A Teacher’s Response to Medical Health Guidelines around Re-opening Schools

One of the biggest concerns I have heard people mention is the fear of how the working class and/or poor children will fare if schools continue to be closed. As a student who grew up working class and experienced severe trauma as a young child, I understand the concern; public schools offer their communities immense support, despite the chronic budget cuts experienced every single year. My amazing experience as a preschooler with my beloved preschool teacher, Mrs. White (an incredible longtime Black educator in my community) inspired me to become a teacher. When I was 4 years old, I fell into a deep crisis due to my father’s deportation back to El Salvador; I stopped eating, stopped talking, stopped playing, and sat silently by the window for days, waiting for my father to return. Mrs. White’s expertise, patience, and compassion supported my healing and created joyful spaces of learning for me, during a very dark time in my young life.

Inspired by what Mrs. White did for me, my 10-year career has been centered on caring for young children, as a preschool teacher and later as an early elementary teacher, by supporting the socio-emotional and physical well-being of children, collaborating with and learning from families, offering families the context for understanding their child’s developmental needs, helping families connect to community and school resources, as well as co-creating joyful spaces of learning in my classroom, with my young students.

Pivoting to distance learning was a significant burden for me to accomplish as an early elementary teacher working with young children; it also really laid bare how much of what I do, is so dependent on relationships, on-being in person, and also, helping children make sense of the world around them, through their social relationships and interactions with the world, as well as through interactions with myself and our school community. Interacting with my students over Zoom showed me how deep in crisis and how overwhelmed many of them were, alongside their families. It was hard to see the limits of what I could offer to families and children during such a difficult and isolating time. I often cried and was frustrated by how desperately I wanted to go back and do the work that I have always loved. And despite my own feelings, I observed the public health guidelines to shelter-in-place to minimize community spread, keeping myself and my students safe. Although it was a difficult decision to make, I was grateful that for once, a decision was made that kept in mind our collective health and well-being.

This pandemic has offered many in our society clarity around how we have been functioning as a society, laying bare many ways we have failed families and children by solely relying on the few but crucial services we offer in public schools AND have also accepted that teachers should bear the brunt of stabilizing society. The reality of what public schools (namely staff) offer to maintain our society, is even more devastating given how significantly underfunded we are, in addition to the incessant and constant cuts in our schools. And now we have publicly stated and admitted that schools often have buffered the cruel pandemic already present in our society: poverty. The initial decision to close schools across many districts, was fraught with the well-meaning concerns around “how will children eat? How will parents care for their children and go to work while schools are closed?”; all very important questions, but no question of, “are the teachers and school staff going to be ok if we keep schools open? Will our community be ok if we keep schools open? Will the school workers LIVE, given that we are in a pandemic that has taken many lives?” And as we saw in New York City, the delay in closing schools was significant enough to infect over 70 NYPS school staff members, who later passed away from COVID-related complications.

What we have seen during the closure of schools is the clarity around how we have failed children and families in this country. We have little to no parental leave, so that ALL families can BOND when there is a new life joining the family, outside of what companies with a lot of money can offer, as well as what little unpaid maternity leave is available to pregnant individuals (and the 7 days for paternal figures to bond and care for their new baby). We have accepted that poverty and hunger are not a pandemic of its own, but a normal (and cruel) function of our society, left for schools to handle. In addition, we have no federal paid sick leave so parents can stay home with their sick child without having to lose income (and perhaps, sacrifice food or rent, as a result), and just as importantly, we have no sick leave for parents to take when they themselves are sick (outside of what few workplaces even offer paid sick leave). The conditions for Black and Brown working class children and their families are precarious and actually, incredibly dangerous. And so, what have we offered in return to families in our country?

What we have offered as a society is a world absent of care, which is reflected in our public schools. To our Black and Brown working class families in need of infrastructure and support in order to thrive and be well as a family, due to the deeply entrenched racism and classism in society, we have offered underfunded public schools that often lack the materials to function properly. We have offered such “solutions” to the pandemic of poverty: classrooms with leaky ceilings that go years without maintenance, heating systems that often do not work in the coldest of winters, 90-degree classrooms with poor ventilation during warmer months, fewer and fewer school nurses every year to care for our sick students, outdoor areas that often have no shade or trees for respite from the hot sun, bathrooms without soap or paper towels, and no school psychologists that truly can offer mental health support for our students (outside of the assessments they do to comply with the state requirements for children to access educational services, which is substantive support in of itself, but limited in scope).

Pre-pandemic, our schools have existed and thrived, as well as offered what they could, on the backs of devoted teachers, school site workers, and principals, many of whom have SACRIFICED their own well-being, time with loved ones, and often, their own health to do right by their communities. Many of us would show up to school SICK, because of the substitute teacher shortage we had, or take on students from other classes when our colleagues were sick, adding even more children to already packed classrooms, as well as foregoing our much needed prep time to take on another colleague’s class when they had to leave school due to illness. I have met teachers whose mental health has suffered because of how little time and care they had devoted to themselves, while trying to seek resources and services for their students and families.

Pre-pandemic, our schools were risky places for mental health due to the constant demands on students and teachers; there were always significant physical risks due to the insistent and consistent cuts to custodial services (contributing to constant deprofessionalizing of custodial work) amongst many other programs and services necessary for care, by “pragmatic” but out-of touch central office administrators making decisions for schools they had not stepped foot in, since they left teaching. Let’s also not ignore that our state of California has systematically defunded schools over the last 40–50 years, abandoning the responsibility of fully funding a free and equal (not to mention equitable) public education to all.

As teachers, we have been eagerly waiting for public health guidance that could show us how to safely re-open schools, while deeply holding the safety of our students, ourselves, our own families, and our communities; to see what the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with other public health guidelines have shared about the return to school has been incredibly disappointing and incredibly devoid of substantive analysis on the realities of how unsafe and risky schools were pre-pandemic. It is also disappointing that despite our orientation towards public health during a pandemic, that public health professionals and the medical establishment did not consider the safety of teachers and school site staff and would OPT to recommend to open schools, without the risk analysis of what schools were like pre-pandemic; I think the medical establishment should be ashamed of proceeding with such a recommendation without consulting education professionals about the realities of their own field. It is equally devastating to hear that medical professionals, those who have ACCEPTED THE COMMITMENT OF CARING AND SUSTAINING LIFE, would advocate for the risks we teachers and school staff would be taking, for “the sake of the economy” or to “address learning loss,” two things that while significant, should not be the drivers of reopening schools during a time where we are experiencing a rise in COVID-19 cases, during a time that we should be focusing on the caring and SUSTENANCE OF LIFE.

As an educator, I believe that all individuals are eager to learn and engage with the world around us, no matter our socioeconomic status or race. The idea of “learning loss” is incredibly frustrating, due to the inherent assumption that children do not learn from their communities and their families. Learning is a complex and relationship-based process that children (as well as all individuals) undergo EVERY SINGLE moment of their lives; that we as a society do not value what children learn from their families and communities (particularly those who are Brown and Black and/or working class) is an inherently classist and racist orientation that speaks to our largely limited perspective. We should be asking ourselves, “Why are we assuming that poor children, working class children of color have not learned or have lost their learning?” It is incumbent on our society to re-orient ourselves to what it means to learn and to open our eyes, to all of the learning that is possible, beyond the standards set in our school system that are yet again arbitrary, decontextualized, and steeped with components of productivity, driven by the capitalist nature and false urgency of white supremacy. If medical professionals would have consulted with teachers who themselves come from working class backgrounds and/or poverty, around “learning loss”, perhaps their orientation and guidance would have shifted more towards a humanizing stance that recognized the richness of our Brown, Black, and/or working class families and all of the beauty that their children stand to learn from them; perhaps we could have co-created a vision of what our society should look like, with a prioritization on health, instead of being told that we should accept the potential loss of the lives of school workers, children, or their families as collateral damage to reopen schools in a time of significant risk and transmission.

In the discussion of “risk reduction” or “harm reduction” when discussing reopening schools, there is an important omission that I hope you will hold with you: teachers and school staff have always assumed the risk and responsibility of keeping our students and families safe. Despite the risks we take for our students and their families, we are left out of the discourse to inform our own working conditions, even though we understand our conditions and needs, the best; we are left out of the discussions of safety, as if we ourselves are not at risk, propelling the myth and dichotomy of invisibility AND invincibility. And in a time of glaring clarity about the importance of health, many of us are standing up for ourselves and saying, we will not go back until we can ensure MINIMAL RISK for all school workers, our students, and families. We love and care for our students and often have chosen them OVER OUR OWN well-being; we are learning that this time we must choose the health and life of all, including that of ourselves over productivity, in this time of great crisis. Rejecting the martyr orientation we teachers have been acculturated with through our administrators, through our credentialing programs, as well as from each other, will only serve to humanize ourselves and others and to shed even more light, onto how much teachers have silently done without the adequate resources or support. Using “risk or harm reduction,” makes sense in terms of individuals deciding for themselves, how to proceed during a pandemic or in any situation that requires exposure to risk; the significant risk we would be assuming on a macro-level, if school were to re-open in August, is significant. It truly feels irresponsible to apply this type of risk analysis around “risk reduction” when we are still significantly at-risk, given the increase in cases PER DAY is (such as here in Oakland, where I am based).

Instead of the medical establishment and public health experts recommending that we reopen schools for “the sake of the children” or to address “learning loss,” they should really reflect on why they are deciding that the adults in schools should AGAIN be assuming the risks to return to an even more dangerous and deadly status quo.

Why aren’t medical practitioners demanding Medicare for All so that every single child and family can access medical services and be able to seek care when they are ill?

Where is the call from the medical establishment for mental health support services OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLS, so that ALL CHILDREN and FAMILIES can access counseling support now and forever in order to truly support the well-being of everyone OUTSIDE OF SCHOOLS, instead of asking teachers to continue to act as untrained mental health counselors?

Instead of pushing for schools to reopen to again buffer the pandemic of poverty, why aren’t medical professionals pushing our government, at all levels, to institute a universal basic income so that both our families who lived in poverty pre-pandemic and all families who are struggling with the loss of income during this time, will not starve or become unhoused?

In the admission, at the very end, “around not returning to schools if it is unsafe”, why didn’t the American Academy of Pediatricians (AAP) call for a safe return to “fully-funded public schools”, so that all children can access services needed to recover and heal from all that they have experienced during this pandemic, fully-funded schools that can improve facilities to support the minimizing of risk to all students and staff, fully-funded schools that can have the equipment and materials needed to create safe and joyful learning environments that don’t require continual risk from teachers and schools workers; our society has put the unfair burden on teachers of assuming the risk, in order to provide care. “When possible” as a placeholder in every recommendation from the AAP, as well as other guidelines simply will not do and will in fact, REINFORCE the horrific and dangerous status quo we had before.

Now that it is clear to everyone just how dangerous the austerity in public schools has been, do medical experts still believe we should be returning to school? Do you still believe we can return to school safely?

As a teacher, I understand all of the negative impacts of having schools closed, FIRST HAND, as many of my colleagues are still remotely connecting to students and their families, even during the summer, to make sure that they are okay and providing them with lists of resources for food, as well as potential financial relief resources for those who need it. My orientation towards pivoting to distance learning in the fall, until we see a reduction of cases and have established true safety guidelines in our schools THAT OUR DISTRICT LEADERS FULLY AGREE TO AND FUND, acknowledges the difficulty that this will cause my students’ families, in all levels of their lives; I absolutely do not want to minimize this reality. But I also would like to live in order to meet my next TK class in 2021, I want my colleagues to not have to choose their beloved career over their own health or the health of their family, I would like for my 4 and 5 year old students to live so that they can grow up to be the changemakers and fighters for justice I hope they will be when they grow up, I want my students’ families to not have to experience the grief of losing a family member, due to the false choices we have been offered of either reopening schools and restarting the economy or staying at home and starving.

My belief and advocacy in caring for young children, as an educator, and as a human being who experienced wonderful care as a young child from my teachers and my community, drives me to demand that we CARE FOR EACH OTHER, during a time when life is not promised or assured. In a time when health and the need for care is so crucial to the survival of all us, we need to come together and demand that all levels of leadership, in and out of schools, act in the best interest of children and families as well as DEMAND THAT UNITY and HUMANIZING ORIENTATION of each other. Join teachers across the country and here in Oakland, who are demanding that WE FINALLY CARE FOR EACH other, by demanding Medicare For All, universal basic income, fully-funded public schools that are safe to go back to once our cases begin to decline, and paid parental sick leave so that children and families can stay home without the risk of the loss of income and having to make decisions about whether they will go to work sick or send their child to school sick in order to be able to pay rent or provide sustenance. We have always needed care, but now we must DEMAND it.

Sign the Oakland Education Association’s petition to demand that our community get the resources we need: free broadband internet, rent cancellation, mortgage forgiveness, a minimum $1000 monthly payment for those who do not qualify for unemployment, and many more action items to truly support children and families, as well as our entire community https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/stand-with-oakland-teachers-for-safe-schools-and-community-support-unase-con-los-maestros-de-oakland-para-obtener-escuelas-seguras-y-apoyo-comunitario?fbclid=IwAR0dtwKUr7fU6sK6GMgX01RysqF5bCTqiH-mzp5xP_Lkrw-77rAg6N791sE