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I did not have a good day today.
It didn’t start off well when there was a city-wide Xfinity Internet outage because of a construction accident.
Then it got worse as I considered the implications of three articles that came out.
First, President Trump said that teachers who were 60 or 65 might not be able to teach in the classroom for awhile when schools re-opened (see Trump: Teachers over age 60 may ‘have to sit it out for a while’ when schools reopen, but students should be ‘in great shape’). It’s Trump, right, so I figured whatever he says can’t be taken that seriously.
Then, A blueprint for back to school was released by The American Enterprise Institute, and suggests that teachers who are 55 or older should be given early retirement or just teach online classes. It’s a right-wing think tank, and I figure part of their unspoken reasoning is that it’s an opportunity for schools to save money and get rid of teachers with more seniority, but there are some co-authors of the report whom I respect.
Then, Ed Week publishes An Idaho School Reopens. Are Its Precautions the ‘New Normal’? It’s very interesting, and talks about how older teachers are still teaching from home – students learn from them via their Chromebooks while being supervised by a substitute.
Over the weekend, I published Worrying Statistic Of The Day: Teaching Next Fall Is Going To Be Risky For A Lot Of Us. It said that 29% of teachers are fifty or older.
Fifty-five appears to be the key age for increased mortality from COVID-19, so I’m guessing that 25% of us teachers are over that age (I’m sixty).
There are 3.2 million public school teachers in the U.S.
Twenty-five percent of that number is 800,000.
Are 800,000 of us not going to be able to teach in a physical classroom next year? What power will health insurance companies have in making that decision? Will districts be afraid of liability?
Those three articles today, combined with the weekend post, hit me hard – there may be a genuine possibility that I might not be able to teach in a physical classroom next year.
My wife and I work out with a personal trainer twice-a-week, I’ve played basketball three-times-week for the past thirty years (though that has obviously been curtailed recently, and I exercise every day. It’s hard to think of myself as old and vulnerable.
However, I am the third oldest teacher at our high school.
Crazy times, indeed…
I’m adding this post to THE BEST POSTS PREDICTING WHAT SCHOOLS WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE FALL.
Addendum: Students in masks? Sick kids staying home? Teachers aren’t convinced plans will keep them safe. is from The Washington Post.
Larry, You have done a brilliant job of outlining the issue. Long before the COVID crisis, I decided to retire this year so I’m spared this worry. But were I still in the classroom, I’d be on pins and needles wondering. I don’t get the sense that many districts are talking about this, understandably so since they have so many issues to work through.
I retired because my knees just couldn’t take the wear and tear of teaching science another year. Standing on concrete, walking on concrete, dragging out equipment, setting up equipment, fixing equipment, hustling off to Walmart to get supplies are all apart of the physical aspects of teaching science. In my school, the other subjects that require this much physical work (besides PE) is art and FACS. It’s kind of a hidden part of being a science teacher if you are doing science learning versus reading about science.
I wonder if the districts can “force” a teacher to return or fire them. I don’t think the unions will have much leverage on these issues if only because there are so many things to worry about.
On a positive note though….I’d love to continue teaching as an online creator of content and student interactions.
I would add that we also need to consider younger teachers who are high risk for medical reasons. My husband and I are both younger teachers, but we each have a health condition (one heart-related, one immuno-compromised) that would make it risky for us to go back too soon. How many other younger teachers also fit this category? I’m sure there are many of us, and yet I feel invisible as our community conversations only consider risks to students and occasionally older teachers.
Your point would have come across far more effectively without the political rhetoric.
Who runs or owns American Enterprise Institute? Is it DeVos? I understand the idea of the older teachers being at higher risk although it seems to me that the majority of those who have died have been ill or compromised. I think we will all have this disease at some point but I feel those who are healthy get through it, no matter the age. I hate being pigeon-holed.
I hadn’t decided on retirement yet, though I’ll be 60 this year. I have been concerned, however, about what I’m going to do in the fall since I am a cancer patient and I have Type II diabetes.
For me, it must have been providence that caused me to retire at 57, two years ago. I think you should consider it. I couldn’t be happier, and I really still enjoyed teaching when I retired. Sometimes the universe must yell to be heard.
Thank you so much for reflecting on this dilemma. I have 3 more years to go, and while I desperately want to be back in my school building, at 66 I realize that I’m in that “vulnerable” group. FInancially, I would struggle to get by on my pension, and many of the options for supplementary employment won’t be there. I also have concerns about other, younger members of staff with chronic health conditions. It’s worrying.
I am 55, but only just finishing my 4th year as a certified teacher in an elementary setting. I have been with my district for 25 years, and was previously a special education para. So, I came to being certified later which is worrisome because I don’t have the tenure that other teachers my age do. This is definitely something to think about.
I am sad to not go back but I am scared too as a 58 year old teacher with asthma and lung damage thanks to a moldy classroom in the 90s. I don’t know what the best course is but I want my union to fight hard so I have the right to keep working but safely and on my terms. I don’t want to be told to retire (who can afford to retire in their 50s while living in the San Francisco Bay Area?) but I also don’t want to be forced to go back in to the classroom when there are so many unknowns with covid-19 and with how school will look in the fall. In some ways, I have really loved remote teaching because I am just teaching and not dealing with behavior problems, meetings, classroom interruptions, parents “dropping in” with birthday treats, etc. I hadn’t thought about the idea that I teach remotely and have a substitute in the classroom. That’s a new one. I agree with you politically but I agree with what the person commented. It would have been a strong article even without mentioning politics.
My guess is that very, very few schools would have what they regard as 2 teachers in a classroom.
This is not going to work just fine, as the President says. We’re talking about losing …
—wisdom
—mentorship
—excellence and confidence learned through years of practice
—support for the families and community from years of investment.
In no way does this minimize the tremendous energy and cutting-edge practices of younger teachers, but…
One of my pastors years’ ago told our congregation something about deacons that I think also applies to teachers: “We need enough young ones with the energy to set the place on fire and enough older ones with the wisdom to keep them from burning the place down.”
Sorry, Mr. President. You got this one wrong.