COVID-19 Outbreak Information Updates (Reboot) [over 150.000,000 US cases (est.), 6,422,520 US hospitilizations, 1,148,691 US deaths.] (12 Viewers)

[jrdbrn]

Speaking on mental health and all that.....what will the return to school do to the mental health of teachers? I know that I don't usually get stressed about a whole lot of stuff, but I can almost guarantee you that my anxiety levels are going to be through the roof when I've got a couple hundred students on my campus.

My wife and her coworkers are not taking it well.

 

[sfidc3]

Well, it seems that most airlines already have mask mandates in place and are kicking people off flights who won't wear them. Read a few stories about that this weekend. If we can't count on Trump to save lives, at least the airlines know the only way to stay in business is to mandate masks (many of them, at least.)

Yeah, I know that and am actually flying out west next month, from all I've heard from friends who have flown the last few months it seems most airlines are doing a pretty good job of taking proper precautions to minimize risk of spread....but the insanity that is coming from one side of the political aisle is shocking, at the least very eye-opening....

 

[saintmdterps]

Tomorrow I start back to work. Some meetings in person, some meetings via Zoom/Google. We had an abundance of retirements and teachers leaving this year, more than any other year I've seen so far. We have however had a large amount of parents sign their students up for full online courses, about 25% of my district (but about 40% at my school which is great). We still have absolutely no subs to cover when teachers end up sick, even if its not Covid related. My outlook is that if we start mid to late August, I give us until mid-October before we are shut down once more. This is my fear, my prediction, not my want. Another prediction is that if this somehow succeeds, teachers will not reap the rewards. In fact, politicians are going to look at this and say "Well they managed with so little, we can take even more." And if this doesn't succeed, which I don't believe it will, teachers will also be blamed. They didn't have a plan in place, they didn't clean properly, they didn't address medical needs properly. It's their fault that these kids and other teachers got sick and died. And once again, the politicians are going to look at this and say "Well they're inept and needy anyway. No matter what they'll fail, lets take even more from them since it doesn't matter anyway."

Our district is full online. My wife is dreading trying to teach her special ed caseload from home. 70% of her school is free and reduced meals, and they struggle under normal conditions to get kids to complete assignments or even to attend school. As you say, if they fail to get billing done, or meet minimum testing benchmarks, then the teachers will be hung out to dry.

Of course, this county made the decision to go remote after the deadline had passed for teachers accepting the contract for the 20/21 school year. There are many teachers who are not returning anyway, as they don't want to try to do their jobs remotely or don't want to be put in harms way by returning to classroom instruction. no one believes this administration will act to protect teachers and students. The students are considered disposable, and the teachers are considered overpaid.

 

[Saint_Ward]

Broward and Dade county Florida just can't seem to shake this thing, and we've been the ones in mask orders the whole darn time...

But, I have heard, other than the bars, there have been a lot of private parties.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Our district is full online. My wife is dreading trying to teach her special ed caseload from home. 70% of her school is free and reduced meals, and they struggle under normal conditions to get kids to complete assignments or even to attend school. As you say, if they fail to get billing done, or meet minimum testing benchmarks, then the teachers will be hung out to dry.

Of course, this county made the decision to go remote after the deadline had passed for teachers accepting the contract for the 20/21 school year. There are many teachers who are not returning anyway, as they don't want to try to do their jobs remotely or don't want to be put in harms way by returning to classroom instruction. no one believes this administration will act to protect teachers and students. The students are considered disposable, and the teachers overpaid.

Mines 100%. I agree it’s going to be a blast. Couple that with an admin that wants the whole blooming day 1 straight zoom meeting because it’s a regular day just distance. Party time guys party time.

is the sarcasm evident or do I need to tag it?

 

[No2DC]

Our district is full online. My wife is dreading trying to teach her special ed caseload from home. 70% of her school is free and reduced meals, and they struggle under normal conditions to get kids to complete assignments or even to attend school. As you say, if they fail to get billing done, or meet minimum testing benchmarks, then the teachers will be hung out to dry.

Of course, this county made the decision to go remote after the deadline had passed for teachers accepting the contract for the 20/21 school year. There are many teachers who are not returning anyway, as they don't want to try to do their jobs remotely or don't want to be put in harms way by returning to classroom instruction. no one believes this administration will act to protect teachers and students. The students are considered disposable, and the teachers overpaid.

I've never heard of any public school preK-12 teachers being overpaid, maybe administrators but not the people in the classroom. If anything our teachers deserve more money.

 

[saintmdterps]

I've never heard of any public school preK-12 teachers being overpaid, maybe administrators but not the people in the classroom. If anything our teachers deserve more money.

Indeed they do, but local sentiment is that teachers are overpaid 'cuz summers off, and stuff.

 

[saintmdterps]

Mines 100%. I agree it’s going to be a blast. Couple that with an admin that wants the whole blooming day 1 straight zoom meeting because it’s a regular day just distance. Party time guys party time.

is the sarcasm evident or do I need to tag it?

Ha, not sarcasm unfortunately. Sadly, local sentiment is that teachers are overpaid. The truth is quite the opposite; teachers are the most underpaid professionals in the country.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Speaking on mental health and all that.....what will the return to school do to the mental health of teachers? I know that I don't usually get stressed about a whole lot of stuff, but I can almost guarantee you that my anxiety levels are going to be through the roof when I've got a couple hundred students on my campus.

Mine is already shot and we don't get kids back for almost 3 weeks thanks to a delayed reopening (we were originally to start this week). Full disclosure, I was already in a pretty shaky state of mental health before the pandemic and have pretty much cratered since March, but its now even 10 times worse beyond that as we approach going back. Especially as it becomes obvious how unworkable and unsustainable our plans are.

 

[brandon8283]

Mental health thing:

I really don't have mental health issues. I don't deal with depression or anxiety or anything like that.

But today I was walking through Wal-Mart today to quickly pick up an item. As I walked through, I saw everyone wearing masks and going about their business and people who accidentally came too close quickly moving out of my way. I suddenly had an overwhelming sense of sadness. I almost started crying right in the middle of Wal-Mart. In my head I kept thinking "It's not supposed to be this way. This isn't normal."

I think I'm a pretty strong person. But I also think it's just how long this has gone on and how much of life has changed that is starting to wear me down.

 

[buzd]

Mental health thing:

I really don't have mental health issues. I don't deal with depression or anxiety or anything like that.

But today I was walking through Wal-Mart today to quickly pick up an item. As I walked through, I saw everyone wearing masks and going about their business and people who accidentally came too close quickly moving out of my way. I suddenly had an overwhelming sense of sadness. I almost started crying right in the middle of Wal-Mart. In my head I kept thinking "It's not supposed to be this way. This isn't normal."

I think I'm a pretty strong person. But I also think it's just how long this has gone on and how much of life has changed that is starting to wear me down.

I have passing moments like that. We really are nearing a strange dystopia.

 

[RazorOye]

While we're on the subject... I've mentioned before my own mental health history. I'm faring reasonably well, all things considered. But the anxiety and stress is definitely being felt.

But it's my wife that I am more concerned about in this regard. Like Brandon described himself - my wife would probably describe herself similarly.

She's very strong mentally and never really any anxiety issues. But she's been dealing with this worse than I am. She isn't sleeping well. She has a doctor's appt tomorrow to discuss her autoimmune disorder. She doesn't know, really, what her class is going to look like. She doesn't want go back without more in place to protect her and the students. She's been reading a ton of articles that only exacerbate her anxiety.

We've been together since 1996. I've never seen her like this. And it's worrisome.

 

[RazorOye]

I have passing moments like that. We really are nearing a strange dystopia.

I don't think the masks have hit me like they have some people. All those years I was at the university, I passed through Chinatown and it was very common for people to be wearing facemasks. When I first got here, it struck me as odd and novel. But it didn't take long for it to become normal.

 

[insidejob]

But, I have heard, other than the bars, there have been a lot of private parties.

Man, I walked my dog through City Park this weekend for a good 5 miles. All up and around and through most of the park and I counted 20+ gatherings of at least groups of 15-20 people BBQ'ing and drinking. No social distance and just a few masks were seen. You can shut down the bars but you can't shut down the stupid.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Speaking on mental health and all that.....what will the return to school do to the mental health of teachers? I know that I don't usually get stressed about a whole lot of stuff, but I can almost guarantee you that my anxiety levels are going to be through the roof when I've got a couple hundred students on my campus.

My wife has a few admin titles attached to her class workload- she’s up to a panic attack a day.
She’ll power through bc as a black woman she’s well versed in powering through her mental health concerns, bu she is struggling mightily
I’m kinda the opposite- the more stressed I get the more low key I become. Right now I'm about Brad Pitt in True Romance - by week’s end, I’ll probably be somewhere around Carl from Slingblade