Teachers and Educators in the Times of Covid

[FinallySignedUp]

3 hours ago, Becky said:

the precautions and protocols needed are nearly prison-like, it is not going to be fun.  I don't think parents and students are fully aware of what in-person school is really going to be like.  I also think it is not going to last long.  

This times one hundred! I call it dystopian daycare. I know my first graders, who are at the age they're beginning to be aware of the world, are going to be scared. Face masks, temperature checks, stay away from friends, even at lunch, no parents in the school ever, no group work, no manipulatives, can't even get a new book to read more than once a week. 

I don't think any school here has been transparent with the public about what the day will be like for the kids. All the reasons people cite for wanting kids back are gone - no socializing, no working together, the thinnest sham of in person instruction, given masks and distance. There will literally be a taped box on the floor for your child and their desk to stay in, and you thought they were stir crazy in your house?

I am all too aware that keeping kids home isn't always an option, I'm about to attend a zoom daycare tour myself, but if you are at home, your kids should be too.

[NoKidsAndCounting]

Hello. I am new to this discussion. I commend all teachers here. My husband is a teacher (school is K-8), and they are about to start in person school next week with masks, precautions, etc. We are both very worried about his school kids and our health. I work as a secretary in a university, and right now I am terrified. I have been working at home since March, and we are about to start in-person classes with all protocols in place. From the news I’ve seen, it doesn’t look like many college age kids wear masks unless forced, and our state’s cases can be traced back to people traveling and going to bars and clubs where restrictions have been violated. We all have to wear masks, but I don’t think the bathroom situation is going to be safe. Does anyone know anything specifically about bathroom use and COVID-19? Thanks in advance.

[Marty1227]

My daughter is one of the teachers expected to teach online and in class simultaneously.   They are being told they are to teach as if everyone is online.  So she will have a laptop with a webcam focused on the material on her whiteboard, and will be mainly having to lecture everyday.  She has always tried to be creative in her teaching to engage her students, but feels that this year all of that is out the window.

[WiseGirl]

29 minutes ago, NoKidsAndCounting said:

Does anyone know anything specifically about bathroom use and COVID-19? 

I have to admit I haven't heard anyone anywhere say anything about that. I don't know about other schools but our students like to make TikTok videos in the bathroom...or vape. Another nightmare waiting to happen. 

 

12 minutes ago, Marty1227 said:

be creative in her teaching to engage her students, but feels that this year all of that is out the window.

I absolutely agree with her on this.

[NoKidsAndCounting]

I realize this bathroom concern is a strange one, but it has me worried.

[FinallySignedUp]

Just now, NoKidsAndCounting said:

I realize this bathroom concern is a strange one, but it has me worried.

Same, we're supposed to have scheduled bathroom breaks. I actually emailed my principal to say unless first grade is scheduled every hour for the first month we're going to have a lot of pee. This is their first year in uniforms and it's a lot harder for them to get out of them enough to use the bathroom for a while, never mind that they're six so some have only been potty trained for three years. 

Our covid procedure is for the classroom teacher to wipe down both bathrooms after each class break ?

[OhNoNike]

I’m going to make some spaces for my kids - my oldest is going into 4th and I am having her pick out some fun things for her desk at home (lamp, pencil holder etc), and I plan to put up some things on her wall. I’m worried about her getting bored so I got her a slap bracelet with textures on it and some fidget items. Another person recommended one of those bouncy ball chairs.  If any teachers here have any additional ideas, I’m open to that. 

A neighbor had an old school desk and chair in amazing condition on their trash pile I snagged a few weeks ago for my kindergartener so she’ll have more of a space. I’m thinking of getting a pocket chart so we can do the calendar and so forth. She really enjoyed “jobs” in preschool and I know the kids really dig that. She wanted jobs at home. So I’ll come up with some ideas for that, too.  Again, and suggestions welcome.  We have half day K here still (!!!) and I still have NO idea what time she’ll be doing it, and we start in 12 days.  We’ve gotten no information or even their laptops.  I’m pretty patient, so I’m not overly stressed, but I’d like to come up with their workspace in time.

I had also considered that being IN school isn’t going to be the atmosphere they are used to, and they’d be more comfortable at home. Overall it’s a complete crapshoot of a year with everything.  

[Audrey2]

1 hour ago, FinallySignedUp said:

Our covid procedure is for the classroom teacher to wipe down both bathrooms after each class break 

Yikes! What a great chance for the first graders to run amok! I know first graders and I know that unstructured time while the teachers cleaning the bathroom is a recipe for disaster.

1 hour ago, OhNoNike said:

 She wanted jobs at home. So I’ll come up with some ideas for that, too.  Again, and suggestions welcome.  We have half day K here still (!!!) and I still have NO idea what time she’ll be doing it, and we start in 12 days.  We’ve gotten no information or even their laptops.  I’m pretty patient, so I’m not overly stressed, but I’d like to come up with their workspace in time.

Regarding the chores, how about things like emptying the trash cans that are not the main kitchen garbage canand making sure any pet you have has food and water. 

I definitely understand your frustration with no computer from the school and with the school not communicating everything that's going on is close to the school year is this is but remember things are changing day today and sometimes hour to hour for that school district. Both the school staff and the district staff are trying to figure out how to make this work not quite as much on the fly as when this all started happening in March but not too far from it either. What makes it even more difficult is information from the state and from the county health department is always changing as well.

So I shared this earlier but I plan to sub in my local district since I don't have a class remove my own. it's going to be extremely challenging as when I sub I'm only at the teacher's desk or workstation long enough to take attendance and then I'm constantly moving around the classroom, unless it's an elementary school that I'm presenting lessons. (I learned in that month subbing last school year that I really enjoy middle School, even though I've only worked in and taught at the elementary school level.)

[FinallySignedUp]

3 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Yikes! What a great chance for the first graders to run amok! I know first graders and I know that unstructured time while the teachers cleaning the bathroom is a recipe for disaster.

Oh no no, we pointed that out and don't worry, "the kids will step it up." That was literally the answer to just about every single problem. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I saw my brain. 

 

What does that even mean? Step up their behavior? Because they don't want to kill anyone by breathing too close? Whoops can't tell them that they'll be too scared. So why do you believe they'll make this great step?

Edited August 13, 2020 by FinallySignedUp

[JanasTattooParlor]

Went in for my first of five PD days this month as we gear up for the year starting. Guess who still has no idea what she’s teaching or how her school is opening? Me! We had a master schedule that was sent to us last week, but now that enrollment for our schools virtual academy has closed, they’ve told me that my schedule could change so that one of my class periods is a semester long fully virtual class, which I specifically signed up not to teach because I wanted the opportunity to at least be able to meet my kids in person sometime before the semester is over in February. We start Sept. 8th and since our school board decided to leave reopening decisions up to each school so that parents could get pissed at the schools and not the district, I won’t know how my school is reopening until next Monday which is also the day I’m finally supposed to get my list of classes and rosters. Also when I went into the school for my first PD day, we were told that funding had run out for plexiglass dividers so we would not be using them and that the school had not made a decision yet as to whether kids would be required to wear a mask when they’re in the classroom. They’re required to wear them in the hallways but not in the classrooms right now even though us teachers are required. My classes, if they stay the same as I was told last week, have class sizes of 26-28 kids each and our hybrid model would bring half into the school Monday and Tuesday and then bring the other half in Thursday and Friday with a virtual day for everyone on Wednesday. So that’s still 13-14 kids that might not have to wear masks that I have to social distance in the room and I’m expected to teach the hybrid classes live for both my in class and virtual kids and somehow manage questions from virtual kids who are watching the live stream of class. We were told that we were required to have kids live stream if they were virtual and could not record the lesson that was taught to the in person group and then post it after class for the virtual group to watch because that wasn’t fair. I get that it isn’t, but they aren’t offering us a single PD on how to deliver simultaneous instruction and are only giving us PD on our new system, Canvas, which the district mandated everyone was switching to only three weeks ago. It seems like the new system won’t be bad but I need way more PD than just that if I’m gonna be successful as a teacher this year. This whole thing sucks and I’m honestly just praying we start online because that’s going to make my planning so much easier. 

[OhNoNike]

12 hours ago, FinallySignedUp said:

Oh no no, we pointed that out and don't worry, "the kids will step it up." That was literally the answer to just about every single problem. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I saw my brain. 

 

What does that even mean? Step up their behavior? Because they don't want to kill anyone by breathing too close? Whoops can't tell them that they'll be too scared. So why do you believe they'll make this great step?

Well, because, usually the kids do that totally on purpose to drive teachers and parents nuts. But now they will fortunately realize there is a pandemic on and this is no time for games!  They will finally become the mature humans we all know 6 year olds are. 

I hope someone in your district clued in Biology.  All this time scientists have spent researching and explaining brain development when all we needed was a pandemic for the kids to step it up. 

Edited August 13, 2020 by OhNoNike

[SassyPants]

Not an educator, but my daughter and SIL are. My daughter is a secondary school Principal who filled in as a science teacher starting in March when Covid hit, and took out one of her teachers. Well this year the district decided she would be both a FT Principal and a FT Science Teacher, plus virtually school her own 1st grader. She resigned...which the district converted to a sabbatical. She did agree to stay in place to get virtual school started while the interim person gets up to speed. She also has taken her 6 YO out of school and will homeschool her this year. 
It is all too much. I saw this comment on another forum. And it was perfect. People are pissed about virtual school. People are pissed about in-person school. People are pissed about masks, social distancing and no water fountains at school. People are pissed when the schools close d/t outbreaks. People are just pissed, and teachers and the schools are getting the brunt of it. And as my daughter has said, there are so many people, often times those who don’t even work outside the home, who just want someone, anyone else, to deal with their kids-

Edited August 13, 2020 by SassyPants

[OhNoNike]

@SassyPants - First I was like ?, then I was ?, then I was ?.

I can’t believe they put her in that situation!!  So messed up!  I’m glad she stood her ground and resigned. And lastly, totally yes.  I know three people that could stay home and are sending their kids full time. This blows my mind.  Truly. I want other kids to be able to go if they need to. Not because their parents don’t want to deal with them.

My kids want to go into school. I worry that they’re going to somehow suffer emotionally. But at the same time I am worried for myself, my family, the teachers... and as someone els pointed out, its not like regular school. Also what happens if more teachers get sick? What’s gonna happen then?!

Im so sorry for your daughter going through this. 

[WiseGirl]

And now we have this to worry about:  Group Files Appeal Seeking Elimination of School Mask Requirement

The appeal was filed Friday on behalf of the Connecticut Freedom Alliance.

Awesome */sarcasm

[WiseGirl]

Okay people. I went in to the school for one hour to box stuff up and take home personal property.  It was hot and I was sweating like a pig. I swear it felt like the heat was on so I'm going to need some advice.

2 masks a day? Cloth or disposable (if I can find them)? My mask was damp. How many times can I put on deodorant?  How am I going to stay dryish?  Any recommendations for dry tech headbands other than Nike? Yes my hair got wet. Any other hints for surviving a building with no air conditioning, fans are not allowed, and just steamy all around are welcome.

Lastly, the classrooms were just sad and sterile.

[WiseGirl]

Watching reentry plan so far: stickers for social distancing, hand sanitizer, custodians, "in the process of hiring", tons of technical difficulties.  This is going to be great.

Oh boy do I feel safe */sarcasm

[Audrey2]

It just keeps getting better and better (sarcasm)

Teachers could stay in classroom if exposed to COVID-19

https://www.yahoo.com/news/teachers-could-stay-classroom-exposed-040717754.html

Quote

ATLANTA (AP) — New guidance from President Donald Trump's administration that declares teachers to be “critical infrastructure workers” could give the green light to exempting teachers from quarantine requirements after being exposed to COVID-19 and instead send them back into the classroom.

Keeping teachers without symptoms in the classroom, as a handful of school districts in Tennessee and Georgia have already said they may do, raises the risk that they will spread the respiratory illness to students and fellow employees. Multiple teachers can be required by public health agencies to quarantine for 14 days during an outbreak, which can stretch a district's ability to keep providing in-person instruction.

South Carolina health officials also describe teachers as critical infrastructure workers, although it's unclear if any district there is asking teachers to return before 14 days.

Among the first districts to name teachers as critical infrastructure workers was eastern Tennessee’s Greene County, where the school board gave the designation to teachers July 13.

“It essentially means if we are exposed and we know we might potentially be positive, we still have to come to school and we might at that point be carriers and spreaders,” said Hillary Buckner, who teaches Spanish at Chuckey-Doak High School in Afton.

Buckner, secretary of the county-level affiliate of the National Education Association, said it’s unethical for teachers to risk infecting students. Only prekindergarten and kindergarten students are currently attending class face-to-face in 7,500-student Greene County, going two days a week for two-and-a-half hours a day. Teachers are instructing others online from their classrooms, Buckner said, but she said the local school board could soon mandate a broader in-person return.

Data kept by The Associated Press shows the coronavirus is spreading faster per-capita in Georgia than any other state, while Tennessee has the seventh-fastest spread. A few schools that reopened for in-person instruction in both states have already closed after cases were reported. Gordon Central High School in the northwest Georgia town of Calhoun switched to online instruction Wednesday citing a high number of teachers in quarantine.

At least five other school districts in Tennessee have given the designation to their teachers, seeking to exempt them from quarantine orders. Gov. Bill Lee on Tuesday blessed the move, with his administration saying it would accept the designation, citing the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency.

That agency on Tuesday issued its fourth version of who counts as a critical infrastructure worker, for the first time saying teachers should be on the list alongside nurses, police officers and meat packers. Such workers can be permitted to keep working following COVID-19 exposure “provided they remain asymptomatic and additional precautions are implemented to protect them and the community,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states.

“The decision is the district's,” the Republican Lee said in a Tuesday news conference. “If they make that decision, we have given them guidance that they must follow if they choose that critical infrastructure designation.”

In Georgia, suburban Atlanta 's Forsyth County has also designated teachers as critical infrastructure workers. Spokesperson Jennifer Caracciolo said that means they could be told to return to classrooms, but said the 50,000-student district will decide on a case-by-case basis.

A spokesperson for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said his administration is evaluating whether it wants to incorporate the federal guidance into Georgia's legal framework, which could spur more districts to act.

“We have had some superintendents reach out to ask where the administration is on this topic,” said Candice Broce, a spokesperson for the Republican Kemp. “We're in the soliciting-input mode.”

A lawyer for Kemp wrote an email Wednesday telling Georgia's Floyd County district that teachers remain subject to quarantine orders until Kemp or health officials decide whether to incorporate the federal guidance. Floyd County said Thursday it would reverse its designation of teachers as critical infrastructure workers.

Critics in Georgia say the designation would ignore new health guidance issued to schools that says exposed teachers must quarantine for 14 days, even if they get a negative test.

Craig Harper, director of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, a non-union association, said it would be “reckless and starkly contradicts the newest Georgia Department of Public Health guidance intended to protect student and educator health and curb spread of the virus.”

Teacher unions and national school administrator groups couldn't cite examples in other states Wednesday.

NEA President Lily Eskelsen Garcia said in a statement that the designation “has no legal merit and is more of a rhetorical gambit to give President Trump and those governors who are disregarding the advice and guidance from public health experts an excuse to force educators into unsafe schools.”

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten expressed similar sentiments, saying “the Trump administration will always try to change the rules to threaten, bully and coerce.”

“If the president really saw us as essential, he’d act like it," Weingarten said in a statement. “Teachers are and always have been essential workers—but not essential enough, it seems, for the Trump administration to commit the resources necessary to keep them safe in the classroom.”

In other words, if you have been exposed to Coronavirus, too bad, so sad. Come to work any way. Yes, you may be asymptomatic and may be Typhoid Mary, but that doesn't matter. Take care of our kids! We know how much conservatives hate teachers. This just shows us how little value we have.

Does anybody else feel like a lab rat?

(By the way, you wouldn't hurt my feelings if you decide to give the angry reputation. I've given it myself (and would give it to myself) when something is so out of bounds, like eradicating the post office, putting children in cages, or denying the right to vote. I don't use "angry" much, but sometimes my feelings are much stronger than disgust.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Audrey2

[Ozlsn]

8 hours ago, WiseGirl said:

Watching reentry plan so far: stickers for social distancing, hand sanitizer, custodians, "in the process of hiring", tons of technical difficulties.  This is going to be great.

Oh boy do I feel safe */sarcasm

Stickers? WTAF are stickers supposed to do exactly?  You can't stay 1.5m apart if there's no space, you can't get to class on time if you're paying attention to the stickers and are spaced out. About the only thing I could see working (sort of) for high school is that students stay in the one room all day and teachers move to each class. This might require a somewhat radical approach to classes though... no one has a choice, you do exactly the same subjects with the same group and lab/specialist subjects all occur on one day in the same space. Kind of combining the bubble and distancing. 

3 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

By the way, you wouldn't hurt my feelings if you decide to give the angry reputation. I've given it myself (and would give it to myself) when something is so out of bounds, like eradicating the post office, putting children in cages, or denying the right to vote. I don't use "angry" much, but sometimes my feelings are much stronger than disgust.

I am stuck on the wtf reaction, because that is a seriously bad suggestion.  If a teacher is potentially infectious then working and potentially spreading it to however many kids are in the class, plus workmates is a terrible idea. Whose effing stupid idea is this? I mean, why not just send them to sit in their local member of Congress' office and/or their Senator's offices. 

[Audrey2]

3 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

Stickers? WTAF are stickers supposed to do exactly?  You can't stay 1.5m apart if there's no space, you can't get to class on time if you're paying attention to the stickers and are spaced out. About the only thing I could see working (sort of) for high school is that students stay in the one room all day and teachers move to each class. This might require a somewhat radical approach to classes though... no one has a choice, you do exactly the same subjects with the same group and lab/specialist subjects all occur on one day in the same space. Kind of combining the bubble and distancing. 

I am stuck on the wtf reaction, because that is a seriously bad suggestion.  If a teacher is potentially infectious then working and potentially spreading it to however many kids are in the class, plus workmates is a terrible idea. Whose effing stupid idea is this? I mean, why not just send them to sit in their local member of Congress' office and/or their Senator's offices. 

I've long believed that, if teachers today served during the American Civil War, we would have been called cannon fodder.

[Ozlsn]

2 minutes ago, Audrey2 said:

I've long believed that, if teachers today served during the American Civil War, we would have been called cannon fodder.

It must be really tempting to arrange field trips to Congress members offices in the first week back though... 

[WiseGirl]

Guess where numbers are increasing? Yes! The city I teach in. This is going to be a shitshow. 

22 hours ago, Audrey2 said:

Teachers could stay in classroom if exposed to COVID-19

Oh that's an awesome idea! *? (/double sarcasm).

18 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

WTAF are stickers supposed to do exactly? 

I have no flipping idea. No one will pay attention to them.

Oh wait we still get to have (ambiguously modified) fire drills. Not sure how active shooter drills will pan out.

[OhNoNike]

I am so sorry

[tankgirl]

If it makes you Americans happier or points out other countries are a shit show too, you should see what the UK is pushing. So Scotland started opening schools at full student population, no masks, just some distancing, going as well as you imagine from photos, and hand sanitizer stations as the main push. They are having increased cases, but Boris decided to announce it has nothing to do with schools, because they caught it elsewhere, fully ignoring the fact, that duh, of course they caught it elsewhere but they are going to end up spreading it in schools in the end. They are telling parents "kids don't die so will be fine". Saw a poster saying "Teachers are not at an increased risk for covid", so it must be true, and kick in if a teacher did catch it, it was probably their own fault, for not being safe at their coffee break. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53882175

Edited August 25, 2020 by tankgirl

[WiseGirl]

BOOM! Virtual learning because numbers are rising in my district. Teachers got so many hateful comments on social media because of it. Um, hello, your Board of Ed (people you elect) actually make that decision.  Rough day.

Tomorrow begins 8 days of virtual professional development  (training). Ugh, ugh, ugh.

Buckle up it's going to be a bumpy ride. 

Edited August 25, 2020 by WiseGirl
Spelling

[Marty1227]

Yesterday was first day for my daughter's school having all the students in the building/and online.  Zoom crashed 11 times, and the school lost power for about 30 minutes.  She was nearly in tears on her drive home.  This is her 10th year teaching, and she said it was the worse day in her career.  

She said she talked to her principal at the end of the day, and mentioned to him that she is strongly considering leaving teaching after this year.  He told her she wasn't the only one to tell him that.  It is so sad....she is a great teacher, and cares so much for all of her students, current and past.