Parents and teachers should be allies and not enemies in managing COVID
My kid’s school is starting back part time, just for the lower school, in a week. I’m really excited because I can see how much he needs it. The return to school is starting to begin across Chile and I feel pretty confident in the COVID safe plan for my kids school (they’ll have about 6 kids in his class, all outside learning with extended social distancing, one teacher per class and extended hygiene protocols including temperature checks at the gate and compulsory mask wearing with exclusion if kids take them off). Our community transmission is down to around 2 per 100,000 and slowing which puts us in a low risk community.
However at the same time my social media is filling with teachers who are, to be honest, trying to make parents feel like they shouldn’t send kids back to school because it’s unfair on teachers. I’m actually really saddened when I read this as I think teachers are missing an option to galvanise their biggest allies - the parents.
As I can see it these are the three main reasons teachers may not want to return to school:
1) The workplace is not safe. You can’t distance, you don’t have PPE, you aren’t confident in the hygiene protocols, other issues. That’s terrible and believe me, parents are your allies here! Firstly, I encourage you to raise this with the school management and your union as that is a workplace safety issue. Then let parents know the specific issues and tell them who they can contact to voice their concerns. They also don’t want kids to be in an unsafe environment but you need to let them know what your classroom/school issues are as these will vary across schools.
2) You want to stay at home because you have medical concerns or medically vulnerable people in your family to shield. This is a labour issue and this is where you need to speak to your boss about alternative roles and get your union into help. There are parents in the same position and online roles do exist to support them (often in adjacent departments or external providers). Parents of your class cannot directly help this by not sending in their students but they don’t want you stressed in front of the class, so let them know if you want them to write or call the school board, or other people to ask them to seek out alternative roles.
3) You feel that the community transmission is too high and everyone should be home - again, you have allies in the parent body. This becomes a political issue, but again you have allies. Have a think about your risk tolerance here and see what an acceptable level of community transmission would be for you to feel comfortable as this can help people to see that you have considered the issue.
I’d encourage teachers who are feeling with unhappy with the conditions in their school to reach out to parents and ally with them to form a stronger and more cohesive party to negotiate on issues that affect them both. It’s a tricky and fraught time with many parents facing pay cuts, rounds of layoff and furloughs and business pressure while also managing issues around child care and support their child’s educations at the same time as teachers are feeling stress about COVID but the goals of both party do not need to be opposing.
Please keep in mind I, and most parents, are on your side. We have the same goals- we want our kids to be safe and learning. This may require negotiation, compromise and new flexible ways of learning that take into account that distance learning is not an option for all children. It’s a time to work together on these goals.
