Students, You Deserve Better
You have a right to more than the academic education we can give you in 2020 — but it’s not all bad.
“Ms. Snow? Can I talk to you? I don’t feel so good…”
I’m already picturing the conversation with my students:
- They don’t feel well
- In fact, they think they might have a fever
- Their head hurts
- They are exhausted
- They have a tightness in their chest, but they don’t want to cough to draw attention to themselves
- They just want to put their head down and sleep from fatigue and the weight of the world — they want to be at school, but they also don’t
- They want life to be normal — but it’s not
They may or may not be wearing a mask:
So far, we as teachers have heard mixed messages. Our governor, just the other day, told everyone in the state to “wear a damn mask”. He also said it would be the summer of no parties, the summer of not seeing more than a few people, but that school would open on a mostly-normal basis.
However, the directives from a few districts in our metro area were sent out last week and said that “mask use would be kept to a minimum” — we aren’t sure what will happen there, and that will play largely into the factor of whether students, teachers, families, and communities get sick or not.
In fact, businesses like hair and nail salons are allowed more precautions than schools are — I cannot currently ask a student to wear a mask, ask if they have any symptoms or have come into contact with someone who may have COVID-19, or check their temperature.
We keep seeing “research” say that kids are less likely to get and to spread it:
If that is true — what about the adults?
What if we can’t teach our students because we are sick?
What about the community as a whole, and the fact that many children live with many generations in one household?
What about the teachers, parents, custodians, and other staff who are trying to make in-person school possible?
What happens if students do get it?
That brings me back to our initial conversation. I can picture a student pulling me aside — as best they can. We must remain the district-mandated 3 feet apart (yes — three, not six)while this student tries to tell me that they’re not feeling well.
They most likely will not want to send me an email, because even 12-year-olds know that emails have time-stamps, can be traced, and can be used as evidence.
Students are going to feel like they’ve committed a crime if they so much as have a runny nose from seasonal allergies.
If their head hurts, they’ll think it’s the end.
If they feel like they need to cough, forget about it.
They won’t want to go to the school nurse, because:
- Everyone will know about it (that’s a big deal for people to know your business when you’re in middle school, even without a global pandemic)
- The nurse’s office might be filled with other kids who aren’t feeling well
- They know their parents won’t be able to come get them anyway
- They’re overall ashamed and they just want to be in class
Parents will give their kids Tylenol and send them to school:
This is not a teacher ranting against parents.
This is a teacher understanding that some parents have to choose between going to work so they can put food on the table, or staying home with their sick child, who may or may not have COVID-19.
This is a teacher understanding that parents may not be able to put that food on the table, and school is the place where students can get it.
Many districts in our metro area did an amazing job of providing meals during distance-learning last spring so that this was less of a concern, and I hope we’ll be able to do it again should we go remote.
This is a teacher realizing that many COVID-19 cases in schools will go untested because of possible social shame and access to testing itself.
No family wants to be the one to report that their child is positive if they are tested, and therefore impacts hundreds of others.
Students, you deserve an education:
You deserve to learn about your favorite subjects — and the ones you’re not so fond of, but are good to know anyway.
You deserve to be able to go outside during recess and play with you friends.
You deserve to be — kids.
Students, you are learning so much more than what academia can teach you:
- You are learning about what the world looks like when politics, education, healthcare, and the economy collide
- You are learning how to teach yourself based off of what I can give you remotely
- You are learning independence
- You are learning who you are as a person — in the midst of everyone else, including the adults — learning that too
- You are learning to be resilient, no matter what the world throws at you
I am honored to be your teacher.
I want to fight for you.
I do not want to have to change careers to protect myself — or you.
I want to see you in person, but it might be best if we don’t. Know that I am excited to see you every single day over video, and I always look forward to seeing what you turn in.
Parents, community members, fellow teachers, please fight for us.
Fight for your students.
Teachers should not have to be martyrs — or vectors of disease.
In our team of 6 people, 4 are married to other teachers, and 3 have children at other schools. If our school is the epicenter of an outbreak, 8 total schools will be impacted just via the 6 people on our grade-level team in our hallway.
That doesn’t even begin to cover sibling interaction, or anyone else in our building — their children, parents, or their spouses’ workplaces.
Some may not be able to see their family members for months — for fear that they may infect them.
Employers, please consider giving these parents the ability to work from home whenever possible in order to be at home with their children, so we can be at home with ours — safe, and not worrying about the hundreds of people we will come into contact with each day.
What you can do:
- Call your governor’s office and ask for safety to return to school, contact tracing, PPE for students, teachers, and staff, scenarios for what will happen if an outbreak occurs — or just plain tell them we should be online until we have 14 days of decreased cases.
- Write to and call district-level superintendents and your county health departments
- Write to and call state and district-level teacher’s unions
Students, you should not have to stay home — but I want you safe.
Teachers, you should not be called upon to be human shields in case a shooter enters your classroom.
(How will we practice those drills this year with social distancing?)
Teachers, you should not be spending your summer creating a living will — just in case.
Students — you should not have to grow up like this, with everyone fighting the idea that works best for them, and you in the middle.
The statistics are not in our favor, no matter how “safe” we are told it will be since kids are not vectors.
Please do your research. Look at multiple sources.
Please support our students — they deserve better than this, and so do teachers and parents.
We have to stop fighting each other, and learn how to support each other.
Together, we can do this.
