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Teachers concerned about heading back to school

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Melissa M. Brant

Public schools in Washington and Greene counties are beginning to unveil school reopening plans amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But many teachers, parents, and even students are expressing fears over returning to the classroom as coronavirus cases continue to surge in states throughout the country, including Pennsylvania.

“Everyone is scared. Everyone’s living in the world of the unknown,” said Melissa Brant, a elementary schoolteacher in the Central Greene School District and president of the teachers union. “If you want my personal opinion, I don’t know how in the world this is going to work. Teachers want to be back in the classrooms. We miss the kids, but we want to be back there safely.”

As of July 18, Central Greene plans to reopen with full-time, in-person instruction, with safety precautions implemented.

Central Greene School District Superintendent Helen McCracken said the school board is scheduled to vote on the plan July 28.

“That’s the plan right now, today. But it could change tomorrow,” said McCracken, noting plans can change based on guidance from the Department of Health, the Department of Education, and whether or not COVID cases continue increase. “We continue to talk about the plan, and where we are today might not be where we are next week. Our pandemic team is made up of a subcommittee that includes our teachers, and we’re having ongoing talks with them.”

One of the challenges is the increase in coronavirus cases in Greene County.

An employee at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School, for example, recently tested positive for COVID-19, forcing the school district to close the building to clean and sanitize so staff members could return. Additionally, the summer food program was shut down.

On Thursday, Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine said Gov. Tom Wolf is ready to “pull the plug on on-campus learning if surges of COVID-19 cases continue to grow.”

Secretary of Education Pedro Rivera said the hybrid approach, where students split time between on-campus classes and online learning, is the preferred method for reopening school, but added there’s no blanket approach that will work for all schools.

“A single, cookie-cutter approach to reopening schools would not work,” he said.

A USA Today/Ipsos poll in May showed 1 in 5 U.S. teachers said they were unlikely to go back to school if their classrooms reopened in the fall.

Lisa Jenkins, an elementary music teacher in the Trinity Area School District and president of the Trinity Area Education Association, said a small number of teachers have had conversations with her about not returning to the classroom because of medical concerns, including pregnancy and having children of their own with serious medical conditions.

“I’m guessing it depends on what the final plans are. As we get closer to the start of school, it could depend possibly on what the COVID cases are,” said Jenkins.

Jenkins said teachers have worked closely with Trinity’s administration to determine how to safely reopen schools. Currently, the school district plans to offer a hybrid option and a cyber option. The hybrid option calls for students to attend on-campus classes two days a week and live, remote learning three days a week.

“Any discussions we’ve had have focused on the health, welfare and safety of students, staff and families. Trinity administration has worked really closely with us to accomplish a good plan to keep the kids and us safe, and the staff seems pretty comfortable with that,” said Jenkins. “The unknown is that we don’t know what’s going to happen with putting a large amount of students in close confines, in close proximity, because it’s never been tested.”

Dr. Michael Lucas, superintendent at Trinity, said the school board will vote on a reopening plan at its Aug. 6 meeting.

“It’s a challenge. We’re working very closely with the teachers. Safety is a priority,” said Lucas. “They’re worried about their safety. They’re literally on the front line, and that’s scary for everyone because they don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Bentworth School Board approved plans to return to full-time, in-person classes on Aug. 24. A remote learning option is available for students who opt not to return to campus.

“We are going to do everything that’s within our power to do in order to keep everybody – the students and teachers, and everyone else – as safe as we can,” said Bentworth Superintendent Scott Martin. “Our concerns are the same as everybody’s: we want to return safely, and we want to be able to provide a good education for students.”

Teachers have expressed concern over a myriad of issues, including enforcing social distancing, mask wearing, finding enough substitute teachers if and when teachers become sick or are forced to quarantine, and ensuring cleanliness in their classrooms.

Central Greene’s Brant said she wanted to be a teacher since she was in second grade, following in the footsteps of her mother, a teacher in the Carmichaels School District for 39 years.

Brant has been teaching for 17 years, “and the life my mother lived as a teacher is not the same one I’ve lived during my 17 years,” she said.

Brant’s parents are in their late 60s and have health issues that make them more vulnerable to COVID-19.

“I worry that when I go to school, am I going to have to make a choice between seeing my parents and being in the classroom? Do you have to decide to forgo spending time with your family because you’re scared to death you’ll bring something home that could make them sick?” she asked.

Brant said it’s important for students to resume their educations, noting the academic gap from March through June, when schools were ordered closed by Gov. Tom Wolf, and districts scrambled to teach online.

But, she noted, school districts converted to remote classes in order to reduce the spread of COVID. As of Friday, there were more than 138,000 deaths in the United States, with projections of as many as 224,000 dead by Nov. 1 and no signs the virus is slowing.

“I’m concerned not just about us making this work, but with us making it to school when it starts. If you’re watching the numbers and you believe in science, you realize this has not gone away,” she said. “It seems to me people have been ignoring the fact there’s a pandemic this summer. There’s research out there that shows if everybody would use teamwork and wear masks, we could start to make this thing better. I hope, for the good of the kids, who are the most important thing here, that it works. But I’m not confident that it will.”

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