Summer-2020-Advisor

PROTECTING

4 CEA ADVISOR SUMMER 2020

FOR MEDICALLY VULNERABLE TEACHERS, FLEXIBLE SCHOOL REOPENING COULD PROVIDE RELIEF Risks remain; CEA continues to push for safety at all schools

A s the state moved toward a return to full-day, in-person public school in the fall, anxiety ran deep among teachers about how to do it without putting themselves or their students at risk. Even well-resourced districts, such as South Windsor, publicly acknowledged that their schools—and, in fact, most schools—simply could not guarantee a six-foot distance between students, noting that classroom sizes and layouts do not allow for it if all students return to school full-time at once. Teachers in higher-risk groups have wrestled with the decision to re-enter schools or leave the profession, and many have asked for accommodations that would allow them to teach without compromising their own health or that of their students. CEA and local association leaders have worked hand-in-hand with educators and administrators to address the need to protect everyone, and thanks to CEA’s ongoing communication with the governor and education commissioner, the state has backed off on its plan to have every school hold full-time, in-person instruction starting this fall. The flexibility of a hybrid model (which mixes in-person and remote instruction) along with options available through the Americans with Disabilities Act (see pages 10-11) allow many educators to continue doing what they do best—teach—without risking their lives. CEA continues to push for a Safe Learning Plan that affords every educator, student, and community the same protection.

has asthma, however, and returning full-time to a school at full capacity raised concerns for her own health as well as her children’s. “Seeing my students is the highlight of my day,” she says. “I want to see them, and I want to see my colleagues. But as a teacher with asthma and a parent of a child who’s in the public school system, I have concerns on both ends,” she says. Her school-age daughter had febrile seizures until she was four-and-a-half years old, a fact that puts her nine- week-old son at greater risk of the same. “Some of my hesitation about the state’s initial reopening plan, as I spoke to colleagues both in and outside of my district, was that we had guidelines but in some cases not mandates, so what would those precautions look like?” she asked. “How do we safely prepare ourselves and kids? What could they be bringing home? Are we possibly putting our students’ families in jeopardy? What happens if a student tests positive? All of these questions are coming into our heads.” She added, “I’ve also been working a virtual special education summer school and speaking to parents of young children concerned about how to keep masks on students with tactile-sensory issues. A lot of teachers are recording their lessons so that public health but also gives working families an opportunity to be involved in their students’ education. “We are looking at how to make sure everything is equitable.” Working from home, she acknowledges, “takes ten times longer than I ever imagined. The hours you put in are longer, and you may also be caring for your own kids at the same time.” But, she adds, “How safe is it to go back when colleges aren’t even holding in- person classes?” Toner is in favor of staggered school times so that not all students are in the building at the same time. She also wants to know the protocol for students who test positive for COVID, if and how it might be possible to conduct classes outdoors, how to maximize learning and ensure equity, and whether it’s possible to provide extra training and additional supports for parents when it comes to distance learning. Though she intends to return to school, Toner says, “If there’s a spike in coronavirus infections, I want to know what happens to teachers like me, who are at higher risk. I have appointments with my pulmonologist and have let my HR person know about my situation.” Jenna Toner families can go back and look at them together later.” That model, she says, is not only safer in terms of

MARGARET FITZGERALD, BROOKFIELD Elementary School Music/Band Teacher “One child lost or one staff member lost is too many.” Margaret Fitzgerald is a music teacher at Brookfield’s Huckleberry Hill School. The 42-year veteran educator is also a cancer survivor who lives with asthma and thyroid disease—an immune system disorder. For all the talk about a safe return to full-time, in-person learning earlier this summer, Fitzgerald wondered how safe the school environment would really be. “My district is doing a really great job of trying to plan for an uncertain future, they’ve given us a basic outline of three scenarios, and they’ve really done their homework, but it’s like trying to nail will things be like by the end of August? Teachers are planners, and this not knowing makes it difficult to decide what to do. It’s a very disconcerting feeling, but also it’s impossible to have a single plan when we don’t know what the situation will be in the fall. So many states are coronavirus hotbeds right now. I’m between a rock and a hard place.” She explained, “I teach music, and I’m a strong advocate for the arts in school, especially during this time of social-emotional disconnect, because music and art and movement are where kids go to express their emotions. When you sing or play an instrument, however, you have to put out a lot of air, and when a room is small with inadequate ventilation, you can get quite a viral load. They talk about aerosolization of particles in the air. By the end of the day, you are working in a Petri dish, and that frightens me. You can’t have a quality education if you’re not alive to receive the benefits of it. One child lost or one staff member lost is too many.” Under the state’s initial reopening plan, Fitzgerald was skeptical that all districts would have the funding necessary to cover personal protective equipment, cleaning and sanitation, added protections for children with special needs and their teachers, and additional custodians and other staff. “We can’t even get substitutes in many of our districts, so how would we pay for this? Our budget in Brookfield took a $1 million hit.” Fitzgerald’s goal is to teach under a virtual learning model until a coronavirus vaccine is available. A longtime treasurer for the Brookfield Education Association, she has been on the negotiating team for the past six or seven contracts and is heavily involved in her local and state teachers union. Margaret Fitzgerald Jell-O to a wall,” she said. “I’m not really sure about the fall, and that’s part of the angst with this, because what

“I’m used to agitating for the good,” she says. “We all need support, and if we come together, our voices are that much stronger. When school reopening decisions were being considered, we were canaries in a coal mine, but I knew that if we all raised our voices together, we would be heard.” MARGARITA DAVID, GREENWICH High School Social Studies/ History Teacher “When I entered the teaching profession, I didn’t sign up to risk dying.” Greenwich High School history teacher Margarita David is only 49 but is a recent breast cancer survivor. She has also had type 1 diabetes for 30 years—since she was a teenager. Because diabetes puts her at higher risk for serious complications and hospitalization if she contracts the coronavirus, her doctor has my cancer. And now, returning to school during a pandemic, I feel scared and uncomfortable. One of my main concerns is that I have 3,000 people in my school building on any given day, and in a given semester I could have 100 or more students. With a population that size, I am in a building with no ventilation, windows that don’t open, and an air filtration system I am not confident about.” As of late July, David said, the plan was to reopen the high school on more of a hybrid learning model, though she has requested an accommodation to continue teaching remotely. Well-versed in Google Suite and other digital platforms, she hopes that she could be matched Margarita David cautioned her to stay home. “It has been an extremely trying year for me, recovering from surgery to address

with students who are learning remotely. “I can’t imagine I’m alone,” she says. “It would be unwise not to look at circumstances other families are facing in a big community like Greenwich.” Though the 26-year teacher acknowledges that remote learning doesn’t replace in-person interaction, she says that given the current health crisis, it’s safer. “Teaching has always been invigorating for me. It’s always been what I’ve loved, but now I’m going into my job facing a situation where there are so many unknowns. When I entered the teaching profession I didn’t sign up to risk dying.” The unnecessary risk teachers now face, she says, “takes away our human dignity and professional value. I’ve been in contact with teachers who are in similar situations and who are worried.” David credits Greenwich Education Association President Carol Sutton with keeping teachers in the district informed and protected. “She has great communication with our members about decisions in town, how they’ll impact us, and how to stand united as a community of educators. She goes out of her way to advocate for teachers, because she works with her own teacher voice in her head. I don’t know what we would do without her.” JENNA TONER, MANCHESTER Middle and High School Special Education Teacher “How safe is it to go back when colleges aren’t even holding in- person classes?” Jenna Toner is a special education teacher in Manchester, and part of her job is taking Manchester Regional Academy students out into the community for work study, work placements, and connections to resources they need. At first glance, Toner—age 35 and the mother of a six-year-old and a newborn—doesn’t seem to be in a high-risk category for COVID. She