Education Week - January 12, 2022 - 16

For Anxious Teachers, Omicron
'Feels Like Walking Into a Trap'
As COVID cases rise sharply, educators brace for another semester
of staffing shortages, student absences, and potentially getting sick
By Madeline Will
Instead of returning from winter
break feeling refreshed and ready
for the new semester, some teachers
say on social media and in interviews
that they are on edge about going
back into the classroom amid the latest
surge of COVID-19.
As COVID-19 cases rise due to the
more-contagious Omicron variant,
educators in a number of communities
are bracing for another semester of
staffing shortages, student absences,
and potentially getting sick themselves.
The Omicron variant " has been a
total game-changer, " said Kathryn
Vaughn, an elementary art teacher in
rural west Tennessee. " We've come
back [after winter break] to something
that's completely different, and no one
is prepared. "
Some districts, like the ones in
Milwaukee, Wis., and Newark, N.J.,
pivoted to remote instruction for one
or two weeks after winter break, and
some big districts-including the
District of Columbia and Seattle-
pushed their first days back to test
students and staff before they returned
to classrooms.
But other districts, including large
ones like New York City and small
ones in rural areas, are continuing
with business as usual, leaving some
teachers feeling anxious about their
own health and that of their students
and family members.
Vaughn has been losing sleep over
the possibility of contracting COVID19
at school and bringing it home to
her 4-month-old baby. The financial
and very passionately not only as an
educator, but as a parent, that our students
belong in the classroom, and
we can do it safely, " Cardona said on
CBS' " Face the Nation " Jan. 2. " We
have better tools than we had in the
past to get it done. We know what
works, and I believe even with Omicron,
our default should be in-person
learning for all students across the
country. "
Some teachers are in full agreement
with the calls to keep schools
open, and in some parts of the country,
instruction has continued on
as normal throughout most of the
pandemic. Still, other teachers are
frustrated, and Castellano said she
feels like teachers' voices are being
left out of the conversation.
" It feels like walking into a trap
that you know is a trap, " she said.
" We've been told by the people
who are in charge that schools are
safe over and over again, yet we're
the ones who are actually in the
schools. "
Castellano teaches in the Ocean
Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn,
which is a community of mostly
Black and Hispanic people. The
rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths
are higher there than Brooklyn
or New York City's overall rates,
and Castellano said she's worried
that keeping schools open during
this surge will further ravage the
community.
" There's a huge disconnect beKindergarten
teacher
Amber Updegrove interacts
with her students at Warner
Arts Magnet Elementary in
Nashville, Tenn., in August.
risks are adding to her stress: Vaughn
depleted her sick days during her maternity
leave last fall, and if she has to
miss work because she has COVID-19,
she won't be paid, which could leave
her struggling to put food on the table,
she said.
" It's a really overwhelming sense of
paranoia and fear, " she said.
How Omicron could impact
operations
On Jan. 2, the day before many
schools started the new semester, the
daily average of new COVID-19 cases
nationally hit a record 405,000-a
200 percent increase from two weeks
ago, according to the New York Times
tracker. The national seven-day average
of COVID-19-related hospitalizations
reached 90,000.
While early data suggest the
Omicron variant may cause less
severe disease than the Delta variant,
especially among vaccinated
people, it's much more contagious.
Administrators are preparing for
the possibility that a high volume
of employee absences may leave
them unable to staff classrooms or
operate schools.
Andrea Castellano, a 3rd grade
teacher in New York City, said that
more than half of her class was absent
the first day back from break, as
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n Technology
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n The K-12 marketplace
n The education job market
were many of her colleagues.
" All that teachers could say today
to each other is, 'Why are we here?' "
Castellano said. " There are limited
numbers of students, limited numbers
of staff. Teaching is not happening
because you don't want to
provide new instruction to half your
class. It's not equitable. ... If we had
the option to do remote, then real
learning could happen. "
Yet closing schools comes with
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a cost, too. Remote learning has
slowed many students' academic
progress, and left many children
feeling isolated and depressed. Parent
advocates and political leaders,
including U.S. Education Secretary
Miguel Cardona, have called for
schools to remain open despite the
surge.
" I know we've had an Omicron
surge, but I still believe very firmly
tween the people making the decisions
and the people bearing the brunt
of those decisions, " she said. " They
don't see the reality of the policies
being carried out. "
For instance, Castellano said,
many teachers are working in classrooms
without proper ventilation
or even windows that open. And
many of the mitigation strategies
endorsed by Cardona, like universal
masking and surveillance testing,
aren't in place in many schools.
Four states-Florida, Oklahoma,
Utah, and Texas-have prohibited
districts from requiring masks,
and in 30 other states, districts can
choose for themselves.
Vaughn's district in Tennessee
doesn't require masks, although she
wears one constantly. In the fall, she
ate lunch in her classroom by herself,
with the window open and two
fans running. Now, she's debating
whether those precautions will be
enough, or if she should eat in her
car.
" I'm one of the only people I know
who hasn't had COVID, " she said.
" Now, I'm just terrified that with Omicron, "
that will change.
Relaxed quarantine guidelines
worry some teachers
Adding to many teachers' anxiety:
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention shortened its
recommendations for the length of
isolation and quarantine periods on
Dec. 27. Now, people who test positive
for COVID-19 must isolate for
five days, instead of the previously
recommended 10, and then, if they
have no symptoms or their symptoms
are resolving, can resume norJohn
Partipilo/AP
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Education Week - January 12, 2022

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