“I’m dying to go back, I’m dying to see my students again, I love my job,” history teacher Stephanie Nally said. “But I can’t go back with a pandemic raging and be the kind of teacher that I want to be.”
On Dec. 17, a school board meeting will decide whether or not CHCCS students can return to in-person learning in January.
A few weeks ago, the school district released a hybrid plan B which would allow some students to choose to be on campus two days a week, while others can choose to stay virtual for the remainder of the year. For students who choose to return in-person, one cohort would attend on Monday and Tuesday, the other cohort Thursday and Friday, and Wednesday would be a designated cleaning day. While cohort A is in school, cohort B would be doing virtual learning and vice versa.
Some teachers have said that they would like to return to school in-person, but said the logistics would be difficult to manage and teaching in a hybrid classroom would present new challenges for teachers and students.
“I’ll say what most teachers probably think. We would all prefer, in a perfect world, to be teaching in-person right because we all know that social interaction is an important part of learning and the best part of teaching,” history teacher Sam Atwood said. “However, I struggle to think about how I would teach in-person students and remote students simultaneously.”
Atwood is not alone in being concerned about having to teach both virtually and on-site. Many teachers, including science teacher Kelly Allen, worry about creating accessible and engaging lessons for all of their students.
“I have mixed feelings because I’m like most of [the students]. I don’t really like teaching online. It’s not as fun as teaching in person,” Allen said. “But on the other hand, the logistics and the practicality of going to in-person learning while half are still doing remote learning is just overwhelming to think about.”
Going back to on-site education would mean that teachers become essential workers. Because of this classification, teachers would be required to return barring extreme circumstances.
“There are options. I could theoretically take a leave of absence, but I wouldn’t get a paycheck or I’d have to use up all my sick days which I don’t want to do if I don’t have to,” Allen said. “I’m a single person, so I’m the only one making money here, unless my cat can get a job.”
Beyond the concern for the few options given to teachers, there are clear health concerns if students and teachers are to return to the school building.
“Imagine [a student gets COVID-19] in my first period class, but I don’t know it for a couple of days. Every single one of my classes goes through contact tracing. 133 students then go to their other classes and teachers. It would literally take a week to shut the school down,” said Nally.
Nally and others have expressed concern about students following the precautionary rules put in place by the school, despite the fact that there are rules that could make them more comfortable returning.
“You can put all the safeguards in place, but it’s ultimately up to the people to honor those safeguards, and high school kids might not play by the rules all the time,” said Jennifer Martin, an English teacher.
Along with the present concerns, there are worries that changes in COVID-19 cases will make a return to school riskier.
“I’m concerned about the rising case load, post-Thanksgiving, and eventually post-Christmas and I’m concerned about the logistics… of trying to figure out how to effectively teach both in person and remote students simultaneously,” Atwood said. “So I want to go back, but I still have those two concerns.”
Photo by ECHO staff
