom supplies, so anything I need to revamp my classroom to comply with social distancing/no material sharing etc. comes straight out of my paycheck. We have no PTA and we aren't allowed to ask parents to make any purchases. It's bullshit and I'm done. We need to demand that the rich pay a fair share of taxes so that we can afford to improve our public infrastructure. We can't go back under these conditions. We have an ugly summer ahead of us.

Maybe. Since you mention it, I know some teachers with second homes, season tickets, and some fancy cars.

[Anonymous]

Can we stay on topic? Are you capable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You cannot possibly think teachers are the only jobs at risk. There are a lot of people who simply cannot work from home and have been going in to work this whole time. People who are exposed to 10, 50, 100 other people every day. Think about gym employees, wait staff, people who need access to classified networks. There are countless employers who are open and the employee has a choice - go to work, or quit. Teachers are no different. Do your job or quit. That’s my choice right now, why are teachers special??

I think our point here is that the quitting ultimatum actually hurts our education system and our students. It's not like subs and replacement teachers will be easy find right now. And we lose institutional knowledge.

[Anonymous]

And the teacher bashing needs to stop. You have no credibility arguing that your children need to be in school while you diminish the very people working hard to educate them.

[Anonymous]

These threads are only serving to remind me:

1 - How many "educated" parents have poor reasoning skills
2 - How insensitive and thoughtless people are right now
3 - How so much of this hate directed at teachers probably involves latent misogyny

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all workplaces are created equal, and people have a right to fear for their lives.

Sure. And you have the right to decide whether or not you go to work. You don't have the right to decide that your employer will continue to pay you. It is the same for all of us.

So what are you going to do when teachers retire or quit rather than go to work, and they can't be replaced (at all, or in time for the school year)? What are you going to do when teachers do go back to work, and then get sick, and then schools have to be closed? What are you going to do when there are no subs, because subs are quite often older women (often retired teachers), and they don't want to work, either? Treating it like a purely individual decision is missing the point. It's a systemic issue that needs a systemic solution.

I'll do the same thing I am doing now. My kid hasn't been to school since February, I figured it out then. The solution isn't to waste more tax money paying teachers not to teach. You can argue all you want, but online school is in no way an equivalent service and should be priced accordingly.

In an environment where teachers and staff are worried for their health and lives and those of their loved ones and constantly having to enforce safety for themselves and their 20-30 students, how much of a better education do you think those kids will get vs the ones learning at home with teachers who are not under the same stressors? In person schools during a pandemic will serve mainly as babysitting and food for working parents.

How do you think your trash gets collected? How do you think your groceries appear? What exactly do you think the rest of the world has been doing? Where do you think those kids are now? Their parents are at work and they are in congregate child care settings where workers who are no less important than you care for them. Why do you believe that you get a pass by saying that you're going to half-ass it no matter what?

Stop equating the risk level of catching COVID for all jobs. Trash collectors don't sit in a room with thirty kids (and other adults) for seven hours a day. They're in a truck with one other person and their job is performed outside. The people in the grocery store are currently sitting behind plexiglass and stores have the right to refuse entry/service to people not wearing a mask. Teachers are going to be stuck in un-airconditioned, unventilated classrooms for hours at a time with groups of people who may or may not be wearing a mask, who require physical assistance with activities such as tying shoes and blowing their noses, and who don't respect social distancing. Just because you pretend that everyone is facing the same risks doesn't make it true.

You cannot possibly think teachers are the only jobs at risk. There are a lot of people who simply cannot work from home and have been going in to work this whole time. People who are exposed to 10, 50, 100 other people every day. Think about gym employees, wait staff, people who need access to classified networks. There are countless employers who are open and the employee has a choice - go to work, or quit. Teachers are no different. Do your job or quit. That’s my choice right now, why are teachers special??

I didn't say that teachers are the only ones at risk-you are the one assuming that. Every job has different levels of risk. I'm in New York and gyms here are NOT opening because it is not safe for people to be breathing heavily in close quarters-period. Restaurants are open at a very low capacity and waiters are wearing masks, menus are either accessed on your phone or they are disposable, etc. There are many safety protocols in place.

The reality of the situation is that schools here are extremely over crowded and now we are paying the price for that. If we had invested in education years ago then we wouldn't be in such a bind now. Because we refused to maintain school buildings and infrastructure, now that there is a pandemic we are totally screwed. Sinks don't work, water fountains found to contain dangerous levels of lead are simply blocked off with plastic bags, teachers find dead vermin in their classroom closets, there is no air conditioning. They just told us that we will not be receiving the (meager) stipend we get each year to purchase classroom supplies, so anything I need to revamp my classroom to comply with social distancing/no material sharing etc. comes straight out of my paycheck. We have no PTA and we aren't allowed to ask parents to make any purchases. It's bullshit and I'm done. We need to demand that the rich pay a fair share of taxes so that we can afford to improve our public infrastructure. We can't go back under these conditions. We have an ugly summer ahead of us.

Maybe. Since you mention it, I know some teachers with second homes, season tickets, and some fancy cars.

...what are you talking about? That's not a response at all. Just a totally random statement. Are you having a stroke?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is absolutely infuriating. So now that a 61-year-old retired teacher with asthma and multiple health conditions died because she didn't take precautions to protect herself--while claiming that she took them in the classroom (but please, why oh why did the need to be in the same classroom?), people will use this as another reason for not returning to school? This has nothing to do at all with the precautions they took in the classroom. It is very clear that she and her family were not that careful. Plus, she's 61, obese, with asthma. She should have been more responsible. She seemed like a lovely person who was very much loved by her family, so I understand this is very sad. But she didn't take personal responsibility for her own health. And now you nuts all want to prevent healthy children from getting an education over this example? It's so frustrating!

The blame this post ladles onto Byrd is entirely unfair. However, I’m halfway curious how the writer perceives that Byrd was not responsible. The USA Today article says that she was socially isolating and going to work masked and distanced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is absolutely infuriating. So now that a 61-year-old retired teacher with asthma and multiple health conditions died because she didn't take precautions to protect herself--while claiming that she took them in the classroom (but please, why oh why did the need to be in the same classroom?), people will use this as another reason for not returning to school? This has nothing to do at all with the precautions they took in the classroom. It is very clear that she and her family were not that careful. Plus, she's 61, obese, with asthma. She should have been more responsible. She seemed like a lovely person who was very much loved by her family, so I understand this is very sad. But she didn't take personal responsibility for her own health. And now you nuts all want to prevent healthy children from getting an education over this example? It's so frustrating!

The blame this post ladles onto Byrd is entirely unfair. However, I’m halfway curious how the writer perceives that Byrd was not responsible. The USA Today article says that she was socially isolating and going to work masked and distanced.

Not really. It says something along the lines of the husband saying “we tried doing everything right... went camping...” and clearly there are grown children, also infected, with whom she was interacting. I agree with OP, that she died is sad, and we shouldn’t blame her, but her teaching summer school isn’t why she died. That’s why articles like this are sensational and not helpful for either side of this argument.

[Anonymous]

Not really. It says something along the lines of the husband saying “we tried doing everything right... went camping...” and clearly there are grown children, also infected, with whom she was interacting. I agree with OP, that she died is sad, and we shouldn’t blame her, but her teaching summer school isn’t why she died. That’s why articles like this are sensational and not helpful for either side of this argument.

Did it say she contracted it from her kids? I couldn’t find that info. What was noteworthy to me was that even with precautions in a room, the other adults were infected.

In a normal school day I have three teachers who come in and out of my room to provide additional instruction. I am hopeful that we will find a space they can pull students to in order to maintain social distancing (the county models do not account for multiple teachers in a room with students) but that may run a up again least restrictive environment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not all workplaces are created equal, and people have a right to fear for their lives.

Sure. And you have the right to decide whether or not you go to work. You don't have the right to decide that your employer will continue to pay you. It is the same for all of us.

So what are you going to do when teachers retire or quit rather than go to work, and they can't be replaced (at all, or in time for the school year)? What are you going to do when teachers do go back to work, and then get sick, and then schools have to be closed? What are you going to do when there are no subs, because subs are quite often older women (often retired teachers), and they don't want to work, either? Treating it like a purely individual decision is missing the point. It's a systemic issue that needs a systemic solution.

I'll do the same thing I am doing now. My kid hasn't been to school since February, I figured it out then. The solution isn't to waste more tax money paying teachers not to teach. You can argue all you want, but online school is in no way an equivalent service and should be priced accordingly.

In an environment where teachers and staff are worried for their health and lives and those of their loved ones and constantly having to enforce safety for themselves and their 20-30 students, how much of a better education do you think those kids will get vs the ones learning at home with teachers who are not under the same stressors? In person schools during a pandemic will serve mainly as babysitting and food for working parents.

How do you think your trash gets collected? How do you think your groceries appear? What exactly do you think the rest of the world has been doing? Where do you think those kids are now? Their parents are at work and they are in congregate child care settings where workers who are no less important than you care for them. Why do you believe that you get a pass by saying that you're going to half-ass it no matter what?

Stop equating the risk level of catching COVID for all jobs. Trash collectors don't sit in a room with thirty kids (and other adults) for seven hours a day. They're in a truck with one other person and their job is performed outside. The people in the grocery store are currently sitting behind plexiglass and stores have the right to refuse entry/service to people not wearing a mask. Teachers are going to be stuck in un-airconditioned, unventilated classrooms for hours at a time with groups of people who may or may not be wearing a mask, who require physical assistance with activities such as tying shoes and blowing their noses, and who don't respect social distancing. Just because you pretend that everyone is facing the same risks doesn't make it true.

You cannot possibly think teachers are the only jobs at risk. There are a lot of people who simply cannot work from home and have been going in to work this whole time. People who are exposed to 10, 50, 100 other people every day. Think about gym employees, wait staff, people who need access to classified networks. There are countless employers who are open and the employee has a choice - go to work, or quit. Teachers are no different. Do your job or quit. That’s my choice right now, why are teachers special??

I didn't say that teachers are the only ones at risk-you are the one assuming that. Every job has different levels of risk. I'm in New York and gyms here are NOT opening because it is not safe for people to be breathing heavily in close quarters-period. Restaurants are open at a very low capacity and waiters are wearing masks, menus are either accessed on your phone or they are disposable, etc. There are many safety protocols in place.

The reality of the situation is that schools here are extremely over crowded and now we are paying the price for that. If we had invested in education years ago then we wouldn't be in such a bind now. Because we refused to maintain school buildings and infrastructure, now that there is a pandemic we are totally screwed. Sinks don't work, water fountains found to contain dangerous levels of lead are simply blocked off with plastic bags, teachers find dead vermin in their classroom closets, there is no air conditioning. They just told us that we will not be receiving the (meager) stipend we get each year to purchase classroom supplies, so anything I need to revamp my classroom to comply with social distancing/no material sharing etc. comes straight out of my paycheck. We have no PTA and we aren't allowed to ask parents to make any purchases. It's bullshit and I'm done. We need to demand that the rich pay a fair share of taxes so that we can afford to improve our public infrastructure. We can't go back under these conditions. We have an ugly summer ahead of us.

Maybe. Since you mention it, I know some teachers with second homes, season tickets, and some fancy cars.

Do you think those are from their teaching salaries? Lol. It’s from their wealthy spouses.

[Anonymous]

Our school is almost at 200% capacity. Even if we only have half of the kids, we still can’t be 6 feet apart. I share a classroom with two other teachers. The workers at Kohl’s will have more protection than I do.