Bonus~ All the Feels

I've been having a lot of feels lately.  I'm really starting to get worried about our favorite places surviving this.  It's sad to imagine a city without our special spots and it's getting harder to deal with the reality that 2020 is pretty much a complete wash.  Traveling, mornings in Harvard Square, sightseeing.      Events like Oktoberfest, tree lightings, etc. will most likely be cancelled.  Will there even be college sports?  For a while there I really loved the quiet that had taken over the city, but now I miss the city noises.

Plus, there's the whole deal with going back to school.  It's a stressful idea.  I see some of these studies out of other countries and it concerns me.

I see that rules like 6 feet have been changed to 3 feet for schools with no maximums placed on class size.  These things genuinely scare me.  I really worry that the primary focus of school reopening is on children and not the adults that work in a building.  If I end up back at work I most likely will not be able to visit with my dad for a lot longer.  That just doesn't seem fair.

This essay has been floating around Facebook and it really sums up my feelings.  I know I provide an essential service but it shouldn't feel so risky.

Teachers and school staff are not discussed in school reopening plans. If you want to reopen safely, this needs to change. (For the record, I don't think it's possible to reopen public schools safely.)

Over the last decade, we've seen public school teachers throw themselves in between shooters and their students. We've seen teachers physically cover children with their bodies as tornadoes ripped apart the building they were in.

Remember those funny memes from three months ago? The ones about teachers deserving huge raises? Or how they should put anything they want on their wishlist this year because now you appreciate them?

For a lot of teachers, this is their wishlist:
• Give us a choice about whether or not we want to risk our own lives when you open schools.

• Don't make us choose between having a job or endangering the lives of our high risk loved ones who live with us. Asking someone to stop visiting their mother in a long term care facility is asking a lot. Can we acknowledge this please?

• Give us a choice as to whether or not we are prepared to self-isolate from our parents and other at risk loved ones for the entire school year.

• Tell high-risk teachers NOW that they will NOT be required to teach in August. You have diabetic teachers, teachers recovering from cancer, teachers with COPD waiting to see if -- in just four weeks time --they will have to choose between their lives and their jobs.

• Insist that administrators and politicians start being explicit about how they're addressing employee health and working conditions. Here are a few problems that need to be addressed; I'm sure there are more.
– Will people have to be 100% asymptomatic to work on any given day? To the point where if someone has a cough or trouble breathing they stay home? Or are some symptoms acceptable? Which ones? Will teachers have unlimited sick days? They'd have to in order to follow this safety mandate.
– Where is the pool of substitute teachers coming from? There has been a sub shortage for years. Will subs have to commit to one specific school in order to minimize contact circles? Will classes have to double up if there are not enough subs?
– If you do allow teachers to choose between teaching in person or online from home (as you should), will they have to certify why they request online? Will a low risk teacher be allowed to work from home due to high risk family members?

• Will school district employees get hazard pay? No, of course not. Even though they should. But given the strict cleaning requirements associated with opening, will staff be compensated for the additional duties? Will they be provided supplies? Will they be paid bonuses for having to replan lessons? Many teachers have been project-based, hands-on teachers for years. With no shared materials and no small groups, their usual lesson plans won't work. They'll need more planning time. Instead they get less. All this and an almost $1B budget cut. Do more with less. Again.

Anyways, that's where my head is at right now.  I watch the case counts in Massachusetts (and again we should be applauded...we've worked really hard and made some great gains) but the aren't going down.  They are staying flat.  That means the virus is still out there.  I don't think we should ignore that fact.