I didn’t sign up for this

In my 13 year career as a teacher, I have never seen my profession so hotly debated. In March, when schools shut down, it became abundantly clear to so many people just how much schools do for children besides provide an education. Everything from food service to childcare came into question. Schools worked their hardest to keep services open for our kids, right? Teachers rallied and had Google Classrooms and other educational programs up and running for distance learning within days. School districts gave out thousands of devices. We found ways to do food service while maintaining social distancing. Even the school counselors launched social media accounts to connect with kids.

And yet there was so much criticism. Some parents demanded pay because they claimed they were now the “teacher” since they had to supervise distance learning. The President and Secretary of Education claim that we “failed our students” because we were not able to reach every child. And some parents said our efforts for distance learning were not enough, even though we did the best we could under the circumstances of being given very little time and no training to make it happen, and of course, trying to get through the pandemic ourselves.

So now, school districts across the country are making decisions about what school will look like when it starts. For most of us in the south, that means right now (my best friend literally starts teacher planning this Friday), and right now things are scary. My state of Florida is being called the “epicenter” of the Covid-19 pandemic, and yet there are people out there demanding that brick & mortar, traitional schooling take place. Many of these people say teachers are essential workers and we need to risk our lives just like other essential workers. I have also seen countless comments from people demanding their tax dollars back since schools are “closed.” That appreciation for what teachers and schools did back in March has simply vanished for these people.

But here is the thing, I didn’t sign up for this.

I never signed anything in my contract that said I was to risk my life teaching during a pandemic. My job CAN BE DONE through distance learning. Is distance learning perfect? Of course not. Would I rather teach in the classroom? Of course. But I also want to be alive and I want my students and their families to be alive too.

Also, schools are not closed!! The buildings might be mostly closed, but faculty and staff are still working hard to service our students. Distance learning is not free. My district just spent over a billion dollars ordering computers to provide them to students that do not have their own. They are working on a deal with an Internet provider to pay for service for any household that does not have it. They are purchasing programs that make distance learning more effective. Maybe those tax dollars aren’t going towards building utilities, but they are hard at work providing public education for our communities. And for the record, my school district, as I am sure is the case with most, has never stopped things like food service, and right now any child or parent can go pick up meals from the school every single day, through the pandemic and the summer.

I am grateful to work in a school district that voted to start the year virtually and delay the start date to keep everyone safe and provide much needed technology to make distance learning effective.

It would be unfair of me not to talk about how there are many people who support teachers and public education. For every comment about someone saying teachers are lazy, “just want to keep getting paid to do nothing,” and “need to get their butt in the classroom,” there’s one talking about how teachers need to be protected just as much as the students. For every person spreading falsehoods that children cannot get Covid-19 or spread it, there is someone there with the science proving them wrong. For every parent that says, “I just need to get my kid out of the house,” there is one saying, “I know this is hard, I will figure it out.” For all those saying that it is not dangerous to be in a classroom with students and that social distancing is easy and safety protocols will make it safe, there are those that have actually been in a real classroom and/or understand the nature of kids and that it is literally not possible.

Listen, I get it. Childcare costs and availabilty are a real issue, especially in a pandemic, and people need to work. But blaming schools and teachers for keeping themselves (and the kids) safe is missing the real point. The problem we have here is the way childcare works in our country, because the purpose of school is not childcare, it is educating children and keeping them safe. If kids can’t be safe in schools, then they shouldn’t be there; and if we can educate and support them through distance learning, then that is exactly what we should do until it is safe to go back to traditional school.

Because no teacher ever signed up to be a front line worker (nor, frankly, does any teacher make enough money to be considered one).