Reply to Teachers Not Wanting to Go Back in Person

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote][quote=Anonymous]In most jobs where people were forced to go back to work in-person, companies were at least trying to observe safety protocols in a reasonable fashion.

I have a couple of friends in construction and they had masks and face shields were available for when guys were working indoors.  Most of the time that people were working indoors, it was maybe 5-8 guys working in fairly large rooms or 1-3 guys working in smaller rooms.

Grocery store workers had plastic shields set up between them and the customers.  PPE was provided.  Cleaning solutions were provided and replentished by stores, so that they could wipe down frequently touched surfaces.

Schools on the other hand, provided the teachers with very little.  I have friends in three different local school districts that have returned to work.  There are times that there are 15-20 kids in a classroom with a teacher.  Many classrooms did not have space to keep the kids  6 feet apart and they were lucky if kids were kept 3 feet apart.  No plastic shields for teachers.  Half were given face shields hand-made from page protectors.  The others were not give face shields at all.  I know three teachers who were given enough cleaning solutions to last the first week of class.  When they asked for more, they were told that was all that was available.  And they were given a long list of times they were supposed to clean surfaces which was multiple times a day.  Teachers in 2 of the 3 school districts were explicitly told they were not allowed to ask parents of their students to augment cleaning supplies since there is a pandemic and they were not supposed to make the FARMS and lower income families feel guilty.  So essentially they are expected to pay for cleaning supplies out of their own pockets. So the school districts have been lying about "adequate" cleaning supplies are being provided to the teaching staff.  They are also lying about following CDC guidelines (or they were until a few days ago when the CDC guidelines were revised to allow 3 feet separation).  Basically the school boards cannot be trusted to actually enforce health and safety.  They are just saying whatever they need to say to get the schools open at the risk of students and faculty.

I am not a teacher, but have a lot of sympathy.  I have actually amazon'ed shipments of wipes, cleaning supplies and paper towels to 5 teachers in the last 2 weeks.  At least I have a stable job from an employer that cares about my health and safety.  And I am a lot more financially stable than most teachers, so I provide them what support I can.  And we are fortunate that we can keep our kids virtual until we, the parents, are vaccinated.  We'll reconsider whether to send out kids back to school after we're both fully vaccinated (which may or may not happen during the school year).
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This description of safety protocols does not apply to my area school, which has been back in person since August. We have face shields, cleaning solution, plexiglass, air filtration, and essentially anything else we asked for. Parents are extremely supportive, as is the administration. And we are not a wealthy school. This "private school teachers are abused" narrative doesn't fit my experience, nor any of my teacher friends. (The school did obtain a waiver from the state in August to go to three feet of distancing where necessary, as did several private schools, so that part is correct.)
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The three area schools where this applies are PGCSS, HCPSS, and MCPS.  I know teachers in all three (and my kids are in HCPSS).  The working conditions are not good for teachers and students in these three area school systems.  These are not private school systems and these teachers were forced back to school.

In HCPSS, where we are, I can't believe that they forced teachers and students back into school mid-3rd quarter when they could have waited to start 4th quarter in-person in 4 weeks and they would have ACTUALLY gotten 90% of the teachers vaccinated.  The school board put out the deceptive narrative that 90% of the teachers and staff are vaccinated, when if you read the fine print they clarify that 90% of the staff either has a first vaccine shot or are scheduled for the first vaccine shot.  I know from talking to the teachers around that those 90% scheduled for first shot include some that are scheduled for March 30, almost a month after they were required to report to school in person.

I know teachers in all three school systems who ran out of cleaning supplies between 1-2 weeks after returning to school and the schools have no more supplies to give them.  None of the teachers I know have plexiglass in their rooms.  Only some were given face shields.  And MCPS and HCPSS teachers were instructed not to ask parents for supplies so if the school systems run out, they have to provide cleaning supplies out of pocket.[/quote]

Perhaps if the teachers' union in HCPSS had committed to the idea of going back after staff was vaccinated they would not be in this situation. Instead, they suggested that it was wrong to even plan for a return and never once gave even the slightest indication that members would be comfortable going back after being vaccinated. It was not until the Gov. and MSDE put pressure on districts to reopen that vaccinations became paramount. The reality is that they never wanted to go back this year and flatly refused to use a concurrent teaching model. It's "IMPOSSIBLE," as you may recall. I'm not saying that it is ideal, but ill-conceived selfish, theatrical tantrums did not serve the great teachers in HCPSS well. [/quote]

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