Schools Reopening

My family is one of educators. My sister and her husband are both science teachers. My mom is a paraprofessional in an elementary school, specifically working in kindergarten the last few years. On top of that, my younger sister just started high school. Even in my extended family, my aunts were teachers, and I have a cousin that works in higher education.

 

To say the least, I have grown up surrounded by educators. In the past few years, I have been able to better understand the sacrifices my loved ones (and other educators) make working in that field. I have watched them reach into their own pockets to pay for supplies and supports for their classrooms, despite not having huge paychecks. I’ve watched them spend time in the evenings, on the weekends, and over the summers working to better support their students. I have also watched the general public talk down about their profession. I have seen budgets cut and adjustments made.

 

I have seen their worry. I’ve seen their worry about students that acted out because they know their home life is rough. I’ve seen their worry about if their students will eat that night or over the weekend and donate to the programs that help prevent kids from going hungry. I’ve seen their worry as they’ve been trained over and over again on different ways to protect students during school shootings. I’ve watched them discuss what they would do if an active shooter were to enter their rooms. Last year, I watched them support their students impacted by the floods.  

 

In March, I watched their reactions to schools closing. I saw their worries about their students going home to rough situations of poverty and potential abuse. I saw their worries about students being able to learn online. I saw how hard they worked for their students, how they made as many adjustments as possible to support their students in this new, odd reality. And they made it work.

 

And for a few months, I thought, “Finally. Finally, other people are starting to see the sacrifices teachers make.” Parents were posting on social media about how difficult it was to teach their own children. Parents were admitting they didn’t know what they were doing. People were beginning to thank teachers.

 

Then, I saw how over the summer, that seemed to all be forgotten.

 

Suddenly, educators were “lazy” for not wanting to bring students back into potentially deadly environments. Schools were being pushed back open by lawmakers and the public was generally supporting it. We needed to “get back to normal.”

 

So once again, I watched my educator family work on how that practically could work. They found ways to buy masks and plexiglass protectors and made plans on how to social distance in classrooms (which cannot truly be done, by the way). I watched my educator family, all in higher risk categories for coronavirus, prepare for this year.

 

Last week, some educators and supporters in Omaha did get a huge win by getting OPS to go to remote learning for Quarter 1. While that is very exciting and was a victory for their safety, none of my family of educators work at OPS. For the most part, they are in rural, K-12 districts. And this week, their years have started. In-person. Basically like “normal.”

 

I am angry and disappointed at this. I wish my family members weren’t all attending in-person schools. I am worried. If any of them are exposed and catch this virus, the chances of them being hospitalized are much larger due to their pre-existing conditions/ages. And if they are hospitalized with this, I won’t even be able to visit them. They’ll be alone in that situation. Truthfully, at their schools, they are in scary situations. I just hope and pray they are not the ones to get it.

 

Which is horrible, I know. But the truth of the matter is, it is not a matter of “if” someone tests positive at these schools. It’s a matter of “when” and how quickly it will spread. I surely hope that none of my family members, who spent their summers staying in Nebraska, 6 feet away from everyone, and wearing masks, are not the ones who test positive.

 

Since masks protect the people you are around and not yourself, I am basically knowing my loved ones are going into buildings every day where their safety in this situation depends much more on the behavior of others and not themselves. When the people around them choose not to wear a mask, social distance, and many of them traveled to places like the hot-spot of Florida this summer, I just have to hope and pray that they do not pass this virus off to my at-risk loved ones, which is what makes me so frustrated.

 

This could have all be done differently. But since in America, this was made political, we are not in a place where schools are safe to reopen “like normal” right now.

 

Look, it sucks, I get it. I didn’t get to move back to Ohio like I planned because of this pandemic. But in America, over 160,000 people have died because of this pandemic, and if we aren’t careful, many, many more will be added to that list. And I hate that I have to just sit around hoping that my family of educators don’t join that list based on the actions of others.

 

So please, take this seriously. Schools are reopening, but that doesn’t mean this is over. It’s not over until we have a vaccine (and with “anti-vaxxers,” well, at least the vaccine protects the person who gets it). Wear a mask. Social distance. Don’t just go hang out in bars and spend time with a bunch of different people all of the time. Listen to actual public health officials and not just random politicians that are not experts that have been spreading lies about this.

 

And have some empathy for the fact that in America, 167,000+ people have died from this. That’s about 42 times the amount of loss we had on 9/11. Yes, the 9/11 attacks, which we mourn every year. We’ve lost about 42 times that amount of people due to this, just here in America. Your loss of a football season is really not the thing to freak out about right now. Please take this seriously.

 

Wear a mask, don’t act like this is over, and keep social distancing. We need to keep our students, teachers, and educators safe.

 

The pandemic is not over yet. Please act like it matters.