Back to School and COVID

There's been a lot of talk over the past few weeks about what we should do come August in regard to opening schools. Lots of folks are weighing in on whether or not kids should "return to normal" (which is code for going to school full time) or whether or not something else needs to happen. As a teacher, I have been both surprised and disheartened by the--in my opinion--unconscionable lack of regard for the safety of our students and staff in schools. As such, my feelings on going back to school in August have become rife with fear and anxiety over the past few weeks.



But first, let me be completely, transparently, stentorianly clear about this:



I would LOVE to go back to school as if COVID-19 had never happened. Let's get this out of the way first. I don't know a single teacher who wouldn't prefer to be in their buildings with their students going about their business without a care in the world. NONE of us want to "stay at home" just because--or out of some false sense of it being easier to teach from home. (Hint: It is NOT easier to teach from home--it blows goats if we are being completely honest.) Teachers who stay in the profession--as a general rule--love their jobs. We want to be doing the job the way it was intended: face-to-face, building relationships, and moving our students along in their development.



Having said that:



I "signed up" for a lot of things when I decided to go into teaching:

          *I signed up to work more than my contracted hours ("summers off" is hysterical).

          *I signed up to spend my own money on my classroom and on my students.

          *I signed up for a certain amount of rude foolishness from my students (Hey. . . they're

            teenagers. . . it happens).

          *I signed up for countless meetings which I may or may not enjoy being part of.

          *I signed up for never being paid commensurate with my level of education.

          *I signed up for doing a lot of parenting for kids with whom I share no DNA.

          *I signed up for doing more with less. . . All. The. Time.



^^^I think you can see where I'm going with this. This list is not exhaustive by any means.  I "signed up" for a lot of things that are tangential to teaching. Knowing these things going in, I spend very little time and emotional energy crabbing about them. I knew what I was getting myself into and I ascertained, well before I even began my education studies, I could live with these elements of being a teacher in the United States--even if I didn't always like some of the truths of my profession. In truth, it's a lot like deciding if you can live with your future spouse's weird foibles before getting married.



However:



When I think about returning to "school as normal" this fall--in the midst of a global pandemic and state-wide surge in COVID-19 cases I feel a strong sense of, "I did NOT sign up for this." As much as I want to be in school, I did not sign up to get sick and die in an environment that is--for all intents and purposes--a gigantic petri dish. Many of the parents I've talked to over the past few weeks have talked about "returning to normal" as though that is even a possibility right now. It's not. I'm also completely disinterested in normal being a world without me in it due to an overly zealous populous saying teachers and students need to be back in classrooms full time. I won't apologize for this. I am more interested in having long innings with my family than pretty much anything else in the universe. The thing about all of this is that--unlike the unpredictable nature of terrible events like school violence incidents--we have a pretty decent idea of what will happen if schools fully re-open in the fall: students and teachers will get sick and. . . some of them will die. (Look to the deaths in the NYC Schools at the outset of the pandemic if you need any proof that this WILL happen.)  The current discussion feels a whole lot like the powers that be are playing Russian Roulette with my life, the lives of my children, and the lives of my students. . .and. . . I did not sign up for that.



What would I like to see happening right now? I'd like to see districts around the country following the examples of their peers who have chosen safety first. I'd like to see us focus on training and developing a rich online learning experience for students instead of waiting around in this limbo while districts/boards try to decide how to anger the least amount of people. I'd like to do the hard thing now--and start the school year remotely--so that I CAN go back to school when a vaccine is finally in place. I'd like to be able to stop worrying about whether or not I'll, literally, "make it" through the next school year.



But. . . most of all. . . I'd like to see everyone put aside their egos and "personal freedom" BS and just wear the damn mask!! It's one thing we can all do and it takes almost zero effort.