I saw a similar letter for the city schools. There, too, I recognized names of old colleagues.
After I saw the letter about the city schools employees wanting to remain virtual, I saw an open letter from city parents who wanted the schools open 5 days a week.
All the letters were well written and (from my skimming) not sensational about their stances.
My Facebook feed and the comments on news posts I read were far more extreme. A chunk thought it was egregious to set foot in a classroom and sacrifice children and teachers. A chunk thought it was going to cause the downfall of our nation if the fear-porn didn't end and schools failed to support those in need.
For all it's wonders, it feels like the internet really highlights the differences and divides in this time.
There was a survey that was sent out to teachers last week about our concerns and how we feel about returning to school.
So where do I stand?
Carrie asked me how I felt about it. I said, "I want to go back."
I support returning with caution.
I think the numbers support it for our County as of this screen grab (It'd be a "No way!" if we lived in Florida...).
531.7 out of every 100,000 is a 0.53% infection rate.
9.2 deaths/100k is a 0.0092% rate of death.
Those deaths are tragedies for all the families involved. I am not trying to make light of them.
Driving is considered a necessary risk and students are allowed to drive to school. The number of deaths from COVID are at a greater rate (10 deaths in 4 months equates to 30 per year). The county roads average about 10 deaths per year from what I read (2017 - 10 fatalities, 2018 - 10, 2019 - 9). I don't think the rate is high enough to warrant ignoring the good the schools could accomplish.
I have lost students before. There was a murder-suicide where the father killed the whole family....another died of a heroin overdose after a long history of opiod addiction....another was flung from the car after a wild DUI as a passenger, and a middle schooler died after standing on an electrical box exploded and threw him into power lines. And those are only my more extreme stories. There have been more 'mundane' ones, but all of them were tragedies for those who knew them.
Death is not the only danger with COVID-19 as strain on hospitals and a host of other side effects including lung and brain damage have been listed as possible.
I am no expert. This is my opinion at this moment. New research could come out that says things are getting better or that they're getting worse.
The biggest danger to my view is an outbreak. The numbers are manageable now. Students are already out of school. What happens when they return? What is the plan if a student is sick? What will the county do if the numbers grow? How quick will they react and will it be soon enough?
I like some of the proactive changes my school system has proposed.
The biggest change is switching to a 4x4 schedule. That's where students take 4 classes the first half of the year and then take 4 classes in the second half of the year.
I've taught in that structure before. There are pros and cons, but the pros really help the current situation:
1) Students would be in half as many classrooms.
2) Students would be exposed to fewer students.
3) Teachers would be exposed to fewer students.
4) Students would be focused on fewer courses at a given time in they were working virtually.
5) The same goes for teachers. It's easier to trade emails with 3 classes of students than 6.
There's a lot of things that are still unknown.
Would we be in school 2 days a week? Or more? I'd rather start with 3 or fewer days.
What about if a student refuses to wear a mask? Would they be sent home? Or would they remain?
I believe the masks will be critical. I have mine and I plan on wearing one if I do go in the building (Even though I find it highly annoying!).
Seat belts reduced car fatalities. There was widespread animosity and resistance to mandating them ("As late as 1983, fewer than 15% of Americans said they used seat belts consistently"). There's another story I've heard about doctors being opposed to washing their hands.
This is not a final opinion. I wrote a lot, because I'm still considering a lot. It's on my mind as I read news/science articles and wait to hear what else is being planned. I talked to Matt G about what's being done where he is and he said a survey listed something like 56% of teachers were uncomfortable with returning while only 33% of parents were planning on keeping their kids home ("The numbers don't add up there, Mike! You're a math teacher!").
I became a teacher, because I want to be a positive influence in student lives. I am currently not an at-risk population member or in frequent, close contact with at-risk populations, so I am more free to return.
Others are not in that situation. I don't think it's wrong if they decide they don't want to return to protect their loved ones.
So yeah. It's a difficult and evolving situation. There's no way there will be a plan that satisfies everybody.
UPDATE: Supposedly over 600 teachers in the county signed the open letter. Another teacher I talked to mentioned South Korea shutting down their schools after reopening. I looked into it some. They shut down when there were 49 new cases and they reopened shortly thereafter. But that's not the whole story, because they reopened and many students stayed home. There's no clear answer of 'catastrophe' or 'safe' on this one from what I've read. There's a chance for both and that allows people to latch on to what they want to and that makes it all difficult.
UPDATE 2: Richmond and some other districts announced a virtual only opening. There's a set of scheduled town halls for us at the end of the month to hear what people think. The two most likely options seem to be 4 days of school a week with half the kids showing up M/W and the other half Tu/Th or an all-virtual opening.
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