In Florida many counties are still planning on opening up buildings for a traditional learning environment. School buildings would be open five days a week. The number of students in the buildings should be less than normal, since some students will be learning through virtual platforms. But the end result is still hundreds of people in buildings sharing in the middle of a pandemic caused by an airborne virus.
It’s not safe to go back.
In social media land I’ve seen a lot of folks saying they won’t go back. They’ll retire or retire early. They’ll resign. They’ll go work for Instacart or go back to pizza delivery, like they did when they did when they were in college.
How many will leave? Hard to say. That’s a hard thing to survey. If the survey isn’t anonymous, what employee would mark “I will resign my position” on a form their boss might read?
In a study of ~1900 educations in May 2020, there are some interesting trends. Before Covid, only 17% of the survey participants expressed any interest in leaving their job at the end of the school year. After Covid this number more than doubled to 38%. 67% said they were “somewhat concerned” or “very concerned” about resuming in-person instruction.
Now some of those people in the 38% are only “somewhat likely” to leave the classroom at the end of 2019-2020 (18%). That still leaves 20% of folks either “somewhat likely” or “very likely” to leave. And this was before the extreme spikes in Covid we’ve seen across the U.S. Those didn’t really start until June!
To look at the data conservatively, let’s consider the 9% who are “very likely” to leave the classroom in the face of Covid. We could hypothesize that this number has increased since June, but we’ll roll with this. At the very least this 9% may have committed more full to leaving the classroom.
In my school district there are ~7,500 teachers. There are ~16,000 employees all told. Since the survey is about teachers, we’ll stick with them. If 9% of teachers leave the classroom in my district, that would mean there would be 675 fewer teachers.
675!! That’s 675 classrooms without a teacher. That’s 338 classes with double the class size.
And if that 9% does hold for the rest of the school employees, that 765 positions open. Bus drivers not driving buses. Cafeteria workers not making lunches. Plant Operators not cleaning the buildings. Paraprofessionals not able to help students with disabilities. Office staff not able to support the students, teachers, and administrators that remain. Principals and Assistant Principals not able to support students and teachers…
Who will fill these positions? How will social distancing occur if 9% of teachers resign/retire?
Some folks say that if “you don’t like it!,” referring being sent back to work in unsafe conditions, we should just quit. Great, but who is going to teach your student?
*Before saying this next bit, I want to be clear that I am not planning on resigning. But I am going to use my situation as an example.*
I will toot my own horn a bit. I earned both a masters degree and Ph.D. in Biology. (Only 4.5% of folks in the U.S. have Ph.D.s.) While doing that, I taught college classes for six years before deciding to teach in a high school setting. Since being a high school teacher, I have been rated as a “highly effective” effective teacher four years and as an “effective” teacher one year (my first year teaching high school).
My point? You ain’t gonna get someone more qualified than me to teach your kid! I know my stuff, and I’m good at working with the kids. (And trust me, I know I’m not perfect. I don’t reach every single kid. But I do work on my craft so I can support more and more every year.)
If you’re thinking, “Oh, but you’re different. You got a Ph.D.” Actually, I’m among the average in schools when considering those who have a graduate degree. In 2018, 57% of teachers had at least a masters degree. Comparatively about 25.5% of the general population in the U.S. has a masters degree (as of 2018). Point is we’ve got really educated folks in the public education system! And in Florida, it seems our politicians think that’s worthless. What qualified folks will they find to come take our places?
The numbers just don’t add up. Maybe they are counting on calling the bluff of teachers thinking about leaving the classroom. But even if a lot of those folks end up staying, why would you want to put your employees into a position where they fear for their life? Are they going to be able to do their best job? Are they going to best serve those students?
And what about the students themselves? Are they going to be in their safest learning environment while only their eyes show above their masks all day long? When there can be no group work or true interaction? When they fear to take Covid home to the adults and young family members in their lives?
A lot of folks are saying they are “doing it for families” or “doing it for the kids while pushing status quo policy. We are living in a pandemic, and nothing should be “business as normal” until Covid numbers have dropped. Preferably to #14daysnonewcases.
I’ve been working with folks in my area, across the state, and across the nation to fight back against unsafe school re-openings. We’ve been organizing, writing letters to our elected officials and to local newspapers, rallying. We’re going to keep causing “good trouble” so that our communities and all of their members can stay safe. And hopefully school employees won’t feel like they have to quit to stay safe.
