‘This is about protecting people in a marginalized career’
I teach at a private school in New York City and in the last couple of weeks we’ve been cc’d on a number of emails from the school’s president being sent out to parents about plans to reopen. Not a single email has been directed to us — the teachers — about how we’ll be protected and compensated. The way politicians have been talking about the virus and kids as carriers, you’d think the entire student population is in elementary school. I teach high school students, kids that are biologically inclined to share spit with each other. My particular students are special education. The risks go far beyond families needing to get back to work to stimulate the economy. This is about protecting people in a marginalized career. Once again, public servants are forced to martyr themselves for the good of the private sector. — Dave, New York City…
‘Treat us like babysitters and you’ll lose a generation of teachers’
Third-generation teacher here, with a degree from M.I.T. Who will teach all of those kids in all of those extra spaces? Do you picture me running back and forth between the gym and my classroom? Do you care if there are qualified teachers doing the work? Am I just a babysitter? Keep me safe next year and you’ll keep me in the profession. Treat us like babysitters and you’ll lose a generation of teachers who even before Covid sacrificed a lot for children and their families. — EWilson, Olympia, Wash.
