Stop Making Teachers Feel Guilty for Having Reasonable Questions!

Most of the parents she's talked to can't wait to get rid of their kids and send them to school <shrug>

 

More Questions for School Openings:
• If a teacher tests positive for COVID-19 are they required to quarantine for 2-3 weeks? Is their sick leave covered, paid?
• If that teacher has 5 classes a day with 30 students each, do all 150 of those students need to then stay home and quarantine for 14 days?
• Do all 150 of those students now have to get tested? Who pays for those tests? Are they happening at school? How are the parents being notified? Does everyone in each of those kids' families need to get tested? Who pays for that?
• What if someone who lives in the same house as a teacher tests positive? Does that teacher now need to take 14 days off of work to quarantine? Is that time off covered? Paid?
• Where is the district going to find a substitute teacher who will work in a classroom full of exposed, possibly infected students for substitute pay?
• Substitutes teach in multiple schools. What if they are diagnosed with COVID-19? Do all the kids in each school now have to quarantine and get tested? Who is going to pay for that?
• What if a student in your kid's class tests positive? What if your kid tests positive? Does every other student and teacher they have been around quarantine? Do we all get notified who is infected and when? Or because of HIPAA regulations are parents and teachers just going to get mysterious “may have been in contact” emails all year long?
• What is this stress going to do to our teachers? How does it affect their health and well-being? How does it affect their ability to teach? How does it affect the quality of education they are able to provide? What is it going to do to our kids? What are the long-term effects of consistently being stressed out?
• How will it affect students and faculty when the first teacher in their school dies from this? The first parent of a student who brought it home? The first kid?
• How many more people are going to die, that otherwise would not have if we had stayed home longer?
30% of the teachers in the US are over 50. About 16% of the total deaths in the US are people between the ages of 45-65.
We are choosing to put our teachers in danger.

 

Excellent questions !!!!!

 

Here in California everything is more up in the air than before. 3 weeks after pretty much everything opening up, they now closed gyms, indoor dining, bars, indoor family places and churches in I think 30 counties (all the surrounding ones here) and less restrictions everywhere else.
The biggest school district in the nearby city (3rd largest school district in the state) is planning on announcing their decision, but they already said they're considering distance learning. The 2nd largest district and another large one announced online learning. A few school districts in 1-2 hour radius announced online learning. Colleges made this decision months ago and are sticking to it. The State Superintendent yesterday made a statement that most school districts should stay online / distance learning, that would be the smart thing to do.

My school, being independent study, we could still resume almost as normal. No classes, completely independent study and teachers / students even more spread out, we have the room. But it's very hard to tell if they'll go through with it or will give in to the pressure of following everyone else. I guess it will come down to what our local school district does, we always follow them. We have less than 4 weeks. A month from now, school will be in session on either form.

My friend's school district down in San Diego would normally start about now - they pushed back opening day by a month. From what she understand they will offer choices for students and teachers to go to school or do it online.

I'm just sitting here waiting.

 

This is an interesting and concerning article on how many children have tested positive for the virus in Florida.

https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/florida-children-test-positive-coronavirus-203351855.html

 

https://news.yahoo.com/white-house-document-shows-18-states-in-coronavirus-red-zone-194350717.html

 

Today our state education department said a teacher’s sick leave will be covered up to 10 days before they have to use their own sick time. I see this being challenged because if we have to quarantine 14 days any time we are exposed, that could add up fast.

 

We were told that everyone in that room including the kids must quarantine. What about the other kids and staff that everyone in that room has come in contact with?

 

True... What about the specials teachers? It seems that they’d be in almost constant quarantine.

 

And security and even janitorial staff for that matter. If those two have to quarantine, oooooooh boy........

 

My district has announced they won't be adding new custodial staff, and will instead be counting on custodians to be willing to work constant overtime for the entire school year to make it work. I for one cannot imagine any possible scenario where that turns into a disaster. Have I mentioned that we already had multiple custodians at one of our high schools get sick with COVID-19 already?

 

Our school has announced that custodians will sanitize 2x weekly and it’s the teacher’s responsibility in the in-between times. I’m super uncomfortable about that.

 

And ther will be extra pay plus hazard pay for this.........?

 

And I'm sure the extra pay comes with it...?

 

What's scary to accept is if we get sick, the quarantine window starts when we're well. Rightfully so, but that's a long time out of the room. So..... I'm going to have a lot of emergency sub plan options!

 

Your district must be successful in acquiring subs.....

 

Right. I’ll make sure to ask when to expect that.

 

What do you mean it starts when we're well?

 

Here is the newest information locally:

"At least 45 hospitals in Florida had no available beds in intensive care units as of Sunday afternoon (7/19/2020) as the state has emerged as the new epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus pandemic, according to data from the state's Agency for Health Care Administration. Nine of those facilities are located in hard-hit Miami-Dade County and another five are in neighboring Broward County. The number of new coronavirus cases in Florida topped 10,000 for the fifth day in a row, with 12,523 reported on Sunday. There are nearly 21,000 people hospitalized throughout the state, according to the Florida Department of Health. "

Opening brick-and-mortar schools in most areas in Florida have been pushed back to August 17th (we typically open on August 10th.) The governor has ordered at all Florida schools be open full-time, 5 days per week, for in-school instruction. Local districts originally struggled to try and meet this demand, and most are, but some, like Miami-Dad and Broward are saying "we just can't." They are using the fact that the final decision is up to local boards of health to delay in-person opening, and frankly, I think that is wise in this situation. Health care is overwhelmed. ICUs are full.

As of today (7/20/2020) in Florida -- 350,047 confirmed cases, 4,982 confirmed deaths.

"If Florida were a country, it would rank No. 9 in the number of Covid-19 cases worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins data Monday.

Eight countries have higher counts than Florida: the United States, Brazil, India, Russia, Peru, Chile, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

And more than 100 countries have fewer Covid-19 cases than Florida, including France, Germany and Japan."

Florida has more covid-19 cases than:
296,364United Kingdom
276,202Iran
265,083Pakistan
260,255Spain
253,349Saudi Arabia
244,434Italy
219,641Turkey
211,943France
207,453Bangladesh
202,953Germany
197,278Colombia
126,755Argentina
112,168Canada
107,037Qatar
94,693Iraq
88,214Indonesia
87,775Egypt
85,314China
78,048Sweden
74,013Ecuador
71,838Kazakhstan
68,898Philippines
68,400Oman
66,213Belarus
63,893Belgium
60,767Ukraine
59,763Kuwait
59,582Bolivia
57,193United Arab Emirates
53,468P
Panama
52,855Dominican Republic
52,140Netherlands
50,714Israel
48,771Portugal
48,035Singapore
40,383Poland
38,677Guatemala
38,139Romania
36,663Nigeria
36,422Bahrain
35,526Afghanistan
34,981Armenia
33,835Honduras
33,634Switzerland
27,667Ghana
27,521Azerbaijan
27,143Kyrgyzstan
25,760Ireland
25,692Japan
23,084Algeria
21,253Serbia
etc. (Source: John Hopkins University)


I remain shocked that in-person instruction is even being considered in most areas of Florida right now. I agree that in-person instruction is important, but it cannot be safely done in most parts of Florida at this time.

 

The cases are steadily going up here and we seem destined to force teachers into the war zone.

 

Right now (1:45pm, 7/20) the Florida Education Association is announcing a lawsuit to stop required in-person openings...

"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Education Association (FEA) is set to announce a lawsuit aimed to stop the state's emergency order to reopen physical school classrooms five days a week starting in August.

On July 6, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Department of Education issued an emergency order to require schools across the state to reopen brick and mortar buildings for students, teachers and staff at the start of the new school year in August. The buildings must be open five days a week for students.

Since the order was issued, the FEA has released a petition urging Gov. DeSantis to keep school buildings closed until community spread of COVID-19 is "well below 10 percent," and "heed the advice of medical professionals."

The petition goes on to say that once community spread is down below 10 percent, the state must provide school districts with needed resources and support to properly and safely reopen brick and mortar buildings. That FEA says that includes the following:

• The ability to keep class sizes small enough for proper social distancing of 6 feet.
• The ability to quickly check temperatures of all students and staff.
• The ability to limit access to school campuses to only students and staff.
• The ability to reduce the number of students on buses to allow for social
• distancing.
• The ability to have touch-free hand sanitizer stations in every classroom and office as well as multiple stations in cafeterias and other large common areas, plus refills that are readily available.
• The availability of plenty of soap and paper towels.
• The ability to sanitize school buses after each route and entire schools every 2
• hours.
• The ability to change lunch routines to allow for proper social distancing of 6 feet.
• The ability to properly train all students and staff on ways to prevent the spread of the coronavirus."

None of this seems too unreasonable to me. We all want kids back in brick-and-mortar schools as soon as possible -- but with our infection rates, the ICUs being full, no way to socially distance because of overcrowded schools and our teacher shortage, basic supplies "on order" but not having arrived yet, not being allowed to reduce the number of students on school buses, etc, it just isn't practical for our schools to open in just 3 short weeks.

 

There were zero new cases in my county and surrounding counties within the last few days. Too bad this wasn't happening everywhere. Then it would be easier to justify the school openings. I really don't know what people are thinking down in FL.

 

They're not thinking, at least not some of the leaders.

 

I'm absolutely horrified at responses like the FL Governor's. Absolutely appalled. And did you see that Missouri's Gov said that students need to be in school. Some of them will get COVID but then they just go home and get all better.

I mean, people aren't even pretending to care about the safety of our teachers and students. Our country is failing us.

 

A certain ideology in this nation will never show leadership, eeeeeever.

 

Has anyone's school opening plans changed yet?

 

Arizona..all schools in state are to only be online until at least August 17. One of the districts in Phoenix is online until October. Another is online indefinitely until it is safe for all teachers to return. They have defined it, but I forget the exact details.

 

I'm hearing some districts will have kids at home and personnel at school.

 

So, where do their kids go if they have them and aren't old enough to stay home alone?

 

My district is tentatively planning something like that. Our answer has, basically, been to take an unpaid leave of absence if we don't like it.

 

My district has announced options but no firm plan. The administration and the school board are not on the same page, so they are working through that.

 

Got to find a babysitter.

I think it is ridiculous.

 

That makes very little sense to me. If the decision is to keep the children at home, why not send the teachers home to both keep them safe and to educate the students?

 

We're living in an era where something that makes very little sense is the norm, so in a weird, sick, twisted way.......it makes sense.

 

Because people can't do their job and monitor their own children and their childrens' educations at the same time. This idea that you can truly multi-task and give full attention all around has never been valid.

So, from a management perspective, I can see administrators and school boards wanting teachers to not have distractions when doing their jobs.

From a "will this work" perspective - it is insane to think that teachers will be able to get people to watch their kids when even day cares are running at limited capacity and many people still want to social distance.

 

If you're expecting things to make sense be prepared to be severely disappointed LOL

 

My school just put out a draft of the plan they are using to instruct students in the fall. The school is asking for feedback from teachers and parents before the school finalizes its instructional plan for the fall. I teach in all of the buildings in the district and come into contact with a good chunk of the district's staff and students on any given day. I am nervous to go back because if any of our district's tentative plans get approved, I would be in a school building for at least part of the week. I would personally prefer teaching from home, but as the only ENL teacher in a district where state guidance says schools may prioritize face-to-face learning for high needs learners such as ENL students, I don't know if that will be an option given to me. Personally, I don't like being asked to potentially put my life and the lives of the many staff and students I contact at risk because of the style of teaching I am being asked to do. I don't even know what lessons to plan because we are being encouraged to teach some classes outdoors due to small spaces in our buildings. I am also not even sure what building I will spend most of my time in. All I can do right now is wait until the end of the month, when the plan is expected to be finalized.

We have very low numbers of people with Coronavirus in our county (less than ten currently). I believe it is because we are an extremely rural county. I also believe it is because some of the towns in our county are college towns with populations that fluctuate throughout the school year. I am interested to see what happens to our total number of Coronavirus cases if college students start returning to the area in September.

 

I sent this exact list of questions to my district's BOE. Apparently I wasn't the only one; they said they got a LOT of emails and letters from concerned parents and scared teachers.

They voted unanimously last night to have the first 9 weeks of school be remote learning, along with upholding the governor's order to delay school until after Labor Day. I am beyond relieved.

@a2z - I know this is not something every district is doing, but my district sent a parent survey out to see how many households had an adult who would be available to help students with work during the day, how many had consistent internet access, and how many would be able/willing to come pick up learning packets from the school. All three of those questions were 80-95% yes. Kids being home alone is definitely a problem school districts need to factor into their decision making process, but it varies from district to district and risk needs to be mitigated as much as possible for everyone's sake. My district is not a wealthy area; we have a lot of parents who are likely in jobs that they can't work from home. But if that many of them have a way to make it work that doesn't cause undue stress, then it's definitely doable.

 

I absolutely agree that every district is different. I am so happy to hear you had such a great response!

 

This format is what I'm actually hoping my district/school will allow. I do NOT want to be back 100% with kids, but I don't want to be at home either. Being able to teach remotely from my classroom would be so helpful. I'd have all the tools I need, it would give me somewhere to go every day that isn't super risky, and I'd be able to do my job a lot better than I could from home at the end of last year. I would struggle to go into teaching mode in my apartment with kittens and my husband here; too much distraction and I get self conscious recording read alouds from my office/closet.