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Sunday, July 19, 2020

Why this teacher and mom is considering quitting - The Washington Post

Why this teacher and mom is considering quitting - The Washington Post

This teacher and mother of 3 says she may quit if forced back to school, and so will other educators like her



Heather Mace is a teacher mentor in Arizona, where coronavirus infections are rising, a teacher working in summer school died of the disease and educators are calling on Gov. Doug Ducey (R) to start the 2020-2021 school year online.
Some districts have already announced they are going to do remote education when school starts again, deciding it is too risky to reopen for in-person learning and/or they don’t have the resources to mitigate the risk.
Ducey, however, has said districts in Arizona should start the new school as soon as Aug. 17 with students and teachers in the classroom, as President Trump has demanded. Some teachers have started protesting, saying it is too dangerous to reopen schools while covid-19 rates and hospitalizations are spiking.
Mace is a teacher mentor in Tucson and the mother of three children ages 10 and under. (Teacher mentors are educators who not only teach children but also serve as mentor for beginning teachers.)
In this post she explains why she may quit or take leave if she is required to return to school. She speaks for a lot of teachers, especially those who also have young children at home and face complicated decisions about work and child care during the pandemic.
Mace is Public Voices Fellow with the OpEd Project, a social venture that aims to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas contributing to national and international debate.
By Heather Mace
As a public school employee with three elementary-school-aged children, I can close my eyes and imagine what classes might look like this fall: desks placed six feet apart, staggered lunch schedules, an online curriculum. What I have a harder time envisioning, however, is how parents who work in education are supposed to attend to their own children’s needs and still keep their jobs. CONTINUE READING: Why this teacher and mom is considering quitting - The Washington Post