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Scott Hottenstein got a snapshot of teacher attitudes recently during a virtual group call with coworkers at Rodgers Middle School in Hillsborough County.
“The number one thing they expressed was the fear of dying,” he said.
“Collecting a paycheck is number two and teaching students is number three. I know it sounds terrible, but some teachers are writing wills. That’s kind of the teacher mindset.”
Throughout the Tampa Bay area and the nation, teachers are weighing a lifelong investment into a profession some consider a calling against the weighty unknown of returning to work in the coronavirus pandemic.
Florida Education Secretary Richard Corcoran’s July 6 directive to reopen physical schools before the end of August has left some feeling vulnerable and expendable.
Nor do all teachers believe administrators are being realistic when they describe safety measures, such as masking, intensive cleaning and attempts at social distancing.
“Kids like to hug, high-five, share their snack and just be close to each other,” Riverview High School chemistry teacher Valerie Chuchman wrote in a July letter to School Board chairwoman Melissa Snively. “I’m afraid that many people, especially our children, aren’t able to visualize what our schools would look like if we were to return next month.”
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Much remains unclear about when schools would reopen for in-person instruction. Some districts continue to hear calls in their communities for all-virtual lessons in the first quarter of the year.
One by one, leaders of the Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco districts have moved to delay their openings from Aug. 10 and 12 to Aug. 24. In Hernando, the board pushed the start date to Aug. 31 and, out of protest, chairwoman Susan Duval did not vote to approve the district’s reopening plan.
Between a third and half of all students are expected to learn remotely. As of late July, all four Tampa Bay districts were trying to match the parent preferences to requests from many of their teachers to work remotely.
But administrators have made it clear there will not likely be a distance-teaching job for every teacher who wants one.
“My wife and I, we’ve had serious discussions and looked at bank accounts and retirement accounts about whether we want to continue doing this,” said Hottenstein, who is married to a school guidance counselor.
Despite the concern, which is widespread, teacher reaction has been varied. While some are holding protest rallies and joining lawsuits, others are taking the situation in stride, reasoning that, in a pandemic, everybody is challenged.
When Pasco County district employees were surveyed, 47 percent said they would select a traditional school assignment as their first choice. Another 34 percent said they would take either an in-school or online post, whichever is needed.
Deputy superintendent Ray Gadd said at some elementary schools, teachers have volunteered to eat lunch in classrooms with students so others can keep paid lunch breaks.
Kevin Schachter, a 50-year-old business teacher at Palm Harbor University High School, does not want to subject himself to COVID-19. Among other things, he does not want to have to isolate from his parents and in-laws, who are in their 70s and 80s.
But he appreciates efforts the Pinellas school district has made to accommodate teachers with risk factors, and to avoid furloughs or an interruption in pay.
“It’s a job, and essentially you are required to do the things that employers need you to do,” Schachter said. “I probably have a different opinion, as this is a second career for me. As much as I think teachers are absolutely underpaid and underappreciated for the most part, those who have never done anything else don’t realize how good they have it sometimes.”
Others say they are insulted at the lack of weight state officials have given to teacher safety and the disconnect, as they see it, between science and policy.
“Teachers are being touted as front-line workers and essential,” said Laura Curts, who teaches at a small Montessori school in Hillsborough. She said her own principal consulted with the faculty about how and when to reopen, but her friends in the public schools have not been extended that courtesy.
“They are being burdened with keeping the economy open and told that they are consumable,” Curts said.
She is also offended at statements, made by school district leaders, that they can call in substitutes if a staff teacher falls ill.
“To assert that teachers have the same level of training as a temp from any organization is a bizarre assertion,” she said. “It feels like teachers are being treated like stickers on a page. Take off this sticker and just pop another one on.”
Speaking at a news conference on the day his organization sued Corcoran and Gov. Ron DeSantis in Dade County Circuit Court, Florida Education Association President Fedrick Ingram said close to 40 percent of his members are considering getting out of teaching altogether.
He said 5 percent believe conditions will likely be safe in the schools, and “an overwhelming majority, 90 percent,” believe they will not be.
Those figures are consistent with reports from the Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, which has surveyed its members multiple times. The latest findings, based on more than 12,000 responses: 5 percent approve of Hillsborough’s current reopening plan, 20 percent would approve if the district followed guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 75 percent want to start the school year in an all-virtual format.
A separate set of statistics, offered in July by superintendent Addison Davis, showed 58 percent of teachers plan to return to their jobs and 41 percent have asked for jobs in distance or virtual learning.
Why the difference?
Union director Stephanie Baxter-Jenkins said some teachers do not feel comfortable sharing their medical information with the school district. Others, while not entirely comfortable returning to physical schools, do not want to take a virtual job that could go to a coworker who is fragile.
Others are in good health, but live with people who are not.
Aileen Gocek teaches special education at Pine View Middle School in Pasco County. Her husband is a cancer patient. Of her three children, one has asthma and another has autism.
“I am the only one working right now, and my husband is literally fighting for his life,” she said.
Gocek said her school administrators are doing what they can, but she expects her job will be inside the school building “because a lot of special ed parents feel that face-to-face is better for their children.”
She tries to see both sides of the debate, she said. But she believes that DeSantis has “dug in his heels” and that other education officials are being too compliant in the face of infection rates that might grow exponentially when the children return.
“No one wants to accept responsibility for the decisions they’ve made,” Gocek said. “They’re going to have the blood on their hands if people die.”
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More back-to-school coverage
WHAT TO EXPECT: Back to school in Tampa Bay: Big plans, many unknowns
VIRTUAL CHALLENGE: Many kids will be learning remotely again. What we learned last spring.
NEW CONCERNS: Tampa Bay parents ‘make the best of a bad situation’ as school year nears
FREE ADVICE: Nine tips for starting school during a pandemic
SAVING MONEY: Florida’s back-to-school sales tax holiday starts Friday. Here’s what’s covered.
BY THE NUMBERS: Tampa Bay school districts at a glance for 2020-21
CLOSE QUARTERS: Masks will be vital on school buses, where distancing is difficult
STAYING SAFE: Eluding the virus while at school: a Q&A with health experts
STRESS REDUCTION: Talk openly to your kids about school and the pandemic, experts say
STUDENT VOICES: Online or on-campus? What Tampa Bay kids are saying about school and the virus.
TAKING STOCK: Events to help your kids get ready for school
HOT ITEM: Face masks are on everyone’s back-to-school supplies list
EATING RIGHT: Need ideas for healthy school lunches? A nutrition expert weighs in.
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