I’m a Teacher and I’m Horrified at Schools Reopening During COVID
Educators took one look at the photos that recently emerged from the crowded, nearly mask-less hallways of a high school in Georgia, and gasped for air.
I keep thinking about a moment in my career in education, when I taught at a small Catholic school for girls in Queens, New York. On one otherwise unmemorable morning, a student in my homeroom slid off her chair and onto the floor, mouth foaming, body convulsing: Something in the pot she’d smoked on the way to school caused her to overdose. I carried her out of the stuffy room and into the hallway, all the while yelling for help. The girls in my homeroom crowded around, fanning us, opening her collar, pulling my hair out of my face as I tried to make sure she was breathing, alternately panicking and calming each other down.
I’ve always thought about this incident as a story of bravery—of teenagers coming together with no warning to help someone in need. But now what I keep thinking is: There were so many of us, sharing so little air.
For me, for most of us in education, this is an ordinary and an extraordinary time. Ordinary, because it’s August and thus time to get ready to go back to school as I have for the last 21 years. Making syllabi, stocking up on pens, and considering a new backpack all feel deeply familiar. But this is an extraordinary time, too, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the utter chaos it has caused for parents, students, and educators.
The lack of realistic guidance has been shocking, and too many school administrators are apparently unable to think of any plan other than the “normal” beginning they hoped to have. The calendar seems to be pulling us towards a vortex where the ordinary and extraordinary will collide, when we’ll all be sharing too little air. It’s terrifying. Educators took one look at the photos that recently emerged from the crowded, nearly mask-less hallways of a high school in Georgia, CONTINUE READING: I’m a Teacher and I’m Horrified at Schools Reopening During COVID