Virus concerns nudge teachers to career changes, retirement
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As pressure mounts for teachers to return to their classrooms this fall, concerns about health risks from the coronavirus are pushing many toward alternatives: career changes or delaying school reopenings in hardhit areas.
Among those opting for early retirement is Liza McArdle, a 50-year-old high school language instructor in New Boston, Mich. She considered the health risks and the looming instructional challenges, trying to teach French and Spanish with a mask obstructing her enunciation, or a return to virtual learning, and decided it was time to go.
“We’re always expected to give, give, give. You’re a teacher. You have to be there for the kids,” Ms. McArdle said. “And now it’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, now you have to put your life on the line for the kids because they need to be in school.’ ”
On Monday, a teachers union filed a lawsuit to block the reopening of schools in Florida, where state officials have ordered school districts to reopen campuses as an option unless local health officials deem that to be unsafe.
“The conversation is being driven by what they want to do for the economy,” said Regina Fuentes, a high school English instructor in Columbus, Ohio, who is entering her 22nd year of teaching. “Teachers and students shouldn’t have to go back to school just to save the economy.”
American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said her union is focused on advocating for safety in reopening schools, though she isn’t ruling out possible strikes.
“When I say that nothing’s off the table, it means that nothing is off the table in our focus and our push to make this safe,” she said.
A recent analysis from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation estimated nearly one-quarter of the nation’s teachers — nearly 1.5 million — are considered higher-risk for serious illness from the coronavirus because of other health conditions or age.
Not all educators are concerned. Karen Toenges said she is eager to resume face-to-face lessons with her elementary students in Orlando, Fla., and she disagrees with those contending it isn’t safe. Even as cases spiked in the state, Ms. Toenges, 60, said she hasn’t been wearing a mask and isn’t worried about getting COVID-19.
Mary Morris will not be back this fall at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a Catholic school in Toledo, Ohio, for her 30th year of teaching. She tried planning for fall kindergarten lessons under virus precautions. Keep kids separated. Don’t share toys. Constantly sanitize all the magnetic letters and the little cubes for counting. It didn’t add up for her.
“Everything that I believe in, I can’t do,” Ms. Morris said. “It’s all going to be paper and pencil. And that’s when I sat down and I thought, ‘What am I doing?’ ”