Every single choice we make within our schools, for our kids and our teachers, matters. What we don’t want to do is fail them, but with this hybrid model, that’s almost certainly what we’re doing. The two days in-person and three days home, or alternating days and sending kids back to school in cohorts, opens the Petri dish of germs right back up again increasing the likelihood that a surge will take place this fall yet again — closing down schools and sickening more people.
We are forcing teachers into a corner, to teach in ways they were not taught to teach in, in environments new to them as well. One Connecticut-based high school teacher shares her fears with Scary Mommy: “While at school, I expect I will feel heightened anxiety and fear every minute of the day. But I will do my best to allay those same feelings in the kids. I expect that fear will have me crying in the car some mornings and afternoons.
Another teacher we spoke to, from a small private elementary school in Philadelphia, offers an alternative, one that is not widely accepted or even discussed: teachers signing up to go to the homes of students and teach them, a slight twist on the “pandemic pod” idea in that districts would support such efforts.
And yet, we are hesitant to learn from other countries and choosing an option that will likely continue to fail. As a country, we’ve not gotten a handle on this pandemic; we’ve perhaps flattened the curve for now, but must prepare for it to spike again this fall. We’ve already seen reopened schools here in the States struggling with COVID cases and the resulting quarantines of students and staff.