Educators move back to ’square one’
The day of this announcement last week was a difficult day for educators all across the state.
Like all Americans, principals, teachers and other school staff have pushed beyond the heaviness and the dread as a pandemic spirals out of control. They have stayed focused while managing their despair, anger and anguish as they have watched innocent people gunned down, gassed, beaten and mistreated in these troubling times of systemic inequity and civil unrest. They have worried about their families and those they serve.
As parents themselves, they have struggled to manage “education in a pandemic”for their own children, while also remaining present and focused for their students. Educators have missed vacations, celebrations and precious family time to participate in professional development activities and meetings, to take phone calls or tackle an out-of-control email inboxes. They did this because the work calls them; they won’t walk away from it because the work matters. It will make a difference.
To prepare for online learning, teachers spent their own savings and renovated their homes to set up virtual classrooms. They spent months scouring the internet for digital resources, handing out meals, delivering books and supplies, and connecting with their students and families. They’ve collaborated with fellow professionals and read every article they could find on how to create a virtual educational community.
While worrying about the students in their care, they also worry about their own children and how to balance teaching and child care. They worry about their own health and how to stay safe. But despite each of those challenges, they always put the education of other’s children first.
The pandemic has caused an environment in which information changes by the minute, is inconsistent, and is often already out of date or irrelevant upon arrival. There are postal delays, resource shortages and sluggish delivery timetables. But teachers push through. Educators in central offices and school houses continue to work because they believe in education. They feel a deep sense of responsibility to the communities they serve. Most importantly, they chose this profession because they have an unending love for their students. They did all of this to ensure that the students begin the school year in a virtual environment with the same excitement experienced during traditional school openings.
And then, the governor said educators don’t want to do the hard work. He said they should all just return to school. As colleges close around the nation due to spikes and outbreaks of coronavirus, superintendents were told to put thousands of students in poorly ventilated buildings as soon as possible. He left parents and teachers panicked, wondering what happens now as school systems decide what to do since the governor left it up to local districts to make the final decision.
No doubt about it, educators are exhausted. Their resources and patience and emotional reserves are depleted, but they will press on and start from the beginning and do it all over again. They do this because they believe in education. They do this so that they will be ready to welcome their students with big smiles. They do this so that their families and students will have an exceptional educational experience despite a pandemic and the current state of the nation.
They do this because they want school to be the one thing families don’t have to worry about — the one place that feels joyous, predictable, safe and supportive. They want schools to be more than a place of learning. They want schools to be a place of respite, a place of comfort. They do this because they draw their energy from serving their communities.
Educators love what they do and they continue to do it as a pandemic brews around them. So please be gentle with educators right now. In the final hours of preparation their worlds were turned upside down. All educators from school boards and superintendents to custodial crews and food services workers have worked very hard to begin a virtual new year. Just when they were ready to breathe and enjoy the fruits of their labor, the governor sent them back to square one.
I am one of those educators. I, like my colleagues, will press through because we believe in our mission as educators. We value our community. And most importantly, we will push through because we love the children. We may be tired, but we won’t stop and we won’t give less. We are educators. That’s what we do.
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