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Give me a break. As if that couldn't be turned around with teachers using the energy they're putting in to keep schools closed.
I'm tired of the funding excuse as well. WCPSS has spent BOATLOADS of money this year for things like laptops, hotspots, golden parachutes for superintendents, etc. Yes some of this money came from the federal government but now they're talking about virtual academy next year which you know will come with a steep price tag. It feels the issue is less with funding, and more with the school board sucking at managing the funding they have. WCPSS can for sure afford PPE, they just suck at doing it.
What is the PPE you are looking for that would make you more comfortable in a school building?
Perhaps medical grade masks that are not made from underwear for both students and teachers?
Are you willing to sit with children or teens (adults) who are eating and drinking maskless so that their teachers can eat without them? What are you doing to help make sure there is adequate ventilation in closed rooms where students are seated and talking for hours, often with poor masking habits? Would you like to monitor bathrooms to make sure that teens socially distance and keep their masks on in there? Will you help sanitize the classrooms between classes so that the teachers can monitor social distancing in the hallways while the students are moving? Or maybe help with both so that teachers can occasionally go to the bathroom and wash their hands? Will you volunteer to substitute for sick or quarantined teachers and other staff so that duties are not piled on to the point that there can be no effective instruction?
Being in classrooms is different from being in a public work setting or in a retail setting. It seems obvious to those of us who do it, but apparently it's not to everyone.
Perhaps medical grade masks that are not made from underwear for both students and teachers?
Are you willing to sit with children or teens (adults) who are eating and drinking maskless so that their teachers can eat without them? What are you doing to help make sure there is adequate ventilation in closed rooms where students are seated and talking for hours, often with poor masking habits? Would you like to monitor bathrooms to make sure that teens socially distance and keep their masks on in there? Will you help sanitize the classrooms between classes so that the teachers can monitor social distancing in the hallways while the students are moving? Or maybe help with both so that teachers can occasionally go to the bathroom and wash their hands? Will you volunteer to substitute for sick or quarantined teachers and other staff so that duties are not piled on to the point that there can be no effective instruction?
Being in classrooms is different from being in a public work setting or in a retail setting. It seems obvious to those of us who do it, but apparently it's not to everyone.
You mean surgical masks? Every medical facility I have been to during this, everyone was wearing surgical masks. Was at my PCP the other day and he was wearing ONLY A SURGICAL MASK. This is someone that sees sick people all day. I can assure you that he could retire if he wanted, but he's still going to work and helping those that need it.
You can buy 100 surgical masks for 15 dollars. If my kids' teachers request surgical masks I will happily buy them for them.
I can't volunteer because I'm busy doing the job that I was hired to do (and yes I do have to go into the office at least a couple times a week). If I wasn't I would happily volunteer to do any of those things you mention above.
I get why teachers are nervous, I really do. I would be uncomfortable too. But if you're not high risk then you need to suck it up like so many other essential workers (and your coworkers who are/were working in classrooms) are doing around the world. Classrooms are not a high risk place to be.
Perhaps medical grade masks that are not made from underwear for both students and teachers?
Are you willing to sit with children or teens (adults) who are eating and drinking maskless so that their teachers can eat without them? What are you doing to help make sure there is adequate ventilation in closed rooms where students are seated and talking for hours, often with poor masking habits? Would you like to monitor bathrooms to make sure that teens socially distance and keep their masks on in there? Will you help sanitize the classrooms between classes so that the teachers can monitor social distancing in the hallways while the students are moving? Or maybe help with both so that teachers can occasionally go to the bathroom and wash their hands? Will you volunteer to substitute for sick or quarantined teachers and other staff so that duties are piled on to the point that there can be no effective instruction?
Being in classrooms is different from being in a public work setting or in a retail setting. It seems obvious to those of us who do it, but apparently it's not to everyone.
It’s is different, but probably not in the way you’re proposing. What’s obvious to me is the school setting is far more controlled and regulated than a retail setting, particularly a high volume retail setting like a grocery store or big box store. I’d take any one of the jobs you proposed over working in most retail environments and many other public facing jobs any day of the week.
It’s also obvious to me that many private schools in the area as well as public and private schools in other parts of the state, country, and world seem to have managed well. And all that science that everyone claimed to believe in indicates schools should have already reopened. The stubbornness of some of the teachers groups around here is just shocking as is the ever moving goal post.
The list of demands & excuses will never end. I’m so exhausted by our students being held hostage for political theater. I’ve given hundreds of hours of my time & tons of resources to support our teachers, classrooms and ALL students in our schools. We cannot keep up 100% remote school for much longer. Exhausted. Weary. Tired of being strung along.
^This exactly. As I said before in this thread, why educators are not up at the front of the line right after, or even along with, front line healthcare workers is beyond me. Their essentialness and value to society is right up there with doctors and nurses. Why are the elderly, many with a list of comorbid conditions a mile long, ahead of those helping to direct and shape the future generations. I wonder how many of them would give up their place in the vaccine line so their grand kids, great grand kids, great great grand kids etc. (their legacy) can get back to school and thus get a big part of their "normal lives back". I bet a large percentage of them would. It is natural for people to want to put the future and well-being of their progeny ahead of their own. For instance, not that long ago really, in native indigenous cultures (thinking Inuit and Native Americans) when a person, either because of age and/or illness, started to take resources away from the "young and healthy", that person would voluntarily walk off into the wilderness or onto the ice flow so the tribe could "move on".
Well people say, a society is judged by how it treats its' most vulnerable. Who is more vulnerable though? The bed-bound 95-year-old with dementia and failing kidneys in the nursing home or the 6-year-old not able to go to school being "home-schooled" by his 9 year old sister as both parents have no choice but to go to work. Also, the kids have nothing to eat for breakfast and lunch but cold cereal.
I guess the argument is that if we don't get the old folks protected first then they might overflow the hospitals with covid complications and compete with the grand kids, great grand kids and even great great grand kids, needing admission for all sorts of things (not just Covid), for beds.
In summary, I guess my point is we need to do what ever it takes to get kids back in school. It is essential for their mental, physical, emotional, and academic needs. It is essential for our families, communities and and society (I know "schools" as we know them are a relatively recent invention...we are not Agrarian anymore though). It should be a national priority......really.... it should be a national emergency. The mayor of Chicago recently argued as such in trying to force city schools to re-open to in-person learning; but, the teacher's union is balking.
^This exactly. As I said before in this thread, why educators are not up at the front of the line right after, or even along with, front line healthcare workers is beyond me. Their essentialness and value to society is right up there with doctors and nurses. Why are the elderly, many with a list of comorbid conditions a mile long, ahead of those helping to direct and shape the future generations. I wonder how many of them would give up their place in the vaccine line so their grand kids, great grand kids, great great grand kids etc. (their legacy) can get back to school and thus get a big part of their "normal lives back". I bet a large percentage of them would. It is natural for people to want to put the future and well-being of their progeny ahead of their own. For instance, not that long ago really, in native indigenous cultures (thinking Inuit and Native Americans) when a person, either because of age and/or illness, started to take resources away from the "young and healthy", that person would voluntarily walk off into the wilderness or onto the ice flow so the tribe could "move on".
Well people say, a society is judged by how it treats its' most vulnerable. Who is more vulnerable though? The bed-bound 95-year-old with dementia and failing kidneys in the nursing home or the 6-year-old not able to go to school being "home-schooled" by his 9 year old sister as both parents have no choice but to go to work. Also, the kids have nothing to eat for breakfast and lunch but cold cereal.
I guess the argument is that if we don't get the old folks protected first then they might overflow the hospitals with covid complications and compete with the grand kids, great grand kids and even great great grand kids, needing admission for all sorts of things (not just Covid), for beds.
In summary, I guess my point is we need to do what ever it takes to get kids back in school. It is essential for their mental, physical, emotional, and academic needs. It is essential for our families, communities and and society (I know "schools" as we know them are a relatively recent invention...we are not Agrarian anymore though). It should be a national priority......really.... it should be a national emergency. The mayor of Chicago recently argued as such in trying to force city schools to re-open to in-person learning; but, the teacher's union is balking.
Whewwwww, I'm done.
Keeping schools closed until all teachers can be vaccinated was never part of the deal and it shouldn’t be now. Schools have reopened in this area and elsewhere quite safely without teachers being vaccinated. Pitting the needs of the elderly against the needs of children is unnecessary not to mention a bit sickening.
Someone should tell Chelsea those aren’t mutually exclusive things. I’m so sick of this kind of petty nonsense. I’m using all my willpower to keep from posting my own “what if, instead of....” response.
Not to mention (and I'll admit we don't hear this as much here as we did in NY) "you made a choice to take a job that works 250 days a year, I made a choice to take a job that works 180 days a year. We all have to live with our choices". Now they're pretty quiet with that line about "choices".
Just about once a week I get a notification of a case of COVID at my child's school (Green Hope). It includes other schools with cases each time I get the notice. MOST of the time it is a teacher who has the 'rona. THEY AREN'T CATCHING IT AT SCHOOL. Until we go weeks and weeks without a teacher getting it while schools are closed, any argument to why it's too dangerous to open the schools is not gonna fly with me anymore. Grocery store workers are working. Target, TJ Maxx, Kohl's, etc all open. And PLEASE don't give me "workers are dying" - I've seen plenty of workers at stores not wearing masks till they see someone look at them.
how many K-5 teachers caught Covid in the classroom from late Oct - December?
we know we didn't shut it down already in 2021 because of cases in schools. We shut it down because of overall spread, and especially hospital usage.
Do you think the Wake County teachers would agree to K-5 + cohorts for MS/HS until they get their 1st shot? 2nd shot? 2 weeks after 2nd shot?
It's funny cause the board and super actually lied and initially said it was due to staffing issues. They promised Karen Carter that they would not be going all virtual in 2nd semester. Looks like Ms. Carter learned a valuable lesson about the rest of the board - not that she didn't already know it from her past dealings with them.
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