‘We are not expendable.’ Manatee teacher decries school reopening plans | Opinion

This was originally an email from Manatee County teacher Jason Troop to the Manatee County School Board, Superintendent Cynthia Saunders, the Manatee Education Association and others.

As I sit between sessions for leadership and starting the year, I am feeling more concerned than ever.

The science, as Dr. Scott Hopes will attest, tells us that children under 10 or so are “less likely” to be vectors for this virus but that those 11 and up are no different than adults. This being the case, principals are sharing — contrary to the board consensus — that masks OR face shields will be the options. In the last meeting, the board consensus was that a mask was a requirement barring a doctor’s medical assessment that a mask would be to the detriment of the child.

However, it seems that this was ignored with the 3-2 vote to approve the plan as is. Our middle and high schools will almost immediately become community spreaders to nearly every family in the district. This needs to be revisited and clarified. No one’s political opinion, at any level, should determine this. Only the science should be our guide.

I cannot tell you how many of my colleagues are developing living wills. My own 18-year-old daughter asked me to consider teaching at Florida Virtual School rather than take a chance with my own health and life, even though I am 49 and in excellent health. As well, the mask requirement must be placed in the code of conduct and be a referral level offense, so we may avoid the slap on the wrist leading to literal health events and possible deaths.

The cautionary tale of the 42-year-old father in Plantation comes to mind; he has been intubated on a ventilator for three weeks due to his stepson socializing without a mask, and the entire family is positive, with varying degrees of illness. We have to learn from the worst and not simply hope for the best.

With that in mind, I am not seeing nearly any proactive activity. We are reacting to edicts from Tallahassee and beyond rather than looking to achieve readiness for a worst case scenario. I am seeing a concern for public opinion, seeking input from parents and the community about eLearning, but the same has not been asked of our employees. As we are the largest employer in Manatee County and impact so many, we need to think about what can and likely will happen.

Parents have been decrying our lack of readiness and suggesting we had four months to prepare for the opening of the school year, yet I and my colleagues do not even know the method or even grade level of what we will be teaching. If, as suggested by health experts, opening schools leads to a local COVID explosion, we will have to return to phase one and go entirely online, but we have done nothing significant to prepare our staff for this possible, even probable, eventuality.

We have many, many teachers and staff who are themselves health compromised or who have loved ones who are, and many of these have already lost family members or loved ones to the virus. However, they are being told that even if they are online only, they must be on site to work. This implies a severe lack of trust and an expectation of sacrifice far beyond what we should be asking of our employees. We are not soldiers or law enforcement who risk their lives daily. I beg of you to think less as employers and more as fellow human beings. How many of us will be mourning the loss of colleagues and friends this year? How many children will lose a teacher or parent or grandparent or more? How many children will lose their health or even their lives? These are not acceptable risks.

Lastly, I cannot fathom how we will not only reach agreement on a memorandum of understanding with the union when teachers, contrary to the board and communication from the district, will be asked to be both eLearning teachers and full time teachers with readiness to be an online teacher, as there is an assumption of school closures and teacher absence due to the virus. Think about that. Teachers are being asked to serve in multiple roles with little support or preparation as they also are expected to be ready to contract a possibly devastating and deadly virus as a condition of returning to work. This is untenable and honestly immoral. We are not expendable nor is our health and nor are our families. We will not die or face a lifetime of debilitating illness purely because some community members may be loud and complain vehemently. It is your job to handle this and protect us. We expect you to do so.

Several of you are up for re-election, and while this is certainly not a threat, being the largest employer also means each of those employees and their family members are voters. If that has meaning for you, please know that we are watching, and while we hope you will use your conscience, we will certainly vote ours.

Please make #WeManatee mean something, because right now many of the “we” feel like more of a “you”, as in “you” should take this chance so that school may resume as normal, but now is anything but normal.

I do not want to remember 20-21 as the year I lost colleagues, friends, and students. I do not want ’20-’21 to be the last year I could live as an active and healthy adult. I do not want ’20-’21 to include my epitaph.

It is time you each stand for what is right — not what is popular or debatable. Look to the science. Look to the finances of liability. Look to the future of getting past this with the least amount of suffering and casualties, because I promise you, if you think the voices from the community are loud now, just wait until the worst case presents itself. They will be deafening.

I sincerely hope we can depend on you to take care of us and our students. We need you to be the best, most proactive, and most understanding leaders you can be. If not…

Thank you and be well.

Jason Troop is a seventh-grade language arts teacher at R. Dan Nolan Middle School in Lakewood Ranch.

This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 1:04 PM.