Next to hospital workers, COVID-19 is hardest on teachers. Please take time to consider their daily reality.
Some have had to teach both online and classroom students at the same time. As with nurses, teachers and school staff have to cover for those who are home after getting or being exposed to the virus. Again, attempting the impossible. Every day.
Added to the stress of having to do the impossible is exposure to a lethal virus (2,145 known deaths in New Hampshire). Every day.
Burnout likely reached long ago.
We should give them a parade of gratitude as they arrive to work each day. Instead, Republican legislators in Concord have submitted “loyalty” bills that question teachers’ patriotism when handling certain subjects – slavery a big one. Material presented would have to be submitted to parents two weeks in advance; parents can sue teachers, resulting in hearings before the State Board of Education and loss of teaching license.
Low pay, impossible work conditions, wondering if a student is going to report to their parents that, when covering worldwide fascism, you mentioned armed white nationalists in this country marching and chanting “Jews will not replace us” (Charlottesville, 2017). Or that Thomas Jefferson had slaves. Nuance, complexity, critical thinking are such important parts of education. We remember teachers who challenged us to think.
Is this the best way for our representatives to spend their time? There also are bills that would deny employers the right to require that their employees be vaccinated, or be tested weekly if not vaccinated.
Government overreach is something true Republicans don’t like. We must elect representatives capable of critical thinking, working for the people’s good, not the party’s. (The NHPR website has information on teacher loyalty and anti-vaccination bills.)
Francie Von Mertens
Peterborough