I know that teachers are presently planning how they are going to educate their students online or face to face. Some teachers are reportingly filling out their wills.
I know that schools will need more personnel to keep the schools clean. I just read a tweet from a student who said, “They couldn’t keep the restrooms clean, how are they going to keep the school clean?” It’s true. Many days as a teacher, I would clean the desks and classroom in flu season because the custodian “did not get to my room” the night before. I would even clean between classes. I would keep hand sanitizers on my desk. But I shared the classroom with other teachers, as they did with me. At the high school level, that is standard practice.
I know that some high school students will refuse to wear a mask. Just because. Yesterday my husband and I were in Kroger, a store now mandating mask-wearing. A mother, her adult daughter, and three children came in all unmasked. They were loud and celebrating; they came in without a mask. Kroger will not stop people who are coming in without a cover. Should a high school dean or assistant principal or teachers spend their days following kids around or sending kids home because they are defiant? Should they have to put up with parents claiming they will sue? I know it will happen. I have witnessed the same behavior with students and their parents when required not to wear hats or hoodies.
I know the ventilation in schools is not fit to manage this Covid-19 pandemic. When building a school, the construction is out for bids. Judging from how the temperature graduated from one end of the building to the other in buildings I worked, I can’t imagine the ventilation system was much better. In one part of the building, it felt like the tropics; in the other part of the building, a teacher would have to have a heater under the desk to stay warm.
I know that the superintendents have been mulling this situation with the schools since March, long before the president and his Secretary of Education, Betty DeVos, thought of turning this into a political issue. I also know that most educators have more degrees in Education than the president and DeVos combined. Most have educators have more advanced degrees than both President Trump and Secretary DeVos.
I know I would trust my education community to judge whether students should return before I trust anybody.
CoVid19 Education, OnLine Education