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Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitutes

JacksinPA

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Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitutes

Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitute

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With many teachers opting out of returning to the classroom because of the coronavirus, schools around the U.S. are scrambling to find replacements and in some places lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door.

Several states have seen surges in educators filing for retirement or taking leaves of absence. The departures are straining staff in places that were dealing with shortages of teachers and substitutes even before the pandemic created an education crisis.

Among those leaving is Kay Orzechowicz, an English teacher at northwest Indiana’s Griffith High School, who at 57 had hoped to teach for a few more years. But she felt her school’s leadership was not fully committed to ensuring proper social distancing and worried that not enough safety equipment would be provided for students and teachers.

Add the technology requirements and the pressure to record classes on video, and Orzechowicz said it “just wasn’t what I signed up for when I became a teacher.”

“Overall, there was just this utter disrespect for teachers and their lives,” she said. “We’re expected to be going back with so little.” When school leaders said teachers would be “going back in-person, full throttle, that’s when I said, ‘I’m not doing it. No.’”

Teachers in at least three states have died after bouts with the coronavirus since the start of the new school year. It’s unclear how many teachers in the U.S. have become ill with COVID-19, but Mississippi alone reported 604 cases among teachers and staff.

In cases where teachers are exposed to the virus, they could face pressure to return to the classroom. The Trump administration has declared teachers to be “critical infrastructure workers” in guidance that could give the green light to exempting them from quarantine requirements.

Throughout Indiana, more than 600 teacher retirements have been submitted since July, according to state data. Although the state gets most of its teacher retirements during the summer, surveys suggest more retirements than usual could happen as the calendar year progresses, said Trish Whitcomb, executive director of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association.

“I’ve gotten more (teachers) calling me back saying, ‘Well, I’m going to go ahead and retire,’” Whitcomb said. “Some still wanted to go back in the classroom, but they didn’t think the risk was worth it. They looked at their grandkids and the life they have, and I think they’re saying, ‘I’m just not going to do it.’”

In Salt Lake County, Utah, the state’s most populated metropolitan area, more than 80 teachers have either resigned or retired early because of concerns about COVID-19 in schools. More than half of those happened in one of the county’s five school districts, Granite School District. All of the district’s teachers who left were fined $1,000 for failing to give 30 days’ notice.

To try to maintain staffing levels in classrooms, the Missouri Board of Education made it easier to become a substitute teacher under an emergency rule. Instead of the previous requirement — 60 hours of college credit — eligible substitutes now only need to obtain a high school diploma, complete a 20-hour online training course and pass a background check.

Allen Little, who retired as a math teacher in Sioux City, Iowa, this past spring, said the “complexities” of teaching during the pandemic made him decide to retire three years earlier than he had planned. Although he anticipated returning to work as a part-time substitute this fall, fears about the virus are holding him back. He encouraged his son, who is studying to be a social studies teacher and who considered getting experience as a substitute, to weigh the risks carefully.

“We’re thinking about students, our schools, our community with every decision we make,” Little said. “But we also have to think about ourselves and our families. What’s best for us, maybe more and more of us ... is not being inside the classrooms right now.”
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It is not possible to virtually teach 'hands on' courses like chemistry & physics. If you intend to go into pre-med or pre-dental in college, these are mandatory.
 
Good riddance.

They are digging their own grave by refusing to work in schools. We may eventually decide that we don't need 130,000 math teachers and that one at a remote location is enough to teach all the US kids at a fraction of the cost. Another great plus of remote by-wire teaching is that others can see the propaganda the social studies commies are trying to shove down our kids' throats. That is why in some districts, teachers want the parents to stay away from the screens. Soon, a parent will need a license to tell his kid that his teacher is a lying pro-abortion, racial justice leftist.

BTW, if hospitals can stay open, so can schools. Period. End of the drama.
 
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Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitutes

Teacher departures leave schools scrambling for substitute

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With many teachers opting out of returning to the classroom because of the coronavirus, schools around the U.S. are scrambling to find replacements and in some places lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door.

Several states have seen surges in educators filing for retirement or taking leaves of absence. The departures are straining staff in places that were dealing with shortages of teachers and substitutes even before the pandemic created an education crisis.

Among those leaving is Kay Orzechowicz, an English teacher at northwest Indiana’s Griffith High School, who at 57 had hoped to teach for a few more years. But she felt her school’s leadership was not fully committed to ensuring proper social distancing and worried that not enough safety equipment would be provided for students and teachers.

Add the technology requirements and the pressure to record classes on video, and Orzechowicz said it “just wasn’t what I signed up for when I became a teacher.”

“Overall, there was just this utter disrespect for teachers and their lives,” she said. “We’re expected to be going back with so little.” When school leaders said teachers would be “going back in-person, full throttle, that’s when I said, ‘I’m not doing it. No.’”

Teachers in at least three states have died after bouts with the coronavirus since the start of the new school year. It’s unclear how many teachers in the U.S. have become ill with COVID-19, but Mississippi alone reported 604 cases among teachers and staff.

In cases where teachers are exposed to the virus, they could face pressure to return to the classroom. The Trump administration has declared teachers to be “critical infrastructure workers” in guidance that could give the green light to exempting them from quarantine requirements.

Throughout Indiana, more than 600 teacher retirements have been submitted since July, according to state data. Although the state gets most of its teacher retirements during the summer, surveys suggest more retirements than usual could happen as the calendar year progresses, said Trish Whitcomb, executive director of the Indiana Retired Teachers Association.

“I’ve gotten more (teachers) calling me back saying, ‘Well, I’m going to go ahead and retire,’” Whitcomb said. “Some still wanted to go back in the classroom, but they didn’t think the risk was worth it. They looked at their grandkids and the life they have, and I think they’re saying, ‘I’m just not going to do it.’”

In Salt Lake County, Utah, the state’s most populated metropolitan area, more than 80 teachers have either resigned or retired early because of concerns about COVID-19 in schools. More than half of those happened in one of the county’s five school districts, Granite School District. All of the district’s teachers who left were fined $1,000 for failing to give 30 days’ notice.

To try to maintain staffing levels in classrooms, the Missouri Board of Education made it easier to become a substitute teacher under an emergency rule. Instead of the previous requirement — 60 hours of college credit — eligible substitutes now only need to obtain a high school diploma, complete a 20-hour online training course and pass a background check.

Allen Little, who retired as a math teacher in Sioux City, Iowa, this past spring, said the “complexities” of teaching during the pandemic made him decide to retire three years earlier than he had planned. Although he anticipated returning to work as a part-time substitute this fall, fears about the virus are holding him back. He encouraged his son, who is studying to be a social studies teacher and who considered getting experience as a substitute, to weigh the risks carefully.

“We’re thinking about students, our schools, our community with every decision we make,” Little said. “But we also have to think about ourselves and our families. What’s best for us, maybe more and more of us ... is not being inside the classrooms right now.”
=============================================================
It is not possible to virtually teach 'hands on' courses like chemistry & physics. If you intend to go into pre-med or pre-dental in college, these are mandatory.

You can lead these dumb Republican governors to the wisdom water, but you can[t make them drink it.

Entirely predictable.
 
Some teachers will quit or take an early retirement rather than risk face to trace teaching and very real possibly of getting Covid 19.

From the following:

More studies reveal how easily children can get and spread coronavirus. Hundreds of attendees at a Georgia summer camp came down with Covid-19, including 51% of those tested between the ages of 6 and 10.

About 260 employees at Forehand's school district have already been infected or exposed to coronavirus, Gwinnett County Public Schools said. At least one teacher has resigned after being denied the option to teach from home.

US coronavirus: Quit my job, or risk serious illness? Parents and teachers face grueling decisions as schools reopen - CNN
 
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Good riddance.

They are digging their own grave by refusing to work in schools. We may eventually decide that we don't need 130,000 math teachers and that one at a remote location is enough to teach all the US kids at a fraction of the cost. Another great plus of remote by-wire teaching is that others can see the propaganda the social studies commies are trying to shove down our kids' throats. That is why in some districts, teachers want the parents to stay away from the screens. Soon, a parent will need a license to tell his kid that his teacher is a lying pro-abortion, racial justice leftist.

BTW, if hospitals can stay open, so can schools. Period. End of the drama.

You probably should stop typing, you are exposing yourself and its not flattering in the least of ways
 
Neighbors of ours are young folk who teach physics & math in different local schools. They have 2 young children. I'm anxious to get their reading of this situation.
 
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You probably should stop typing, you are exposing yourself and its not flattering in the least of ways

Actually, he is correct. Millions of Americans deemed essential have come to work throughout this entire pandemic. Many people still have signs in their yards recognizing these 'heroes.' And im not stictly referring to hospital workers. Police, fire, Walmart employees, grocery store clerks, truck drives and millions of others deemed essential showed up for work each day despite the risks. Now along come the teachers who provide an essential service as well and many are wimping out. They are cowards and covidiots and should be called out for what they are.
 
Actually, he is correct. Millions of Americans deemed essential have come to work throughout this entire pandemic. Many people still have signs in their yards recognizing these 'heroes.' And im not stictly referring to hospital workers. Police, fire, Walmart employees, grocery store clerks, truck drives and millions of others deemed essential showed up for work each day despite the risks. Now along come the teachers who provide an essential service as well and many are wimping out. They are cowards and covidiots and should be called out for what they are.

Many stores only allow a reduced amont of customs at a time and at a social distance.


Most classrooms are small in physical space and have 24 to 28 students you are not comparing the average essential workers risk with a teacher who teaches a full clas daily.
 
Actually, he is correct. Millions of Americans deemed essential have come to work throughout this entire pandemic. Many people still have signs in their yards recognizing these 'heroes.' And im not stictly referring to hospital workers. Police, fire, Walmart employees, grocery store clerks, truck drives and millions of others deemed essential showed up for work each day despite the risks. Now along come the teachers who provide an essential service as well and many are wimping out. They are cowards and covidiots and should be called out for what they are.

You can run out and apply to do sub teaching... and let's see how long you last.

I've continued to work throughout this pandemic, but I work in an office as well as I can work from home, and can close my office door at work and screen any whom I need to engage.

Teacher's don't have that capability. Teachers have to be exposed to the kids of ignorant parent's who don't want to wear mask... so the Teacher has no way of knowing which kids have these nut case type of parents.. and what they may have exposed their kid to.
 
Good riddance.

They are digging their own grave by refusing to work in schools. We may eventually decide that we don't need 130,000 math teachers and that one at a remote location is enough to teach all the US kids at a fraction of the cost. Another great plus of remote by-wire teaching is that others can see the propaganda the social studies commies are trying to shove down our kids' throats. That is why in some districts, teachers want the parents to stay away from the screens. Soon, a parent will need a license to tell his kid that his teacher is a lying pro-abortion, racial justice leftist.

BTW, if hospitals can stay open, so can schools. Period. End of the drama.

Your posts do fit in well with the other brain dead posts of other "Conservatives".
 
Teachers don't make enough money to take the risk

I think it is a stupid idea to open schools until we have a vaccine
Huh? Teachers in the Palatine District 211 make on average 130 grand a year. There is a pdf file out there that shows these obscene numbers.

What if we never develop a vaccine? What about other infections that still do not have vaccines? What are you proposing we do when another virus, like the moronvirus, comes upon us?

Actually, the moronvirus is already here but that is another story.
 
Your posts do fit in well with the other brain dead posts of other "Conservatives".
Now, that you had a chance to insult me, are you going to read my post?
 
Now, that you had a chance to insult me, are you going to read my post?

How else did I come up with such an accurate summary of what your future holds here on DP?
 
How else did I come up with such an accurate summary of what your future holds here on DP?
Did you notice anything in it that you disagree with?
 
Did you notice anything in it that you disagree with?

I didn't notice a single thing I agreed with. All garbage right wing talking points.
 
Actually, he is correct. Millions of Americans deemed essential have come to work throughout this entire pandemic. Many people still have signs in their yards recognizing these 'heroes.' And im not stictly referring to hospital workers. Police, fire, Walmart employees, grocery store clerks, truck drives and millions of others deemed essential showed up for work each day despite the risks. Now along come the teachers who provide an essential service as well and many are wimping out. They are cowards and covidiots and should be called out for what they are.

Are you saying that they should be brave and face a virus that is so dangerous that it might kill them?

It is after all, no more dangerous than the flu and only the elderly should shelter in place.

Gotcha.
 
In fact, it's not just COVID-19 that has teachers fleeing.

It's the lack of discipline.

During the Obama administration, the federal government threatened to cut off funds if discipline was not relaxed.

The administration claimed that two certain groups were being overly punished.

In the coming decades, the quality of teaching will really decline as competent and dedicated people flee from the profession and their places are filled by the incompetent looking for a job.
 
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