Chicago Public Schools Reopening: Making it Harder for All Isn't Equity
February 1, 2021 4:09 PM Subscribe
Chicago’s gay, black, lady mayor Lori Lightfoot has blown-up negotiations between the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teacher’s Union. Again. The district and mayor's office jointly told teachers if they do not show up in person for their in-service (read: no students) day today, they will be locked out of their virtual learning accounts at the end of the day, setting the stage for a strike. Later in the day, they pulled this punch, calling for a "cooling off" period, but they certainly waited until after things deteriorated.
The negotiations center on Covid safety as the schools attempt to reopen this week. They were proceeding steadily, and the issues unresolved remain few and paltry, making it even more absurd that the mayor’s office has waded in, slamming them to a halt over the weekend, leading her communications director to resign. Again. Meanwhile agreement is elusive on who benefits and whether schools need to reopen.
The negotiations center on Covid safety as the schools attempt to reopen this week. They were proceeding steadily, and the issues unresolved remain few and paltry, making it even more absurd that the mayor’s office has waded in, slamming them to a halt over the weekend, leading her communications director to resign. Again. Meanwhile agreement is elusive on who benefits and whether schools need to reopen.
I teach in the suburbs now, but I did teach in CPS. I was given one ream of paper for the year (I was a specials teacher with 1,100 students -- so that's half a page of paper per student, per year). I judged debate at a school where there were no doors on the bathroom stalls. I student-taught at a school where the heating system triggered the fire alarm, so we had to wear our coats indoors in record-cold February weather for two weeks before they got around to fixing it. None of this is atypical.
Which is to say: the idea that CPS could possibly make school buildings compliant with COVID safety requirements is absolutely comical. (Leaving aside the question of whether or not that's even desirable!)
Also, the mayor sucks and is a cop.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 5:29 PM on February 1, 2021 [36 favorites]
Which is to say: the idea that CPS could possibly make school buildings compliant with COVID safety requirements is absolutely comical. (Leaving aside the question of whether or not that's even desirable!)
Also, the mayor sucks and is a cop.
posted by goodbyewaffles at 5:29 PM on February 1, 2021 [36 favorites]
No teacher should be showing up. There have been too many educators lost already this pandemic.
The one thing that officials have completely underestimated this pandemic, in complete denial of all sane health advice, is that there is no "opening safety" with even a minimal amount of active infections in the community. You're just rolling dice and hoping you don't crap out.
Ultimately, the only thing that city administrators understand is money. Any teacher who does show up and gets any more than a sniffle should put in a workers comp claim and sue the city to within an ounce of its economic life. I'm fucking sick of this shit. I'm fucking sick of this utter delusion that we can bring back normalcy and just eat the death and destruction. I'm sick of having to watch other people put themselves in harm's way because of this collective delusion.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:56 PM on February 1, 2021 [39 favorites]
The one thing that officials have completely underestimated this pandemic, in complete denial of all sane health advice, is that there is no "opening safety" with even a minimal amount of active infections in the community. You're just rolling dice and hoping you don't crap out.
Ultimately, the only thing that city administrators understand is money. Any teacher who does show up and gets any more than a sniffle should put in a workers comp claim and sue the city to within an ounce of its economic life. I'm fucking sick of this shit. I'm fucking sick of this utter delusion that we can bring back normalcy and just eat the death and destruction. I'm sick of having to watch other people put themselves in harm's way because of this collective delusion.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 5:56 PM on February 1, 2021 [39 favorites]
Lightfoot’s stupid feuds, callous management, and total lack of accomplishment are going to deliver us back into the hands of a Daley. Which sucks.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 5:57 PM on February 1, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by chimpsonfilm at 5:57 PM on February 1, 2021 [7 favorites]
The mayor, who has also prioritized protecting the Chicago Police Department when they raided (which here means assaulted in her own home) the apartment of a social worker by mistake, knocked the teeth out of an 18-year-old BLM protester in the summer, and has consistently tried to reopen indoor dining for bars and restaurants without ANY science to back it up, is trying to pretend she is better than the dreaded Rahm Emmanuel and failing miserably.
posted by kaelynski at 6:30 PM on February 1, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by kaelynski at 6:30 PM on February 1, 2021 [8 favorites]
The one thing that officials have completely underestimated this pandemic, in complete denial of all sane health advice, is that there is no "opening safety" with even a minimal amount of active infections in the community. You're just rolling dice and hoping you don't crap out.
This is why I get mad every time someone is all "Reopen the schools!" Yes, let's all have giant oubreaks, because no matter how much you are all "kids somehow magically don't get Covid," the adults running the school do! And die! Also, we're a bunch of idiots who can't manage to keep apart or wear masks all day or change the air flow in the buildings, etc., etc. Not to mention the spread being everywhere as everything "reopens" again.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:32 PM on February 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
This is why I get mad every time someone is all "Reopen the schools!" Yes, let's all have giant oubreaks, because no matter how much you are all "kids somehow magically don't get Covid," the adults running the school do! And die! Also, we're a bunch of idiots who can't manage to keep apart or wear masks all day or change the air flow in the buildings, etc., etc. Not to mention the spread being everywhere as everything "reopens" again.
posted by jenfullmoon at 6:32 PM on February 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
What are the safety measures? From the reopening letter:
posted by benzenedream at 6:40 PM on February 1, 2021 [16 favorites]
CDC 5 Key Mitigation Strategies for COVID-19 TransmissionOnce again, officials are pretending that asymptomatic spread doesn't exist, with no effort at all to establish random or systematic testing as a backbone to make sure that the other safety measures work. Teachers and parents are given negative incentives to report cases. All this with lots of evidence that kids do spread asymptomatically.
Consistent and correct use of masks
Social distancing to the largest extent possible
Hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette
Cleaning and disinfection
Contact tracing in collaboration with local health department
School buildings will look different
Schools will look and feel very different when teachers and students return. To support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s five key strategies for mitigating COVID-19 transmission, schools will take the following safety measures:
1. Anyone entering a school building for more than 10 minutes will be required to complete a health screener before coming to school to ensure they are free of COVID-19 symptoms and to support the Chicago Department of Public Health’s contact tracing efforts.
Students and staff who are symptomatic or have had close contact with someone who tested positive will not be allowed to enter the building and will be provided access to free COVID-19 tests through either established primary care providers or city partners.
2. Anyone entering a school building will also have their temperature checked and be required to wear a face covering, which the district will provide for every student and staff member.
3. Signs have been installed throughout the building to help students socially distance, and desks and classroom furniture will be spaced further apart.
4. Hand sanitizer stations are placed throughout the building to help everyone practice good hand hygiene.
5. Classrooms have been cleaned from top to bottom and facilities staff members will implement an enhanced cleaning routine.
To help prevent the spread of COVID-19, every classroom will have a HEPA air purifier that will remove 99.99% of airborne mold, bacteria, and viruses. By placing a HEPA air purifier directly in the classroom near students and staff, we can better capture particles, clean the air, and reduce the risk of indoor transmission of viruses and bacteria.
posted by benzenedream at 6:40 PM on February 1, 2021 [16 favorites]
chimpsonfilm, we've been talking about that A LOT. She did so much masquerading as a progressive during her campaign, and she's been so manifestly terrible, that folks are gonna swing right back around to the Bill Daleys of the world. The deepest, deepest ugh.
(I will never forgive all the people who hated Preckwinkle for the soda tax and the soda tax alone. Those stupid ads about how people were driving to Indiana to buy their pop? Absolutely stop it.)
posted by goodbyewaffles at 6:40 PM on February 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
(I will never forgive all the people who hated Preckwinkle for the soda tax and the soda tax alone. Those stupid ads about how people were driving to Indiana to buy their pop? Absolutely stop it.)
posted by goodbyewaffles at 6:40 PM on February 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
Wait also I feel like this group of posters needs to know about this shirt
posted by goodbyewaffles at 6:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by goodbyewaffles at 6:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [4 favorites]
Interview yesterday (5½ min video, alt link, transcript) on NationFace with Dr. Janice K. Jackson, EdD, Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools, in which she studious avoids saying what their next move will be if the teachers don't shape up and get in line. Interviewer Margaret Brennan.
posted by XMLicious at 7:19 PM on February 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by XMLicious at 7:19 PM on February 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Once again, officials are pretending that asymptomatic spread doesn't exist
You may know this, but one of the things that’s been pretty well supported for months without anybody seeming to care is that the peak of viral shedding coincides more or less with the onset of symptoms. Whether people who never have symptoms spread the virus is one thing - I’d go with “probably yes, but maybe not super effectively” - but almost certainly the most infectious people are not (yet) especially sick.
posted by atoxyl at 7:33 PM on February 1, 2021 [13 favorites]
You may know this, but one of the things that’s been pretty well supported for months without anybody seeming to care is that the peak of viral shedding coincides more or less with the onset of symptoms. Whether people who never have symptoms spread the virus is one thing - I’d go with “probably yes, but maybe not super effectively” - but almost certainly the most infectious people are not (yet) especially sick.
posted by atoxyl at 7:33 PM on February 1, 2021 [13 favorites]
As a parent with two elementary age kids in the middle of this mess, let me just add how exhausting, time consuming, and disheartening it is to sift through emails and news to figure out if the kids will have school (any school) tomorrow and figure out how to explain it at breakfast and how to plan the day accordingly. All last week you could hear the teachers over google meet saying their good byes and trying to give the last bit of wisdom or care in case their access was yanked.
To add to the confusion, we parents are getting emails from the school board which feel very manipulative - my favorite was the night before elementary school parent-teacher conferences (they all happen on one day a quarter in the whole district) we got an email urging us to come back to school and implying that we should talk to the teachers. Like there isn't enough to talk about in the 8 minutes, now there is also pressure on the parents to find out if that teacher is willing coming back and even worse, pressure on the teacher from the parents.
All the while, the mayor is tearing down the teachers and tearing down the teacher's knowledge, the very people and thing the kids are supposed to be looking up to and listening to and learning from. It fills me with rage.
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 7:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [11 favorites]
To add to the confusion, we parents are getting emails from the school board which feel very manipulative - my favorite was the night before elementary school parent-teacher conferences (they all happen on one day a quarter in the whole district) we got an email urging us to come back to school and implying that we should talk to the teachers. Like there isn't enough to talk about in the 8 minutes, now there is also pressure on the parents to find out if that teacher is willing coming back and even worse, pressure on the teacher from the parents.
All the while, the mayor is tearing down the teachers and tearing down the teacher's knowledge, the very people and thing the kids are supposed to be looking up to and listening to and learning from. It fills me with rage.
posted by mutt.cyberspace at 7:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [11 favorites]
Wait, CEO of... a public school system? Is the public school system a corporation and if so, wtf?
posted by drinkyclown at 7:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by drinkyclown at 7:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [5 favorites]
Teacher fight is how you get blooded into Mayor Gang.
posted by srboisvert at 7:47 PM on February 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 7:47 PM on February 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
Once again, officials are pretending that asymptomatic spread doesn't exist, with no effort at all to establish random or systematic testing as a backbone to make sure that the other safety measures work.
It's kind of a false sense of security though. Even if they do that they're not actually protecting anything. They're just making it easier to clean up all the shit that's just hit the fan.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:49 PM on February 1, 2021
It's kind of a false sense of security though. Even if they do that they're not actually protecting anything. They're just making it easier to clean up all the shit that's just hit the fan.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:49 PM on February 1, 2021
BTW This has made me a 100% supporter of the CTU. They are practically the only organization in the city that isn't trying to stochastically kill me right now.
posted by srboisvert at 7:49 PM on February 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by srboisvert at 7:49 PM on February 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
Oh whoops I just looked it up, " Unlike most school systems, CPS calls the position of superintendent "Chief Executive Officer"".
posted by drinkyclown at 7:50 PM on February 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by drinkyclown at 7:50 PM on February 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Makes it sound more like a business!
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:55 PM on February 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 7:55 PM on February 1, 2021 [1 favorite]
"Wait, CEO of... a public school system? Is the public school system a corporation and if so, wtf?"
For a variety of messy historical reasons + classic Daley overreach, CPS isn't run by an elected school board BUT by the mayor directly, who hires a "CEO" which is like a superintendent, but with more power. Chicago has a "Board of Education," but it is also appointed by the mayor, and isn't a proper elected school board.
Whether CPS should go back to a school board system is a perennial debate in Illinois politics and Chicago city politics.
A shit-ton of Illinois school laws are passed to only apply to "school systems serving municipalities of more than 1 million people," which is to say ONLY CPS JUST CPS NOBODY ELSE. (Typically in shitty ways)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:55 PM on February 1, 2021 [11 favorites]
For a variety of messy historical reasons + classic Daley overreach, CPS isn't run by an elected school board BUT by the mayor directly, who hires a "CEO" which is like a superintendent, but with more power. Chicago has a "Board of Education," but it is also appointed by the mayor, and isn't a proper elected school board.
Whether CPS should go back to a school board system is a perennial debate in Illinois politics and Chicago city politics.
A shit-ton of Illinois school laws are passed to only apply to "school systems serving municipalities of more than 1 million people," which is to say ONLY CPS JUST CPS NOBODY ELSE. (Typically in shitty ways)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:55 PM on February 1, 2021 [11 favorites]
Whether CPS should go back to a school board system is a perennial debate in Illinois politics and Chicago city politics.
Importantly, during her campaign, Lori Lightfoot pledged to support an elected school board! But once she was elected, she realized that it was easier to just have absolute control and not be accountable to anyone, and anyway here we are
posted by goodbyewaffles at 8:00 PM on February 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
Importantly, during her campaign, Lori Lightfoot pledged to support an elected school board! But once she was elected, she realized that it was easier to just have absolute control and not be accountable to anyone, and anyway here we are
posted by goodbyewaffles at 8:00 PM on February 1, 2021 [12 favorites]
It's kind of a false sense of security though. Even if they do that they're not actually protecting anything. They're just making it easier to clean up all the shit that's just hit the fan.
Yes - but right now the schools that are claiming they are reopening safely aren't even doing that, so we have to take their claims with a large grain of salt. We would only know if they failed when a large number of adults end up in the ICU or dead.
There are only three credible plans that are very low risk:
1) vaccinate everyone until herd immunity kicks in (kids aren't approved for the vaccines yet, which makes this a problem until at least the fall)
2) onsite daily antigen testing as you enter (the Michael Mina plan) - Trump shit the bed on moving any of this forward so we don't have rapid antigen tests that are cheap enough for daily usage. This one actually works even in the case of high community levels and some false negatives since it's assumed you will catch positives on the next daily test limiting exposure to one day or so. Masks and PPE still required.
3) lower community spread to the levels where you can be assured that a typical classroom has a 0.01% chance or lower of containing an infected individual. If community infection levels are very low then traditional test and trace methods have a chance or putting out spot fires before they spread too far. Opening bars and restaurants before schools (also done by Lightfoot) is putting gasoline on the community spread and ensures this will never work.
posted by benzenedream at 8:34 PM on February 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
Yes - but right now the schools that are claiming they are reopening safely aren't even doing that, so we have to take their claims with a large grain of salt. We would only know if they failed when a large number of adults end up in the ICU or dead.
There are only three credible plans that are very low risk:
1) vaccinate everyone until herd immunity kicks in (kids aren't approved for the vaccines yet, which makes this a problem until at least the fall)
2) onsite daily antigen testing as you enter (the Michael Mina plan) - Trump shit the bed on moving any of this forward so we don't have rapid antigen tests that are cheap enough for daily usage. This one actually works even in the case of high community levels and some false negatives since it's assumed you will catch positives on the next daily test limiting exposure to one day or so. Masks and PPE still required.
3) lower community spread to the levels where you can be assured that a typical classroom has a 0.01% chance or lower of containing an infected individual. If community infection levels are very low then traditional test and trace methods have a chance or putting out spot fires before they spread too far. Opening bars and restaurants before schools (also done by Lightfoot) is putting gasoline on the community spread and ensures this will never work.
posted by benzenedream at 8:34 PM on February 1, 2021 [9 favorites]
This same fight is going on in so many school districts around the country, many without the strength and volume of a huge powerful union like the CTU. It's so stressful, and it feels like constant gaslighting, as the districts (and sometimes the public, who are often on the misguided side of supporting re-opening) move the goal posts, talk a big game that they can't possibly deliver on, accuse school staff who are concerned about their safety of not caring, and pretend that we didn't close down when there were low double digit cases and only one covid strain only to give up and potentially reopen when we have high triple digit cases and multiple worse strains.
It's........ exhausting.
posted by carlypennylane at 9:14 PM on February 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
It's........ exhausting.
posted by carlypennylane at 9:14 PM on February 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
There is some really good stuff in the book No Shortcuts about the Chicago teacher’s union and previous fights with mayors.
posted by R343L at 9:19 PM on February 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by R343L at 9:19 PM on February 1, 2021 [2 favorites]
Newsom is doing the same stupid shit in California, but with less belligerence. Who the hell introduced this in December with a due date of February when we were already in the middle of the post-Thanksgiving surge:
The proposal, which was introduced last December, would give California schools up to $750 per student to reopen later this month. The plan was meant to encourage students and staff to get back to in-person learning, and Monday is the deadline for school districts to apply.At least it's incentive based rather than setting up a strike showdown, but it still assumes teachers are disposable humans. Private schools tend to treat the teachers as more disposable due to the lack of unions, and accordingly they have been applying for waivers in Orange County and San Diego:
The 113 schools are located in nine counties, including five that remain on the state's watch list of hard-hit counties. More than 70 percent of the schools are in San Diego and Orange counties — the state's second and third largest counties, which recently left the monitoring list and have pushed the state to allow more sectors to reopen.posted by benzenedream at 9:42 PM on February 1, 2021 [6 favorites]
1) vaccinate everyone until herd immunity kicks in (kids aren't approved for the vaccines yet, which makes this a problem until at least the fall)
Herd Immunity is completely off the table. Nobody is really saying it yet but with the depth of the pool of currently infected people there 100% will be variants that evade existing immune responses because the opportunity for mutation is beyond massive. The city in Brazil which was estimated to have over 70% infected is currently having a second massive outbreak meaning a significant number of people are getting reinfected 8 months later. The worldwide vaccine rollout will take years not months. The American vaccine rollout will take probably at least 8 months and probably won't ever hit the 80-85% vaccinated requirement that the new more infectious variants will require due to vaccine hesitancy, politicization and the inefficient American health care system.
Our leadership is either in complete denial or is lying/concealing this which is a very bad thing when trust in leadership and health professionals is essential for vaccine uptake.
The only way out of this is a mega-massive high speed vaccine manufacturing rollout and distribution for the entire world that would be on the scale of the WWII manufacturing effort and the current economic system is too busy play stonk market games. This effort would have to be combined with serious restrictions of travel with South Pacific levels of mandatory quarantine both nationally and internationally and serious public health measures - hard mitigations, actual rather than token test and trace, state run infected isolation and much more.
We tried buying a copy of an essay (vaccines) to pass the course by cheating with our wealth and are in the process of getting busted. Now we have to take the course again with the same teacher (covid-19) except now they really don't like or trust us and know our tricks (immune response) and it is going to be much more hard work to ace the course.
We are in a very very bad place and it is probably going to take years to climb out of this hole and that's only if we realize we are currently still digging the hole.
posted by srboisvert at 3:15 AM on February 2, 2021 [15 favorites]
Herd Immunity is completely off the table. Nobody is really saying it yet but with the depth of the pool of currently infected people there 100% will be variants that evade existing immune responses because the opportunity for mutation is beyond massive. The city in Brazil which was estimated to have over 70% infected is currently having a second massive outbreak meaning a significant number of people are getting reinfected 8 months later. The worldwide vaccine rollout will take years not months. The American vaccine rollout will take probably at least 8 months and probably won't ever hit the 80-85% vaccinated requirement that the new more infectious variants will require due to vaccine hesitancy, politicization and the inefficient American health care system.
Our leadership is either in complete denial or is lying/concealing this which is a very bad thing when trust in leadership and health professionals is essential for vaccine uptake.
The only way out of this is a mega-massive high speed vaccine manufacturing rollout and distribution for the entire world that would be on the scale of the WWII manufacturing effort and the current economic system is too busy play stonk market games. This effort would have to be combined with serious restrictions of travel with South Pacific levels of mandatory quarantine both nationally and internationally and serious public health measures - hard mitigations, actual rather than token test and trace, state run infected isolation and much more.
We tried buying a copy of an essay (vaccines) to pass the course by cheating with our wealth and are in the process of getting busted. Now we have to take the course again with the same teacher (covid-19) except now they really don't like or trust us and know our tricks (immune response) and it is going to be much more hard work to ace the course.
We are in a very very bad place and it is probably going to take years to climb out of this hole and that's only if we realize we are currently still digging the hole.
posted by srboisvert at 3:15 AM on February 2, 2021 [15 favorites]
Sending solidarity from Minneapolis, where elementary school families are currently on a week of no school because schools are transitioning to in-person learning, but a county judge sided with the teachers union over the weekend, so... who knows what will happen next week?
posted by Maarika at 7:11 AM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by Maarika at 7:11 AM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
Wow, I recently watched City So Real, a docuseries about the Chicago mayoral election that Lightfoot won and she really did portray herself as a progressive. When I started seeing news about her choices I was so surprised. I do recommend watching the series (it's on Hulu) - they recently released an episode about Lightfoot, Chicago and its Covid-19 response so it seems possible they could release another episode about Chicago public schools one day.
posted by thebots at 12:51 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by thebots at 12:51 PM on February 2, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm a teacher in NC, and my husband and I both teach in our district's virtual academy this year. Today, our governor "strongly encouraged" schools to open for in-person learning, despite high levels of community spread and recent detection of the B1.1.7 variant here. Our district is one that has provided two days of in person learning per week for students (two cohorts, with Wednesday as a "deep cleaning" day where all students are remote) already.
Over the weekend, a colleague died of COVID at my previous school. He was a retired teacher who has been subbing in person all year. I saw him for the last time in March. He was at school up until a few days before he died.
I'm watching the case numbers from our district creep up, and many of my husband's colleagues who have been teaching in person either currently have COVID or just got over it. Many of those cases came from them teaching in school. And some came from them becoming lax with precautions because they're so exhausted and convinced they would get it in school anyway.
If we aren't doing comprehensive testing, there's no way to say it's not spreading in schools. I'm so tired of the "REOPEN NOW" crowd demanding teachers risk their lives and their future health and the health of their families in order to provide sub-par in-person education. Where's the good parts of the classroom environment - discussion, collaboration, hands-on-learning, creativity - in this kind of environment?
There are also secretaries watching classes because of how many teachers are out. They can't get subs. Classes combined to having way more than what was advertised or what anyone thinks is safe. You still have kids who refuse to mask up, and some administrators are willing to fight the student/parents and some aren't. And they are also eating unmasked (with teachers supervising, of course) in small, mostly unventilated rooms.
Do I have a point? I don't know. I mostly have a confusion. And I'm tired. I'm tired for all of my friends who weren't fortunate enough to continue to teach safely, virtually. I'm tired for my friends in CPS who have an uncertain future because of all this bullshit. I'm tired of the anti-science crowd and the pro-covid crowd and even the irresponsible uses of data in some of the "studies" that keep calling reopening schools safe.
Being a teacher for the last 17 years has had its low points, but this is the first year it's felt like Just Too Much. And I'm one of the lucky ones.
posted by guster4lovers at 4:23 PM on February 2, 2021 [14 favorites]
Over the weekend, a colleague died of COVID at my previous school. He was a retired teacher who has been subbing in person all year. I saw him for the last time in March. He was at school up until a few days before he died.
I'm watching the case numbers from our district creep up, and many of my husband's colleagues who have been teaching in person either currently have COVID or just got over it. Many of those cases came from them teaching in school. And some came from them becoming lax with precautions because they're so exhausted and convinced they would get it in school anyway.
If we aren't doing comprehensive testing, there's no way to say it's not spreading in schools. I'm so tired of the "REOPEN NOW" crowd demanding teachers risk their lives and their future health and the health of their families in order to provide sub-par in-person education. Where's the good parts of the classroom environment - discussion, collaboration, hands-on-learning, creativity - in this kind of environment?
There are also secretaries watching classes because of how many teachers are out. They can't get subs. Classes combined to having way more than what was advertised or what anyone thinks is safe. You still have kids who refuse to mask up, and some administrators are willing to fight the student/parents and some aren't. And they are also eating unmasked (with teachers supervising, of course) in small, mostly unventilated rooms.
Do I have a point? I don't know. I mostly have a confusion. And I'm tired. I'm tired for all of my friends who weren't fortunate enough to continue to teach safely, virtually. I'm tired for my friends in CPS who have an uncertain future because of all this bullshit. I'm tired of the anti-science crowd and the pro-covid crowd and even the irresponsible uses of data in some of the "studies" that keep calling reopening schools safe.
Being a teacher for the last 17 years has had its low points, but this is the first year it's felt like Just Too Much. And I'm one of the lucky ones.
posted by guster4lovers at 4:23 PM on February 2, 2021 [14 favorites]
Being a teacher for the last 17 years has had its low points, but this is the first year it's felt like Just Too Much. And I'm one of the lucky ones.
I’m 20 years in and hard same. I teach adult-sized 7th and 8th graders. We go back in person immediately after spring break. Travelers are supposed to have a negative COVID test AND quarantine for at least 5 days after they return from out of state but there is no enforcement and I do not believe that our families all will. I will be teaching 3 90-120 minute periods a day- tough with 7th graders even when they can touch and interact- and supervising at least two different periods of non-fully-socially distanced kids eating in my literally windowless room every day. Dining in my city still requires tables to be 10 feet apart- my students will be best case 4-5 feet apart in my big class after I remove all nonessential furniture.
There is no plan for testing. Middle-aged or younger essential workers in my state are literally the last tier to be vaccinated before the general population, after literally every 55+ person in the state, soooo...May? June?
It feels hopeless. I’d leave but I’d lose my insurance and the district could yank my teaching certificate. Teaching over Zoom sucks but at least we’ve figured a lot out and have gotten our highest-risk and youngest kids back in small, distanced settings. None of that is possible when we return kids wholesale and thoughtlessly. At our staff meeting today, after yet another big unpleasant announcement that undermined trust in district leadership valuing our lives at all, my principal cheerily said something about the lack of questions and the bravest member of our staff just said, “hey, we just don’t have anything to contribute that would sound at all professional” and there was a big long scary silence after that.
I’m glad CTU is standing up. I wish I knew how to do that here. If you guys know teachers in literally any situation in the US this year, know that they’re really. not. okay.
posted by charmedimsure at 1:56 AM on February 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
I’m 20 years in and hard same. I teach adult-sized 7th and 8th graders. We go back in person immediately after spring break. Travelers are supposed to have a negative COVID test AND quarantine for at least 5 days after they return from out of state but there is no enforcement and I do not believe that our families all will. I will be teaching 3 90-120 minute periods a day- tough with 7th graders even when they can touch and interact- and supervising at least two different periods of non-fully-socially distanced kids eating in my literally windowless room every day. Dining in my city still requires tables to be 10 feet apart- my students will be best case 4-5 feet apart in my big class after I remove all nonessential furniture.
There is no plan for testing. Middle-aged or younger essential workers in my state are literally the last tier to be vaccinated before the general population, after literally every 55+ person in the state, soooo...May? June?
It feels hopeless. I’d leave but I’d lose my insurance and the district could yank my teaching certificate. Teaching over Zoom sucks but at least we’ve figured a lot out and have gotten our highest-risk and youngest kids back in small, distanced settings. None of that is possible when we return kids wholesale and thoughtlessly. At our staff meeting today, after yet another big unpleasant announcement that undermined trust in district leadership valuing our lives at all, my principal cheerily said something about the lack of questions and the bravest member of our staff just said, “hey, we just don’t have anything to contribute that would sound at all professional” and there was a big long scary silence after that.
I’m glad CTU is standing up. I wish I knew how to do that here. If you guys know teachers in literally any situation in the US this year, know that they’re really. not. okay.
posted by charmedimsure at 1:56 AM on February 4, 2021 [4 favorites]
Yesterday I read an opinion on Stat News why kids need to return to in person school and they why they don't need to be vaccinated. I (not a K-12 teacher, but early childhood) saw red when I read this " For kids to return to school, I support teachers being vaccinated (though this is not essential)," WTF!!!!!!!!
"There’s no question that Covid-19 is an emergency for adults, a catastrophic disease that becomes more deadly with advancing age. But it isn’t that for children. For them it is a respiratory pathogen with a rate of harm that is comparable to other, annual respiratory pathogens like influenza."
Tell that to the parents of the kids who died or had strokes or other terrible things happen. And influenza does kill kids regularly.
I'm so tired of the BS. My heart goes out to my K-12 colleagues. They're being put in impossible situations.
posted by kathrynm at 5:29 PM on February 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
"There’s no question that Covid-19 is an emergency for adults, a catastrophic disease that becomes more deadly with advancing age. But it isn’t that for children. For them it is a respiratory pathogen with a rate of harm that is comparable to other, annual respiratory pathogens like influenza."
Tell that to the parents of the kids who died or had strokes or other terrible things happen. And influenza does kill kids regularly.
I'm so tired of the BS. My heart goes out to my K-12 colleagues. They're being put in impossible situations.
posted by kathrynm at 5:29 PM on February 4, 2021 [3 favorites]
Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I kind of feel like this is the last push of the MUST REOPEN crowd, before the DeVos/Trumpites get flushed out of the CDC and it goes back to recommending policy based on public safety and actual data. When that happens they will recommend vaccination of teachers backed up by robust random and systematic testing to detect and contain outbreaks. This is not rocket science unless you don't give a shit about teachers and regard them as disposable. Vinay Prasad, the author of that STAT article, is not an infectious disease specialist nor an epidemiologist. I would regard his opinion higher than Scott Atlas but not by much. Daniel Griffin is a better source for not being part of an administration and being an actual infectious disease specialist.
posted by benzenedream at 8:18 PM on February 4, 2021
posted by benzenedream at 8:18 PM on February 4, 2021
Wow, I recently watched City So Real, a docuseries about the Chicago mayoral election that Lightfoot won and she really did portray herself as a progressive.
I had the same reaction thebots.
My heart goes out to all teachers in this mess.
posted by daybeforetheday at 1:38 AM on February 5, 2021
I had the same reaction thebots.
My heart goes out to all teachers in this mess.
posted by daybeforetheday at 1:38 AM on February 5, 2021
This is a shitty situation for all involved especially since most effective measures (daily testing, etc) to mitigate this issue can only be done on a national level. Has there been any recent polling of what the parents of students prefer that is representative of the student population?
posted by fizzix at 1:26 PM on February 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Maybe it's the optimist in me, but I kind of feel like this is the last push of the MUST REOPEN crowd, before the DeVos/Trumpites get flushed out of the CDC
I don't know about that. I think now that Biden is in the White House, Democrats are looking at how quickly they can get things back to normal, so they'll have a recovery to take credit for. What are teachers going to do about it, vote Republican?
posted by riruro at 3:55 PM on February 5, 2021
I don't know about that. I think now that Biden is in the White House, Democrats are looking at how quickly they can get things back to normal, so they'll have a recovery to take credit for. What are teachers going to do about it, vote Republican?
posted by riruro at 3:55 PM on February 5, 2021
I fully expect Democratic governors and mayors to keep doing stupid things. We might expect the CDC to stop saying probably wrong things for political reasons. (They'll go back to subtly misinterpreting things for political reasons)
posted by benzenedream at 4:21 PM on February 5, 2021
posted by benzenedream at 4:21 PM on February 5, 2021
Apparently, my post was premature. From Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor in the New Yorker, "What's at Stake in the Fight Over Reopening Schools." Professor Taylor gets it. This bit right here,
"This is why the argument—from Lightfoot, Jackson (the C.P.S. chief), and others—that the return to school is about equity rings so hollow. Pushing for schools to reopen even as the overwhelming majority of Black and Latinx parents opt for remote learning will only undermine remote instruction, all while catering to the disproportionate number of white students who show up in person."posted by kaelynski at 9:12 AM on February 9, 2021 [2 favorites]
Update: Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools Reach Agreement for Return to In-Person Learning -- a post from The Root that contains several other links within.
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:34 AM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 7:34 AM on February 11, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by tiny frying pan at 4:59 PM on February 1, 2021 [8 favorites]