Nope nope nope, a thread.

This petition to make masks "optional" in K-12 schools is is a gut-punch to my family. My wife teaches elementary school music and this may be the most painful indignity she has faced in 13 years of teaching.

#MaskUpUtah #MasksInSchools #UTpol

1/ https://twitter.com/fox13/status/1282917492135010307

She is a dedicated educator, takes her job seriously, & sacrifices for her students despite regular disrespect from parents, administrators, and even fellow-teachers, low pay, & general disregard from a general public that demands much of teachers, but rewards them little.

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Last Spring she & thousands of other educators in Utah & elsewhere shouldered the herculean task of reinventing curriculum on the spot for online delivery when schools closed due to COVID-19. Lots of extra work, no extra pay.

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For a moment, the nation seemed to swell in praise of teachers. Parents home-schooling their kids realized how hard teachers' jobs are & shouted support for their local schools and joked that teachers should all be paid a LOT more. Sadly, that praise was short lived.

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Now teachers are being asked to return to school and many are willing to do so. Many BELIEVE in the importance of education. Even when some are being asked to double their work load to prep and deliver simultaneous in-person and remove instruction. It's a big ask.

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By returning to work, teachers will expose themselves to contagion. Masks will keep them safer. My wife teachers music and sees 300+ students a week, so her potential exposure is magnitudes higher than most. Masks will keep her (& the rest of our family) & STUDENTS safer.

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Masks are uncomfortable. Masks are inconvenient. Nobody likes wearing them. But are we really going to ask our teachers - already underpaid, under-supported, and underappreciated - to sacrifice their health for our comfort and convenience?

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Petitioning against masks means people value their comfort and convenience more than teachers' (and teachers' families') health and safety. These are dark times if that is where we're at as a nation. Love thy neighbor? Do unto others...? Come on people. Just #WearAMask!

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Postscript - Utah has been facing a teacher shortage for years. How do we think all of this is going to affect teacher retention or the entry of new teachers into our schools? Pay is among the lowest in the nation. Now we also make it an unsafe work environment. Yikes.

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Postscript 2 - people say teachers teach "because they love the kids." True, many teachers DO love out children, but this rhetoric is too-often used to justify low pay. Teaching is a CAREER, not just a hobby they do for warm fuzzies. Teachers deserve more respect AND pay.

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Postscript 3 - Don't @ me about masks being ineffective or even dangerous. The OVERWHELMING scientific, medical, and public health consensus is that they do help. Potentially even more than we had previously thought.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-07-14/evidence-mounts-that-masks-help-lower-your-exposure-to-the-coronavirus

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