This teacher and mother of 3 says she may quit if forced back to school, and so will other educators like her
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
The decision of many large school districts to continue remote learning this fall underscores the longstanding and urgent need to narrow the digital divide and close the “homework gap”—the inability to do schoolwork at home due to lack of internet access. Nationwide, as many as 16 million students are affected—nearly 1 in 3—and they hail from every state. A disproportionate share of those students are African-American, Hispanic, live in rural areas, or come from low-income families.
Rep. John Larson (D-CT) 
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD)
