Students in masks? Sick kids staying home? Teachers aren’t convinced plans will keep them safe.
School districts across the country are sharing rough drafts of what the fall could look like. They are under increasing pressure, from parents and politicians, for those plans to include at least some in-person learning.
But teachers, especially ones who are older or medically compromised, worry those plans do to little to protect them.
The plans are also just unrealistic, teachers say. They can’t envision students maintaining social distance, keeping masks on, or walking in the same directions in hallways, all things health officials are recommending. Even before the pandemic, teachers said, their schools struggled to keep ample soap and water running in the bathrooms.
“When I hear about keeping students socially distant, I just kind of laugh at that,” said Crysta Weitekamp, a 47-year-old special education teacher at Southeast High School in Springfield, Ill., who has asthma. “They’re social creatures.”
So, teachers say, they’re anxious about returning. But they’re also anxious about what happens to their job if they refuse.
“It does make me nervous to say no,” said Lara, a high school teacher at a Los Angeles charter school who is immunocompromised. (Worried about her job, she spoke on the condition that she be identified CONTINUE READING: Students in masks? Sick kids staying home? Teachers aren’t convinced plans will keep them safe. - The Washington Post