Open Letter to My Fellow Teachers as We Prepare to Reopen Schools
How did we find ourselves at the center of such public scorn?
We are presently four and a half months removed from when schools shut down last spring…approximately one month before we are slated to open again for the new school year (in CT). There is, seemingly, a sense of panic that is building amongst colleagues and peers. I hear many voices noting different versions of the same refrain: how can we possibly open up schools? Yesterday, in my state, teachers once again formed parades of cars. This time, it’s not to show appreciation for their students, but to protest returning to them. Hearing about this, I finally felt compelled enough to join the conversation past a retweet or comment here or there.
Open Letter to my Fellow Teachers:
I know you’re anxious. Mostly, rightfully so. As stores and businesses opened up, I did not rush right out either. I chose not to be a part of the “social experiment” as I and many others call it. I have been careful. I have worn my mask; I have only gathered with my closest friends and family in outside settings. I have stayed six feet apart from all strangers. It still makes me nervous to go into a crowded grocery store. I get it.
Let’s take a step back from the constant bombardment of news and social media and ask ourselves: Why is it, that in a matter of months — teachers went from being praised and finally recognized for how challenging it is to manage, let alone successfully teach a classroom full of children — to finding ourselves at the center of such public scorn? Along with this, I’m noticing momentum building from my colleagues around the country in the form of complaints regarding how the public is calling them out for expressing concern about returning to school. How do we ease this dissonance and get back that much needed public support again? There’s only one way: make calm, rational arguments with evidence to support valid concerns. Essentially, walk the walk, just as we ask of our students. Check sources before quoting or retweeting someone else’s outlandish claims. And do your own research. Stop reacting to the polarized, political media reports that are simply pandering to each respective base.
Teachers: I love you, I am one of you. No one disagrees with you that we need safety measures in place: social distancing, hand washing, protocols for if and when students or staff members get sick. No one is disputing that it will be very difficult (if not outright impossible) to have a perfectly safe school environment come September. Nothing is perfectly safe right now. It’s not going to be for a long time. But let’s talk about the facts, not the hysteria. Dr. Fauci just held a town hall with AFT teachers to give recommendations and to address the risks associated with school. Yes, there will be risks. And we will all have to decide what level of risk we are willing to tolerate in all social situations. But I haven’t heard one report (from a reasonable, credible source) that says anyone is going to try to make us go to work if there is a resurgence of cases in our area or if community spread increases. Hence,there are, generally, different models associated with reopening. I just listened in to a town hall style phone call for a local district — and the leadership was discussing options for teachers at risk to teach remotely, or use their FMLA, in order to support everyone’s individual needs. I am listening to a briefing from the governor of Connecticut as I write this, and he is talking about how he is listening to and planning with teachers about how to open schools as safely as possible. This same scenario played out in a similar manner with nurses, day care owners, and food service providers who went back to work (or never stopped) before us. No one is demanding we march to our deaths. The relative hysteria is a result of the media (or social media) trying to drum up ratings and/or reaction. That doesn’t help anything or anyone.
What are our next steps?
If you truly believe, after reading all of the reports and recommendations from the doctors and scientists, that it is in the best interest of everyone for teachers to stay home and teach remotely, there is something we all can do. Parading around in cars only feeds into the public dissonance (and public distrust). We would be FAR better served in showing the public how hard we are working to become better remote teachers. We cannot pretend that our mad dash to put together some sort of distance learning for our students in the spring worked. Students didn’t all have internet, devices, or the skill set to navigate an online learning platform (and neither did we). The main argument for opening up schools, and the reason many parents are pulling kids out of schools to home school, is because right now, we aren’t serving our students particularly well in the form of online schooling. The way parents (and students) feel is justified. Additionally, we have to stop acting like the same concerns impact everyone. Every individual has different needs and a different risk level, and our plans need to accommodate each one of them. Some schools are already making such plans. Brooklyn Lab Charter Schools recently released a blueprint for planning that took into consideration the most at-risk people first. The Brooklyn LAB director of academics acknowledged, “If we get that right, we will be able to serve a wider range of scholars and families.”
Instead of debating the politics, we should be focusing our energies on working together to get GOOD at teaching remotely (or in hybrid situations). Again, our students and parents demand that of us…and it’s justified. Districts could be working with organizations, like Achievement Network, and so many others, who are helping them to actually plan for the return — in any of the three models, all focused on what matters most: effective teaching and learning. I have started working with a small group of educators I met through Facebook, and I am live streaming from YouTube every Sunday for the next three weeks (first webinar was last weekend if you want to catch up with us) — helping whoever wants to learn how to get through the tech issues to create interactive, adaptive virtual learning materials. We are bringing the conversation from the webinars back to where we can support each other — a couple of new Facebook groups: one for tech help to make the actual digital materials, and one to discuss what really should be the main topic of conversation among educators today, what I call “the good stuff”: how to use this time of recovery to plan for the reimagining and reinvention of education our system so desperately needs. That’s how we build toward a more equitable system; that’s how we get through this together. These ideas aren’t mine — I am learning more and more every day as I soak up the research, the recommendations, blueprints, and advice from the real experts. I’m just hoping to find like-minded, passionate professionals who want to cut through the noise and actually do the work together!
We need to focus our energies on problem-solving, not protesting. We need to support our district leaders by productively adding to the reopening conversation vs. protesting even before we have all the facts. As Einstein teaches us, defining the problem (and making sure we are solving the right problems) is where most of the time should be spent. Once we clearly define what we need, I believe America will once again answer the call to support us.
We saw people, organizations, and businesses small and large leap to action once defined requests for support were formulated. From Nascar and the racing industry shifting from making car parts to ventilators, to a pizzeria in Chicago helping make face shields in the pizza ovens, I am positive people and businesses will again pivot to help our teachers and students.
Yet, right now, we need to listen to the people we are paid to serve. Pushing back by dismissing their points of view will not help us gain their trust, nor will it help us gain their respect. The public did not see essential workers from other professions protesting with the slogan “Let me stay home!”
The Bigger Picture
Before you reply with, “but teachers didn’t sign up for working through a pandemic,” how about the mail carriers, Amazon delivery drivers, teenage and elderly store clerks, restaurant owners, day care workers, the list goes on. No one signed up for this, but we all must do our part. This does not mean each of these groups faced the same risks — and reopening schools IS a unique situation, one with a new set of risks. But we all must move forward understanding that no one was ready for a pandemic. But we must face it together.
We need to pay special attention to the fact that the public opinion of teachers starts with the messaging from our leadership. Make sure your union leadership is accurately representing your actual concerns regarding reopening schools. Make sure your union is making demands based on actual medical safety concerns, like this latest update from AFT that supports “safety strikes” as a last result rather than these demands from the Los Angeles teachers union, which mix in political demands such as defunding the police, demanding medicare for all, and closing local charter schools in order for the public schools to open in the fall. This simply undermines the message that teachers’ concerns are about the medical safety of their students and families.
Instead of protesting, we should be planning. We should be working together using the guidance published in many of the links embedded here. We will do the best we can, understanding that we don’t have all the answers, but we must move forward. If your school district is proposing something unsafe, do your research, quote the experts, and make your argument. Society will back you up, if you articulate yourself professionally and present alternative solutions instead of fanning the flames of public dissonance. We work FOR the public. Let’s show the public how much we care about them.
