Teaching during a Pandemic

I am an elementary school teacher.

I am also a wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. Somehow those parts of me are not supposed to matter to me during a pandamic.

I am an elementary school teacher.

I voiced my concerns about returning to in person learning too soon. I signed a petition in favor of school being remote until safer protocols could be put into place. I was told kids need to be back in school. Parents need to get back to work. It is not mentally healthy for kids to not be in school. Kids will fall behind.

I made the choice for my child to be 100% remote during this pandemic. Her mental health is important to me. Her physical health is important to me too. She misses her friends and the school experience she was used to participating in prior to the pandemic. The school experience being offered now is not the same as the school experience that was offered prepandemic.

I requested to be a remote teacher this school year. Not because I do not want to see my students, but rather because I want to be able to see all of my students. I want to see more than their smiling eyes that peek above their masks. I want to build relationships with them and apply the best teaching practices I can to ensure each and every one of them is successful. My request was denied.

I am an elementary school teacher teaching in person during a pandemic. The desks are staggered. The supplies are not shared. The ability to problem solve and work with a partner is forbidden. Most students wear their masks properly. Some do not. All students have to take their chrome book home with them every day because the need to be quarantined and switch to learning remotely can happen at anytime.

During this pandamic, best teaching practices and necessary safety protocols do not align. I am choosing safety for your child. Are the students learning? Yes. Are they learning in a healthy environment? Debatable. I taught 118 students this past week. 5 students at the school are currently quarantined. 4 of those children were students in my classroom this week. Families have the choice to get their child tested for covid, or not. Other students in the classroom are only informed of their exposure if the child gets tested.

I have sent my regrets to my neice as I am no longer comfortable attending her driveway birthday celebration this weekend. My sister is taking over the grocery shopping for my parents, as I am no longer confident I can provide this necessity to them safely. Over the course of only four days of being back to school for in person learning, I have been potentially exposed to 4 students either living in the same household with someone currently sick with covid or being covid positive themselves.

I am an elementary school teacher. It no longer matters that I am a wife, mom, daughter, sister, aunt, and friend. No one else in the community knows that I have been exposed because that would mean they know their own children have been exposed as well. I am sad for the world we are accepting and choosing to live in. Covid should not be kept quiet. Families choosing to send their children to in person learning should not get to choose if they have their children tested. That choice can either increase or decrease the odds of the safety for the other children and teachers exposed in that cohort.

I am an elementary school teacher, but I am not allowed to have a voice.