Post 439: Reopening schools is not complicated: Vaccinate teachers, staff and students, then reopen schools--It is simple!

Post 439: Reopening schools is not complicated: Vaccinate teachers, staff and students, then reopen schools--It is simple!--Thank goodness for Teacher Unions who look after the teachers!!

Conservatives want schools open right now even if teachers are not fully vaccinated. Conservative parents are concerned that their kids are falling behind in their studies with in person classes closed and they feel that online classes are not sufficient to keep their kids interested in school. Parents are more concerned about their kids falling behind than with keeping teachers and staff safe from COVID by having them all vaccinated before reopening schools safely.

Conservative parents cite that the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control have already said schools are safe to reopen as long as students wear mask and sit six feet apart for social distancing. Teacher unions stand firm and tell parents that they will not open schools until all teachers and staff are safely vaccinated. Thank goodness for the power of teacher unions because they are the only ones who care about teacher health and welfare.

Teachers are not just babysitters to whom wealthy conservative parents drop off their children for the day just so they can have time to go to fundraisers or get their hair or nails done!  Teachers are essential workers and like all essential workers, they need PPE, proper ventilation, social distancing and masks to stay safe.

After all, teachers are people too with elderly parents to tend to, children or grandchildren to take care of who would be exposed to COVID19 if teachers went back to school unvaccinated and bought COVID19 back to their families causing their elderly parents to die of COVID or having a delicate spouse die of COVID. Also, many teachers themselves have contracted COVID when schools reopened prematurely. The teacher unions are right, schools should not reopen until all teachers are vaccinated.

Reopenig schools is not complicated. Just wait until all teachers, staff and students are vaccinated, then it will be safe to open schools. Vaccinating everyone is the only sure way that you do not spread COVID19 to other people, and you do not get COVID19 yourself.

When I went to elementary school, all teachers, staff and students had to be vaccinated against measles, mumps, and other childhood diseases. If you did not show proof of your vaccinations, you could not go to school period. If you wanted to teach in a school or work as a teacher's aide, you also had to show proof of vaccination. Well, it should be the same with COVID19. We patiently wait until everyone is vaccinated, and then we go back to school. 

Many parents in favor of reopening schools point to research showing that remote learning has negatively impacted students academically, emotionally and physically. Some even say that keeping students at home has led to suicide since students have no outlet to be with peers. I say that if you can make children understand the need to keep teachers and staff safe, and get children to understand the seriousness of COVID19, then children will weather the storm better.

Children then need to be taught what they can do at home to have fun and to learn. Children need to be taught not to be so selfish as to think about their social life and education before the safety of others to keep everyone safe. Children need to learn to sacrifice their own interests to save others and then children will do just fine.

 Parents need to make children understand that COVID19 is a serious sickness and that going to school would only spread the sickness and that the only way to keep everyone safe is to stay home for awhile until everyone is vaccinated. Parents need to learn to care about teacher's and staff health as much as they care about their children's education, which means waiting until all teachers are vaccinated before opening school up again.  This is especially true in large school districts like LAUSD that do not have the space to social distance due to the large student population. Teachers need to be vaccinated before schools can safely reopen. Period.