Teachers Say Going Back to School Puts Them in Danger

In correspondence and public comment sent to the city ahead of Monday’s joint meeting between the City Council and the Pasadena Board of Education, some teachers said now is not the time to reopen schools.

“A 10% raise will provide economic relief and an incentive to return to the classroom,” said Cynthia Lake who pointed out that teachers had learned new technology systems, engaged students in meaningful lessons, and normalized education strategies, among other things during the pandemic.

“Many teachers will spend the salary increase on the additional instructional supplies and protections necessary to instruct students in a COVID-19 free classroom. Teachers should earn at least as much as a babysitter per hour, per child,” Lake said.

As of Monday, teachers and other essential workers, such as food service workers and law enforcement officials, were eligible for shots. More vaccine doses will be put aside for teachers. On March 15, everyone 16 and over with a serious underlying health condition will become eligible.

“As a school teacher in this district, I am deeply concerned that any decision to reopen our schools at this time could put our community at significant risk for a resurgence of the virus,” said Denise Johnson. “We just came out of a surge in November and December that put a tremendous stress on our hospitals. Do we really want to take that chance of potentially causing another surge?”

In correspondence, several people called for the district to wait until the next school year to reopen classrooms. Even if schools were to reopen in March, returning students would get about a month and a half in the classroom before summer break begins.

“What research supports that [one and one half] months in a hybrid situation is going to make an academic improvement versus students having to change their current safe routine,” said Mary Shimazaki.

Students have been learning from home since the pandemic began last March.

Some medical experts now say it is safe for students to return to in-person learning because younger students don’t contribute greatly to the spread of the virus. But teachers can become infected and spread the virus. Teachers across the nation have expressed concerns about returning to classrooms without vaccinations and proper safety protocols in place.

Several months ago, health officials advised young people to stay home because they could spread the virus to older people.
The school district plans to conduct a survey to determine how many parents favor in-person learning or staying with distance learning.

After the survey is completed, the district will determine a start date for in-person learning for pre-k to second-grade and third- to fifth-grade students.

The district will slowly implement plans to put students back into classrooms.

Three weeks before schools reopen, there will be three days of synchronous instruction to prepare classrooms for social distancing requirements.

Two weeks before schools reopen, the district will begin acclimating back to the classroom while distance learning continues.

The district plans to reconfigure classrooms to maintain social distance and install air purifiers, filters and plexiglass separators. Every room in every school will be cleaned and disinfected. A school-based COVID-19 testing and contact tracing program will also be created.

The district will offer COVID-19 vaccines to employees as a service. The vaccine is not required for reopening.

“As teachers, we are passionate about teaching and we love serving the community with our skills,” said Cassandra Williams. “However, we aren’t sure all safety precautions are ready to be implemented. Knowing that this virus could be deadly causes an insurmountable amount of fear. Knowing that one could also infect their own family is concerning.”