Year 11 – Week 11: The Pandemic, Part 5 - Going Remote Again

I was planning on writing about how my school opened in the fall, the differing opinions within the faculty, the teacher association's role (our union), and tensions between the administration and the faculty. But then, Tuesday night, I got an email from my administration saying that our school would go remote after Thanksgiving break. I'm going to focus on the present right now and duck back into the past later.

Timeline of email calendar updates: 

• 7/15/20 The school calendar is released to faculty and families. 
• Week of 11/15: no classes on Thursday parent-teacher conferences. 
• Week of 11/22: Monday and Tuesday are full days of classes. Wednesday is a half-day, and Thursday and Friday are Thanksgiving break.  (This is the general approach to these two weeks that we've done in years past. This is expected.) 

• 10/30/20 
• Week of 11/15: no classes on Thursday AND Friday parent-teacher conferences.
• Week of 11/22: Monday and Tuesday are now remote learning classes so that teachers and students can gain some practice with the new remote learning schedules. Wednesday has no school and is now part of Thanksgiving break.

• 11/17/20 
• "All grades will go to remote learning between the end of the Thanksgiving Recess and the start of the December Recess (Monday, November 30, through Thursday, December 17). There will be no school on Friday, December 18, which was previously scheduled as a half-day." 

At the end of October, we knew that we had to prepare for two remote learning days on the week of the Thanksgiving break. That is plenty of time. We found out that we were going remote for after Thanksgiving break, the night before the last day of classes before conferences. Basically, we had less than a day to prepare the students mentally for going remote for December and prepare and disseminate materials for extended remote learning. Could parents come and pick up materials? Yes, like last spring, the how's and when's of this wasn't laid out clearly with the message that December would be remote.  

Did I see this coming?  

Similar to last March, I did, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. I have been so laser-focused on making in-person learning work despite all of the challenges that I haven't let myself focus on the issue of whether our school should be in-person or not and whether we should go remote for an extended period of time.  

I had heard last week that other schools had made the call to go remote for December. It made sense. The positivity rate was going up, and the cases were rising exponentially. Yes, this was concerning. Students and teachers at my school had been exposed by students who had tested positive to COVID-19 who came into the building. No one had gotten COVID-19 from exposure at my school, which means our mitigation practices were working. The issue is that even if we are doing everything right and more and more people are getting COVID-19, even with the best mitigation practices, a school can only do so much keeping people safe and staying functional as a school.  

One of the most difficult lessons I've learned over the eight months is that sometimes it doesn't matter how much I sacrifice and how hard I work. My family did everything we could to stop the spread of COVID-19 last spring and summer, and the case numbers went up. I worked so hard at my job as a teacher for two and half months, carefully following every safety guideline, to make in-person school safe joyful and, and we are going remote because COVID-19 is out of control in Chicago.  

The choices we make have always affected other people. However, we forget this sometimes, and the pandemic has been a painful reminder that the ignorance, lack of empathy, and selfishness of others has a real effect on other people's lives. It is frustrating that people who care so little can have power over my life and my efforts.

At some point, I will process these feelings of frustration and feel proud of what I accomplished teaching music in-person without singing or wind instruments, without a classroom of my own, and without a curriculum, I've used before. 

Right now, I'm just tired. 

While I am not looking forward to remote teaching, I will enjoy being able to let go of the stress of teaching while wearing a mask, and social distancing, in a school full of students, staff, and faculty.  

I take consolation knowing that my school's choices will make the faculty I admire so much and the students I care deeply in my heart safer this holiday season.