The COVID-19 pandemic is giving the American school system a failing grade, and pressure is mounting to reopen schools and force teachers to return to classrooms that could be unsafe. Frustrated parents, eager to get their children back in classrooms, say distance learning is taking a toll. They contend that their kids are dealing with mental health issues from isolation, that excessive screen time is turning their children into “Zoombies”, and they are falling behind academically. Parents are making the case for an immediate return to in-person schooling based on studies that show that COVID-19 infection rates are much lower for children. What parents fail to take into account, is the adults that take care of their children, such as teachers, bus drivers, crossing guards, cafeteria workers, custodians, school nurses, and administrators, are much more susceptible to COVID-19 infection. For this reason, teachers’ unions say that they won’t send teachers and staff into an unsafe environment, and that all teachers need to be vaccinated before returning to classrooms.
In response to this concern, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued guidelines for reopening schools that center on five key mitigation strategies that are essential to safely reopening schools: correct use of masks; physical distancing; handwashing; cleaning, disinfecting, & ventilation of facilities and contact tracing, isolation and quarantine. The CDC fell short in listing teacher vaccinations and testing among their key strategies. Instead, they simply encouraged local jurisdictions to prioritize teachers in their vaccination rollout.
The CDC also established a color-coded chart of levels of community COVID-19 transmission to guide school reopening that range from blue for low, to yellow for moderate, to orange for substantial and then to red for high transmission. According to a CNN analysis of federal data, “About 99% of children in the US live in a county considered a “red” zone with high levels of Covid-19 transmission.” While the CDC guidelines do not mandate that schools reopen, many school districts are bowing to pressure to do so.
What parents fail to take into account, is the adults that take care of their children
As pressure from local and state officials and school administrators intensifies to reopen schools by spring, even threatening to sue teacher unions and school districts, many teachers are saying that “teachers’ lives matter” and not enough attention is being given to the number of teachers that have died from COVID-19. CNN reports that there is no official national tracking of the number of teachers, administrators and school staff who have died from COVID-19, though reports of new deaths “seem to surface with increasing frequency.” The American Federation of Teachers, one of the largest teachers’ unions, estimates that more than 530 members died from coronavirus last year. Education Week, an education publication, has provided more in-depth tracking of educator deaths from a memorial it runs to remember and document the lives of the teachers, principals, and support staff. The publication estimates that as of February 1, at “least 707 retired and active teachers, coaches, custodians and other staff members have died of COVID-19. This number does not specify whether an employee was infected at school or in another setting.
Now that most teachers have experienced or know of the loss of a colleague in their school district or one nearby, they fear that they or their loved ones could get sick or even die from COVID-19 – especially with the threat of new more contagious variants. Some teachers have been working in states like Georgia and Texas since October without benefit of any vaccination. Georgia state officials just recently shut down a local clinic for giving vaccines to teachers who are not yet considered a priority group. Meanwhile, teachers in Georgia and other states who are back in the classroom continue to die from exposure to the virus.
Teachers want to go back to the classroom, but not dying to do so
Having worked as a fourth-grade public school teacher, I know that teachers would rather return to their own classrooms than teach remotely. They just want to do it safely. We African American teachers have to be especially cautious since we have a higher COVID-19 infection rate due to a high level of underlying health conditions such as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. We also tend to teach students in urban areas, potentially facing risk from students living in multi-generational, crowded households and from those whose parents work primarily in the service sector. We also have the challenge of overcoming vaccine hesitancy.
While CDC and other recent studies show that there is a low rate of transmission at school when proper precautions are taken, such as wearing masks, physical distancing, and having proper ventilation, there’s the question of whether these studies included urban schools with diverse populations.
Then there are maintenance and infrastructure issues that were already impacting urban schools before the pandemic hit. When I worked as a public school teacher, my floors were rarely cleaned and there were roach and rodent infestations. Often, I had to be the one to disinfect my classroom. The classroom sink was off limits for handwashing and drinking because the water contained lead and had a foul mold and mildew odor. Safe drinking water was obtained from water dispensers in designated halls. When the water was depleted, the dispensers remained empty for days on end.
My classroom also had poor ventilation. I had several windows that did not open completely, and I had to threaten to resign to get a filthy air conditioner filter replaced. During winter, my students and I didn’t have heat several times. There was no bathroom inside my classroom so, my students shared a four-stall facility down the hall with other third, fourth, and fifth grade students. This bathroom notoriously ran out of toilet paper, paper towels, and hand soap. There were two unisex bathrooms for teachers near the main office that chronically ran out of supplies as well. My colleagues at other schools had similar complaints. So, I’m quite skeptical about the implementation and longevity of these CDC guidelines.
Teachers should not be forced to work in these types of hazardous conditions, especially during a deadly pandemic! Many school buildings are dilapidated and are literally falling apart. These structures lack proper ventilation and will need to have their systems upgraded to mitigate coronavirus infection. In addition, schools must implement all CDC maintenance protocols. How often will the classrooms be cleaned and disinfected? No teacher or student should step foot into any school building until these concerns are addressed and a plan has been implemented.
The entire educational system needs to be overhauled
Not only do school buildings need renovations, but the entire educational system needs to be overhauled before teachers return. Our educational system was already fractured and in need of enhancement before the coronavirus pandemic hit. COVID-19 further exposed equity gaps and discrepancies that have been adversely affecting our educational system for decades, causing too many African American students to fall further behind. For decades, teachers have been dealing with the challenges of overcrowded classrooms, outdated technology, excessive testing, and Eurocentric curricula.
Hopefully, during this period of on-line learning, parents have come to appreciate teachers more than they have in the past. Perhaps, parents can now see all the planning and preparation that it takes to teach a lesson and keep students engaged. I understand that parent burn out is real and it’s challenging to work a job and assist children with online learning. Parents’ efforts do not go unnoticed. This journey requires patience because lives are at risk. I know from experience that it’s so much easier to teach in the classroom than it is online. But for now, this is the safest format for teachers and students during a devastating pandemic.
In order to get teachers back into the classroom safely, it’s going to take more than a vaccine. It’s going to take funding and time. Funding to put safety protocols in place and upgrade ventilation systems in schools. Time to get it all done. So, let’s not rush our teachers or our students back to on-site schooling to only make matters worse. Let’s continue with online learning and at the same time improve our infrastructure and educational system to safely mitigate the dangers of this deadly virus. The kids will be out of the buildings free of any hazards during the overhaul. Then in the fall we can start fresh and safely reopen and stay open.
