Teachers are expected to take a bullet for their students. We've suffered through years of being condescended to. We pivoted on a day's notice this spring to offer crisis schooling. Now we are begging states to TALK TO TEACHERS when you develop reopening plans.
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Superintendents, principals, business administrators, etc all have valid and important concerns, but they should not trump the concerns offered up by the people who will spend 7 hours per day with students. Parents also have valid concerns, but teachers must be consulted.

If you aren't in a position where you spend hours each day with a classroom full of students you can not possibly imagine all of the safety + health concerns that will arise. If you were a teacher, but it's been 5 or 10 years since you were in a classroom, you still don't know.

Here are just a few of the almost 400 questions NJ teachers have about the reopening plan: If a teacher dies from COVID contracted while at school, does the state still pay their surviving spouse the MBOS Life Insurance payout?

Since masks protect others from the mask-wearer, is the state’s position that teachers and staff do not need to be protected, but students need to be protected from us? Will the state attendance laws be changed so students/families aren't compelled to come to school sick?

Many schools are not air-conditioned and scientists have brought up concerns about heat exhaustion brought on by masks. What is the state’s plan to mitigate this risk? Will districts provide us with N95 masks as they seem to provide the safest protection?

Studies of healthcare workers found that viral load plays a role in whether or not frontline workers became infected with Covid-19. Has any consideration been given to the viral load teachers may be exposed to?

Parents routinely send sick children to school by dosing them with medication to mask symptoms. How will districts ensure that parents do not violate these rules (which have been in place for years and are routinely ignored)?

Will nurses be required to do all Yearly Health Screenings, and if so, how will this be done with social distancing guidelines? What will be done if a family refuses to share information for contact tracing?

What happens to fire drills? Active shooter drills? Evacuation drills? These are done multiple times per month and require close proximity. The guidelines recommend keeping doors propped open. Will COVID precautions overrule active shooter precautions?

How can teachers provide non-verbal cues like a desk tap if maintaining social distance? Do one-to-one paraprofessionals have to stay 6 feet from the child they work with? How will co-taught classes work?

What's the protocol for students who soil their mask (allergy sneezes, coughs, etc)? Are they required to bring a backup? Will the school provide it? Do students in the science lab need to have fire retardant face masks?

What protections will be put into place to ensure that specialists are teaching their discipline and not being pulled to teach other disciplines that lack appropriate staffing due to limited staff?

We have class sets of textbooks for a lot of our courses, so how is the sharing/cleaning of shared resources being handled? (Desks, books, pencil sharpeners, art supplies, etc?) Will all specialists/support staff still push-in? Will they push-in to multiple classrooms?

How will special education classrooms be run? Many of these students will not be able to wear masks or any PPE and their teachers often provide help with bodily functions. Will these situations be considered even more high-risk?

If there is a rotating schedule for students ( go in abc ; stay home def)- how do related services provide? Do we continue Teletherapy? What parent would want their child pulled out of the only classroom time they have?

If students can’t sing or play instruments, will the curriculum be re-written to accommodate these changes? How will specials teachers be kept safe after a rotation of 100-150 kids daily? Who will be responsible for cleaning shared materials and supplies like computers?

Many cleaning products + hand sanitizers appropriate for the virus contain fragrances that both students and staff may be allergic to. Given the large quantities in competing scents that are likely to be used, will the state institute a fragrance-free policy for all substances?

There are close to 400 questions in this document. Teachers need answers from @NewJerseyDOE, @GovMurphy, and @NJEA. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n6XUconG3-gJZPfQe4O1hi_kHUk7NxyJqQWHsZWesp4/edit?usp=sharing

Here in NJ, it seems like teachers were not consulted when it came to designing the reopening guidelines for schools. Why? Why would @NewJerseyDOE and @GovMurphy not talk to the people who will be on the front lines?

Every teacher understands that parents want schools to reopen. We want schools to reopen when it is safe. Schools are not childcare facilities. Reopening the economy should not mean forcing teachers to risk their lives, their health, and the health of their families.