I am breaking my recent promise not to post articles that were previously published, but this is one of those rare exceptions to the rule, because it would not get the national audience it deserves without reposting it here. This article by Sandra Vohs, president of the Fort Wayne Education Association, appeared originally in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, one of the few newspapers in Indiana and the nation that appreciates our public schools and their teachers.
Vohs writes:
These days, it’s impossible not to hear cries of “get kids back in school” and “we need to reopen schools.” These declarations certainly suggest that schools are closed.
In this era of alternative facts, there is some bizarre belief out there that, all over the nation, school leaders have decided just to skip this year, allowing teachers to take a long, paid vacation. Of course, that would mean students have a year of free time with no lessons to complete, no grades to earn and no chance of moving on to the next level next year.
I suppose that means that virtual school or remote learning will no longer be officially considered “school.” What does this mean for all the virtual schools that have been enrolling, teaching and graduating students for years?
Will all the students who have earned credits from virtual schools see their credits reversed and their diplomas voided?
Of course not.
Though arguably inferior to in-person classes, virtual school has been an educational option available to students for quite a while.
Educators from traditional, in-person, brick-and-mortar schools have long been cheerleaders for theirs as the best option for students – sensibly pointing to supporting research to back their claims.
For the vast majority of students, there is no equivalent alternative to the academic and social advantages offered by in-person classroom settings.
So, while virtual education is not the best option for most children, it is still a viable secondary option in circumstances where in-person learning is impractical or potentially unsafe.
It is worth pointing out that, until the COVID-19 pandemic, there weren’t a lot of supportive voices joining the proponents of in-person school over virtual education; tax dollars in multiple states were siphoned from traditional schools and diverted to online schools under the guise of supporting “school choice” initiatives.
Some of the very same voices shouting about the need to reopen schools that are currently virtual – as if virtual school isn’t really school – are the same voices that supported pre-pandemic virtual schools over traditional public schools in the first place.
So, to all the school districts that have had to instantly offer virtual instruction to students, compliments of the pandemic: thank you. Thank you for rushing to get resources and training to students, parents and teachers.
Thank you for finding creative ways to allow some students to return in person, from creating blended schedules of in-person and remote classes to finding unorthodox spaces for classrooms to allow for smaller class sizes and social distancing.
Thank you for implementing ever-changing public health recommendations from local, state and national health departments.
And thank you for offering virtual classes when in-person school posed too much of a risk to the adults and children of your communities.
Since public school funding isn’t consistent, even within individual states, some school districts have been able to be more proactive against the spread of the virus.
To those districts, thank you for upgrading ventilation systems (if you could afford it), adding buses and drivers (if you could afford it), bringing in trailers for additional classroom space (if you could afford it), hiring extra teachers to lower class sizes (if you could afford it), providing free masks and hand sanitizer (if you could afford it), providing free breakfasts and lunches for remote students (if you could afford it), supplying computers and internet connectivity to students (if you could afford it), and being able to provide the safest possible environment for the children you serve.
By far, the biggest thank you of all should be reserved for teachers, the boots-on-the-ground first responders to the educational consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teachers are working both in person and virtually, often at the same time.
They have been charged with mastering virtual technology that is only as good as the virtual framework supplied by their districts. They have had to become software experts and tech support for students and parents, all while implementing standards of best practices for remote learning in the lessons they design.
They are working nearly twice as many hours, typically for no additional pay, yet these are the teachers whom politicians and pundits often publicly disparage as “not wanting to work.”
Teachers who have returned to in-person classrooms have to implement and sustain pandemic protocols with children – cleanliness, social distancing, mask-wearing.
They have to modify their curriculum to adapt to those protocols (no group work, no shared supplies, etc.).
They risk exposure to COVID-19 every day; the safest and cleanest school buildings have no impact on what students are exposed to outside of school.
Teachers are being asked to risk their health, or the health of their loved ones, all while TV news and social media are full of ignorant vitriol claiming teachers just don’t want to work.
While some states have prioritized vaccinating teachers, others (such as Indiana) have not made vaccinating teachers a priority.
Teachers have been ensuring the continuation of school all year, both virtually and in person, yet they and their professional associations are routinely and publicly disrespected for their efforts.
The next time you hear anyone say students need to get back in school, or that schools need to reopen, please remember that schools are open and performing miraculous feats to keep public education available to all.
Sandra Vohs is president of the Fort Wayne Education Association.
“In this era of alternative facts, there is some bizarre belief out there that, all over the nation, school leaders have decided just to skip this year, allowing teachers to take a long, paid vacation.”
Funny.
Our school opened back up in August and it’s still been really difficult. There were sort of rolling quarantines where students would be home and then back and then home. There were periods where we had entire sports teams and music classes quarantined after exposure to other students who tested positive. A lot of the parents here worry that no one seems to know if there will be any lasting effects when kids are infected and a lot of kids were infected. Not sick! But infected.
Just a lousy year for students whether your school was open or closed, or closed/opened/closed/opened as happened with one of our districts.
From my perspective the only thing we got from government was demands that schools open, which while certainly politically potent was not helpful or even relevant to people “on the ground”.
I’m hoping there will be better federal leadership going forward. More practical and less invested in bashing public schools to promote “choice” schemes. These are practical problems- logistics, resources, facilities. They should have been approached that way instead of as yet another club to beat public schools with.
It’s just very difficult to credit ed reformers with “addressing” the pandemic since all of their “solutions” are the same things they push every year- “choice” or privatization of one form or another and testing.
They have yet to offer anything that applies to public school students. I guess the assumption is the pandemic drives the entire student population to charter or private schools or privately-run “pods” but that to me seems like a very motivated assumption that aligns with their goals and bigger agenda but doesn’t do anything to support students in public schools and is probably (also) wildly inaccurate.
I remain baffled at how we ended up with an entire “public education policy” group who never address or support students in public schools. That seems nuts to me and it indicates “capture”- that market-based ed reform is so enamored of “markets” they simply no longer serve students in public schools, having rejected public schools as a sector.
When they threw out the schools they also threw out the students.
well said
Teachers have been juggling many unforeseen demands being made on them. Many teachers have been teaching in person and on-line. While some of them may have access to a certain amount of “canned content,” so many teachers have had to adapt their lessons to an on-line or distance learning format. As a result secondary teachers have seen their registers increase tremendously without any additional support from their districts. Some states have made an effort to keep students and teachers safe while other states have made few modifications to class size, cleanliness and PPE.
The local community college instructors were picketing because the administration was not supporting their efforts to keep safe. They complained about the size of the classes and the fact that the mask rules were not being enforced. Most educators have gone above and beyond in this school year like no other. Unfortunately, some of the most vulnerable students, particularly homeless students, have been lost in the shuffle. https://www.inthepublicinterest.org/charter-schools-are-failing-homeless-students-at-jaw-dropping-rates/
And to the state of ____, thank you for providing medical insurance for the rest of each teacher’s life against possible complications due to corona viruses new and old cultured in poorly-ventilated buildings over filled with children.
But soft! I do not get that insurance. I have to buy it myself. Who does?
Oh yeah, that’s right, now I remember! There were online charter schools being pawned off on the public as worthwhile by the same people who now say we must risk our lives to get back in person without necessary safety measures. There’s the hypocrisy of Goliath.
I do think the pandemic has shown that remote school can actually work very well for certain students. Not very young students, and not most students. But there are some for whom it seems to work and who prefer it.
Remote school that my kid experienced in NYC since September bears as little resemblance to the “online charter schools” as Donald Trump resembles AOC.
What I found is what I have always found — that experienced teachers whose motivation is to teach and who are given the tools to do so will be able to teach in a variety of circumstances, and some students will do better depending on the circumstance IF they have what they need.
Some students will do better with a private tutor just like many wealthy families used to have centuries ago. Not sure we needed a pandemic to show us that. I have no doubt that unethical people who hate public schools will lobby politicians to force public schools to give $18,000 per year per child to any parent who wants to teach their children themselves or hire a tutor.
I am a fan of The Art of Problem Solving (https://artofproblemsolving.com) for virtual mathematics education. For precocious children in most of the country it is a good alternative to the traditional curriculum and offers some refuge from the bullying and loneliness that precocious children often experience.
I have one very motivated student for whom remote learning keeps the covid out of his cancer-prone family. In that way it works, and though I wish he were in my class where we could have those wonderful lingering conversations after the other students had gone out talking about their firiday nights, I understand that this works best for him now. Otherwise, the majority of my students like remote because it is less invasive of their time, but admit it is less effective for them.
The purpose of school is to build understanding of one another and the universe in which we live, not to build capital. The Ancient Greeks philosophers knew it. The 18th century French philosophers knew it. The Founding Fathers of democracy knew it.
Online school is inferior because it does not build understanding of one another. Home schooling and online schooling might create understanding of the Pythagorean theorem. They might build understanding of the differences between chordata and echinodermata. They might help people know what a gerund is. They do not build understanding of what really matters.
The only thing online school is good for is saving lives during a deadly pandemic. And it is good for that.
I’ve heard that some students have found online school a respite from bullying or extremely disruptive classrooms.
Others say they like it because it eliminates commute times, which can give some students as much two or three extra hours per day to do things they otherwise couldn’t.
Society does not like it because people are not learning to treat each other better. Society does not like it because people are not learning to collectively confront and teach bullies. Heck, society doesn’t like it because there isn’t a school dance and no one can get a date. That’s actually a really big deal. Society would be better off if there were a fully funded public school on every block instead of an hour away.
Society — the world into which children are being raised — is suffering. But more importantly, surviving.
Society doesn’t like it because it is inconvenient. Parents are more accountable for their child’s education, plus they either have to be present (instead of at work), have their own parents help out, or hire someone/put the child in daycare (which costs money they don’t want to spend).
You sound surprised that some students learn better in isolation. I taught one student one-to-one English and algebra because he was too disruptive in a regular classroom. He had what we use to call Asperger’s syndrome, which is now recognized as on the autism spectrum. His social skills were impaired to such an extent that he alienated the other students and retaliated for their cruelty. No one really understood what was going on at the time. It was his mother who recognized it (and probably had it herself).
I am not surprised some students learn well how to be in isolation.
Some students do not like to eat their vegetables. They eat lunch more successfully if you give them fries and a Coke.
In addition to the age of students, cyber instruction lends itself to subjects that are more skill and sequence based. For example, it is possible to use technology to reinforce grammar, phonics, mathematics, etc. On-line learning is less appropriate for big idea subjects like social sciences, humanities and the arts. At their best computers are useful tools in the hands of trained professionals. At their worst they are electronic forms of fascism that collect and sell data, violate privacy, rank and rate. That’s my new favorite phrase, “electronic fascism.”
Electronic Fascism: The Business of Punishment
Cyber instruction is like textbooks. I don’t understand why this seems to be so difficult for many people to grasp.
No one has ever said “we must abolish all text books” but it would be absurd to say “because the paid shills of billionaires have supposedly ‘proved’ that textbooks help learning, we should give huge amounts of taxpayer money to privately operated correspondence course charters so they can mail textbooks to students”. Not that the ed reform shills wouldn’t be promoting that if their billionaire underwriters told them they wanted to support it, of course.
Here in NY, we’re about to embark down the “vaccine passport” road.
Schroedinger’s Virtual School
It’s steak and gruel
At self-same time
The virtual school
Is spotless grime
Biden’s administration has just put a priority on getting teachers and staff, including bus drivers and child care workers, vaccinated by the end of this month. The federal government will send vaccines to local pharmacies earmarked for educators. This is a big step forward.
If opening schools is a priority, vaccinations for school staff must be a priority as well.
Teachers everywhere should ask if their local newspapers support their work, offering readers a platform to become better informed about issues and accomplishments, as the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette does: Not behind a paywall. I know of only one other newspaper with a similar policy, but on a different subject: The Washington Post has removed the paywall on coverage of the pandemic.
I looked at the Fort Wayne contract with teachers. It is obvious that this brief article pull’s on Sandra Vohs’ deep experience in as the chief negotiator for the contract, and especially her brilliant inventory of the need for the districts to pay for what “opening up the schools” requires:
upgrading ventilation systems, adding buses and drivers, bringing in trailers for additional classroom space, hiring extra teachers to lower class sizes, providing free masks and hand sanitizer, providing free breakfasts and lunches for remote students, supplying computers and internet connectivity to students “and being able to provide the safest possible environment for the children you serve.”
Thanks to the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette’s policy of supporting news about education this well-informed article by Sandra Vohs and now Diane Ravitch, this short and to the point article will have a much larger readership than Fort Wayne offers. The content and the cause deserves that.
Seems to me that the text and publication in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette has Phyllis Bush’s spirit and fingerprints all over it. Also explains why it is “one of the few newspapers in Indiana and the nation that appreciates our public schools and their teachers.”
I’m the editorial page editor for the Journal Gazette. Phyllis Bush was a dear friend and I miss her every day. But our editorial board has long been an unapologetic supporter of public education and critical of so-called education reform. Our opinion page efforts have been steadfastly backed by our just-retired publisher, Julie Inskeep, even under pressure from the state officials most responsible for Indiana’s massive voucher program.
Please subscribe to your local newspaper. The attacks on public schools have been abetted by declining support for local journalism.
“In this era of alternative facts, there is some bizarre belief out there that, all over the nation, school leaders have decided just to skip this year, allowing teachers to take a long, paid vacation”
There are even some who have commented here who seemed to imply as much.
But it’s not as bizarre as it dishonest.
Thank you.
Thank you for this article! We are hearing that schools are not opened. Questiosns are asked, why aren’t schools? open The question assumes a black or white answer – open or not open! An economist, argung against the Covid relief package proclaimed, “There is no need to have money in the covid relief package becuse schools will not be open until at least fall 2021.” As we all know, this is a false narrative and does not recognize reality. One of the biggest problems is that these educational “pundits” have no idea of the reality of what is going on in schools , as the readers of Diane’s blog know full well. Sadly, as usual, I never see actual experts in education being on the talk shows who actually know about the reality of what is happening in schools across the country. And yes, in our area of New York, schools are open but not in the same way they would be in a pre-covid era. Nevertheless, students are going to school even if it may be a a schedule that is different that what is normal. such as using a staggered schedule approach. This is infuriating!
Excellent article; unfortunately, it will never see the light of day in the New York Times or the rest of the MSM.
Exactly right.
A friend of mine who is still a community-based, public school teacher is nearing the end of his career in the teaching profession.
He was planning to work a few more years but the last time I heard from him, he said the workload and stress that comes with teaching five English classes through Zoom is so overwhelming that he may retire earlier than planned to escape the grind from all the demands that have been added to his job.
His workload has grown so much since the pandemic the only time I get an e-mail from him is on an occasional Sunday since he’s working 16 hours days the other six days and sometimes a few hours on Sunday to catch up.
He mentioned that his students are now free to ask him for help 24/7 and an e-mail or text message can appear at any time, even between midnight and dawn.
Ironically, I’ve heard many people complain that remote learning has made it too easy on teachers. They feel the kids and parents are doing all the work while the teachers are gliding by doing very little. I always point out that the hybrid and other remote learning models are twice the work as a normal classroom setting. I also advocate for vaccines for teachers/staff. At least then they heat an alternate view on the topic.
The same crowd that are sure we all sit/sat on the beach reading trashy novels during our “summer vacation.” Part of the same crowd that thinks they know how and what to teach because they went to school.
On line done properly is twice the work as in person instruction