Anyone else work in a school and afraid to go back?
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Yesterday was the last straw for me, I am putting in for my retirement! Due to Covid, schools, like many businesses are having trouble hiring people to work. We had a large number of bus drivers call out sick on Monday and we have been short paraprofessionals since the pandemic began.
All the paras in my school have been asked to do "double duty" covering multiple classes at once. Yesterday we were told we all need to work a day in a classroom that is housed in the middle school I work at, where the students are unmasked and wear diapers or pull ups. These are older children. While my heart goes out to them, I am in my late 60's and have had many health issues in recent years, including breast cancer (twice). I also have joint replacements. I simply can not lift children, run after them or do anything to restrain them when they have an outburst.
I thought of taking a medical leave, but feel that the work situation will not get better any time soon and it is past time to retire. So, I am working on ending my 31 year plus career.
And to think I thought the school year 2020-2021 was the worst!
Thinking of all who posted here, especially those like myself, who were "forced" to retire due to situations created by the pandemic.
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OK, I didn't realize this topic is now hidden. I guess I am also retiring from breastcancer.org
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Jen Psaki is a horrible person. Zero care for any truth or justice or care for American citizens 🇺🇸
Condescending and unethical to the bone.
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Mavericksmom,
I hope all is ok with you. This is a great topic and I appreciate it.
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I was lucky to be able to teach from home last year. This year, not so much. I am vaccinated, teaching in a middle school that doesn't require masks. I wear a mask with a filter, bit here I am, at home, on the couch with a breakthrough infection. So far it's fairly mild. My doctor has me on antibiotics because my cough already sounds like bronchitis. I'm so angry and disappointed in Ohio.
ETA: this has totally made my previously under control lymphadema flare.
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Messenger77 not sure what your comment was about, no one brought up Psaki as far as I know??????
To everyone else, I apologize for deleting my posts on here. I came back to send a PM to someone who reached out that way.
She can attest, the reason is long, but the gist is I couldn't sleep because I had attended a meeting where I was told all paras must now add another job to our schedule, one that comes with health risks and lets just say, not something we paras ever signed up for. We are all doing double duty due to shortage of paras, along with all categories of workers. This is happening in all districts across the country.
I may be pushed into retiring soon, as in a few weeks, rather than at the end of the year as planned. Union is stepping in, not sure it will change minds as I already told my principals that we are all upset about it and they might find themselves even more short handed. It is not about being defiant but what they want us to do could injure us, even cause great harm or death, because of our own personal health issues. Covid is one threat for sure, because we would be working with unmasked students, but that isn't even the main problem.
Anyway, I thought this thread had been locked like the others because when I added posts in the middle of the night, it never showed up on the Active topic on my computer. Apparently is wasn't locked and I am deeply sorry for removing my posts.
Just when I thought last year was the worst, I find I was wrong. Ugh!!!!
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My district is working on getting a vaccine mandate for staff. I think it's a great idea and the bare minimum, but the pushback on the comments on related facebook pages is absolutely demoralizing. It is brutal to see educators spouting propaganda and misinformation and claiming their 'rights'.
The mandate was finally going to go through and it just got pushed back again (in what seems to be the usual and expected court processes, but is frustrating because we just got like five 'final' warnings that turned out to not be final at all).
On the other hand, schools are of course minimally staffed and the loss of the 15%+ unvaccinated staff will have a huge impact too, on both remaining staff and kids.
The whole thing just makes me sad and angry.
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Meanwhile in Idaho, we are not doing anything to mitigate the spread in our schools and our hospitals are in crisis standard of care. My unvaccinated friend’s daughter who is also unvaccinated and a nurse, was just intubated. My friend still thinks it was asthma that landed her daughter in the hospital because she “only had one positive Covid test after many negative ones.” She was allowed to visit her yesterday and she is unvaccinated! Why would they let her in the hospital??0
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If anyone knows of a way to restore deleted posts, let me know. I am guessing there isn't a way to do that, so I do hope this topic will continue. I am very sorry I deleted my posts, it was a combination of high stress, high anxiety and no sleep. I made a mental note never to go on this site in the middle of the night if I wake up due to stress from work!!!
Pergrinelady, My heart goes out to you!!!! I saw horrible pictures of what is going on in your state. I read about how funeral homes are bringing in refrigerated trucks to keep the bodies until they can be cremated or embalmed for burial. I can't even imagine.
I REALLY can't imagine working in schools under those conditions.
At first, denial and anti-vaxing was definitely political, much still is, but some who lean liberal politically, are highly educated and still refuse the vaccine!
I don't know how to convince people that they are wrong, but as you stated many dying in hospitals from Covid die believing they had something else!
It is a real mess!
It is bigger than Covid! Our world will never be the same and I believe it is more a result of technology and social media than a political party. I definitely believe the last President had everything to do with the way it was initially handled.
What's happening in Idaho, didn't need to happen! Very sad!
Please keep us updated, Perginelady! I wish there was something I could do for you!
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Thank you, Mavericksmom. It is crazy here. We have 50 active cases in our school district right now. More cases and deaths in our county than when the pandemic began. Unfortunately, it is the young people dying. People who thought that it only affected the elderly and ignore the news so didn’t realize that Delta is a whole new ball game. It breaks my heart to see my friend’s grandchildren at school who haven’t seen their mother in weeks. Of course her FB page says “I believe in medical freedom. Stop the mandate.” So ignorant and so sad.0
