Sixth day back. Cried again. (4/6)
We had our science department meeting today. At the end my colleagues wished me well. I thanked them. I gave them my e-mail so we could stay in touch. And then I said I hope they stay healthy, and the tears started falling. A lot of them have small children.
It was a Zoom meeting (or the equivalent anyway), so it felt really awkward to start crying. I’m crying now, but there’s no one who can see me through the screen.
Honestly, I feel like I didn’t take enough time last year to get to know everyone. I often stayed in my classroom during lunch, partially because I needed some quiet in my day. But everyone was kind and really cares about the students.
I wish we’d been able to get our demands for #first9online and #refusetoreturn until #14daysnonewcases met so that everyone could remain safe.
This meme came across my feed today, and it feels appropriate. School employees and students are being abused by being sent back to unsafe conditions. The administrators and elected officials like to use the word choice. But is it really choice if you are being forced to “choose” between losing your job and going back into an unsafe environment? That sounds more like extortion to me.
There are others who have stood up to the system and said, “No.” People are retiring, sometimes early. A former colleague of mine said he resigned today. I took a leave of absence so that I’m not contributing my energy and labor to this murderous situation.
I am very fearful for all of the school employees and all of the students returning to schools. Top administrators in our district have been talking for many weeks now about “when” someone gets sick. It’s not a question of “if.”
Who will pick the unlucky lottery ticket?