K-12 Schools & COVID

[JWags85]

My wife has been saying recently she wishes she could retire from teaching.  She loves her job, but COVID pushed everything over the edge.  It's mostly the students, as the kids are completely disrespectful now.  The social skills aren't as good and too focused on how they appear on social media.  A large number don't want to work and then the same students and parents harass her with BS excuses to increase their grade for no reason.  Of course these things happened previously, but it was more the exception than the rule.

Was this an issue for a few years now?  And with COVID, the juice was no longer worth the squeeze?  Or the kids became worse during/post COVID issues

[Pakuni]

Hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't want to go into teaching, with the kind of backing they get from parents like this.

Following the state's establishment of a website to report violations of a new anti-divisive-subject law, the New Hampshire chapter of Moms for Liberty tweeted that it would pay $500 to the first person to successfully catch a teacher breaking the new law.
https://www.businessinsider.com/anti-crt-moms-for-liberty-teachers-breaking-new-discrimination-law-2021-11?r=US&IR=T

Yup. Parents paying students to snitch on teachers. 'Merica.

That said, my wife is a teacher and is loving her class this year. Luck of the draw. She's had terrible classes and great classes.
But everything that has been said here about lousy parents who treat school as glorified day care and teachers as nannies, these are things she's encountered regularly in a long career in primary education. It's bad enough that there are so many entitled parents out there who view teachers as their personal babysitter, but worse when many of those same parents are the ones who complain loudest about your methods, salary, job security, etc.

[MU82]

Here's an op-ed in today's Charlotte Observer written by a psychologist:

Who else remembers last school year when adults talked about student mental health with a fervor previously unseen? Those were good times.

In a pre-vaccinated world, we had 4,000 Americans dying per day and folks downplaying COVID-19's seriousness. They said that remote learning showed we were overfocusing on COVID and not paying enough attention to the mental health of young people. Kids in buildings was presented as the panacea.

Fast forward to kids being back in buildings. How often is student mental health coming up at school board meetings now? Does it even get a sneeze between "unmask our kids" and pleas to lie about US history?

Kids are back in buildings and we have significantly more suicide assessments than we've had historically. In Mecklenburg County alone, we've had several completed suicides. We have young people acting out and fighting. We are locating guns on campuses. We are having incidents dealing with sexual assault and other violence. Our kids are crying out at every turn and what are "concerned" adults passionately advocating for?

Don't wear quarantine-reducing masks even after 700,000 American deaths; and the boogeyman of CRT that they can't even define.

As someone who treats mental health, nothing irritates me more than adults who weaponize the buzzword of mental health for their convenience while avoiding tangible action to address it. Mental health is brought up when adults want to avoid conversations about gun accessibility. It was brought up last year because of kids, but more because we adults had a hard time with kids at home. With my wife and I both having jobs outside the home, work's certainly easier without our two kids at home.

However, COVID didn't start the fire of youth/adolescent mental health struggles. Our suicide rate for young people rose 60% from 2007-2018 before we even knew the word coronavirus. And yet, the only thing adults sought to do to address youth mental health amid the pandemic was to return to an educational status quo where we treat our kids as testing bots.

We have a serious issue with our young people's socioemotional health. And yet, there are only two responses that this community offers with any ferocity — "these parents and kids these days" and "CMS needs to get it together."

Regarding CMS sexual assault, there do need to be clear Title IX policies and procedures that are communicated internally and externally. Making those easily accessible to the public would help accountability and transparency.

Separately, there needs to be education starting in elementary and evolving age appropriately about healthy relationships, boundaries, communication, emotion regulation, and conflict resolution. The idea that these are things to be learned at home is a cop-out, as across schools and demographics in our community, our kids need support here. Education must involve human development beyond End of Grade tests. Families must support this paradigm shift.

Further, as a community, we need to self-reflect. Our youth were struggling before experiencing a once-in-a-century traumatic pandemic. We abandoned them once they got in the building. We need to push for: expanded Medicaid, which provides more access to care; our state legislature to fund our schools as required by state law; and a recommitment to holistic youth development beyond testing alone. Or we can finally admit we don't really care.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Was this an issue for a few years now?  And with COVID, the juice was no longer worth the squeeze?  Or the kids became worse during/post COVID issues

She teaches high school.  Kids have just gotten way way worse the last 2 years.  Her Senior students tell her that the Freshman and Sophomores haven't been through middle school bullying to remember their place since they were on shortened days or hybrid or full at home.   Kids are socially awkward for the same reason and so focused on how they appear on social media noticeably more so than even 5 years ago. 
This disrespect part is the worst.  One story, from the second week of school, a Freshman refused to put his cellphone away.  He ignored her three times to stop disrupting the class and when called up to her desk to put his phone on her desk for the rest of class he went on about "since I ignored the first two times they don't count (along those lines).  And you can't take my property, I have rights."   After the Vice Principal spoke with the student and called his parents she got the non-apology apology and him and his cliche in class has only been minimally better.

[JWags85]

She teaches high school.  Kids have just gotten way way worse the last 2 years.  Her Senior students tell her that the Freshman and Sophomores haven't been through middle school bullying to remember their place since they were on shortened days or hybrid or full at home.   Kids are socially awkward for the same reason and so focused on how they appear on social media noticeably more so than even 5 years ago. 
This disrespect part is the worst.  One story, from the second week of school, a Freshman refused to put his cellphone away.  He ignored her three times to stop disrupting the class and when called up to her desk to put his phone on her desk for the rest of class he went on about "since I ignored the first two times they don't count (along those lines).  And you can't take my property, I have rights."   After the Vice Principal spoke with the student and called his parents she got the non-apology apology and him and his cliche in class has only been minimally better.

Appreciate it.  Certainly didn't doubt it.  Was just curious the context.  Truly frustrating and unfortunate.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Appreciate it.  Certainly didn't doubt it.  Was just curious the context.  Truly frustrating and unfortunate.

Frustrating is the perfect word.

My cousin teaches HS in a different town and told my wife and I similar.  It's going to take time to bring the students back to "normalcy" both socially and academically. 

[Dr. Blackheart]

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/17/health/test-to-stay-schools-cdc-studies/index.html

[Jockey]

She teaches high school.  Kids have just gotten way way worse the last 2 years.  Her Senior students tell her that the Freshman and Sophomores haven't been through middle school bullying to remember their place since they were on shortened days or hybrid or full at home.   Kids are socially awkward for the same reason and so focused on how they appear on social media noticeably more so than even 5 years ago. 
This disrespect part is the worst.  One story, from the second week of school, a Freshman refused to put his cellphone away.  He ignored her three times to stop disrupting the class and when called up to her desk to put his phone on her desk for the rest of class he went on about "since I ignored the first two times they don't count (along those lines).  And you can't take my property, I have rights."   After the Vice Principal spoke with the student and called his parents she got the non-apology apology and him and his cliche in class has only been minimally better.

Fan, I'd like you comments on the whole LGBTQ issue. My daughter is a Middle school teacher and this is one of her biggest frustrations. She is perfectly fine respecting students as they are or want to be. But she feels the schools have put student's feelings as the top priority with teaching becoming secondary.

Just wondering how your wife is dealing with this in school.

[rocky_warrior]

Fan, I'd like you comments on the whole LGBTQ issue. My daughter is a Middle school teacher and this is one of her biggest frustrations. She is perfectly fine respecting students as they are or want to be. But she feels the schools have put student's feelings as the top priority with teaching becoming secondary.

Just wondering how your wife is dealing with this in school.

Jock, maybe take that to PM.  Not related to covid...

[mu_hilltopper]

I'm convinced that when schools start up in September 2022, chunks of them won't be able to open their doors due to teacher resignations.  Those that open will be massively understaffed, making the problem even worse.

[The Sultan]

I'm convinced that when schools start up in September 2022, chunks of them won't be able to open their doors due to teacher resignations.  Those that open will be massively understaffed, making the problem even worse.

And unlike pre-Act 10 days, there isn't a glut of teachers to fill in the gaps.

Anecdotally, every teacher I know who CAN retire, has done so (or soon will be doing so.)  Also know a few teachers who have quit the profession within a couple of years of graduating. 

[Uncle Rico]

And unlike pre-Act 10 days, there isn't a glut of teachers to fill in the gaps.

Anecdotally, every teacher I know who CAN retire, has done so (or soon will be doing so.)  Also know a few teachers who have quit the profession within a couple of years of graduating.

We, as a nation, undervalue teachers

[tower912]

And actively undercut them.   And scapegoat them.   

[Uncle Rico]

And actively undercut them.   And scapegoat them.

It's because of their union.  Unions bad!

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Fan, I'd like you comments on the whole LGBTQ issue. My daughter is a Middle school teacher and this is one of her biggest frustrations. She is perfectly fine respecting students as they are or want to be. But she feels the schools have put student's feelings as the top priority with teaching becoming secondary.

Just wondering how your wife is dealing with this in school.

I will ask her opinion.

Some more weird student stories.  They always seem to occur on mask breaks.
* Students outside for a mask break were shot putting boulders onto the roof above my wife's classroom.  Students in her classroom at the time were freaking out from the unknown roof noise.  Kids wouldn't cop to it even when she caught them red-handed.  They were more interested in "well how did it sound?"  There apparently were workers on the roof the past two days prior and she wondered how they would have felt if boulder smashed them working on the roof.  They were sent to the office and ended up in multi-week detention.
* This past autumn, students on a mask break ended up on top of one of those 10 foot tall large green metallic electrical-related boxes.  She had no idea how they got up and first thought was "are they trying to get electrocuted?"  Off to the office and detention received.
* Kids get the bathroom pass and then disappear for a lengthy time.  One student who she caught, replied that "Yeah I went, but I had to find my friend and tell her something."

[MU82]

It's because of their union.  Unions bad!

Maybe in some places, but there are no teachers unions here in the Carolinas ... and they're still treated poorly.

[Galway Eagle]

I know this is completely anecdotal, but I know multiple teachers who have (or will be) retiring or leaving their jobs much earlier than they had planned.  Good friend of ours, a math teacher, retired at 57 and joined a local CPA firm.  Full time from January 1 through April 15.  The rest of the year about 10 hours a week.  All fully remote if she wants.  Between retirement income and her wages, she has increased her income by about a third.  The pandemic was the cherry on top of the standardized testing and Act 10 sundae.

And admission into teacher education programs has been decreasing for years.  Some of that wasn't a problem because there was a surplus of teachers for many years prior, but now that the pandemic is accelerating retirements and career-switching, it's really becoming an issue.

What happened to Mr "income doesn't matter, people don't go into teaching for the money". 

My fiancé wants to quit teaching after this year. 5yrs at MPS, 1yr in blue collar suburban Chicago and she's done, no interest in trying fancy suburb next year. Also two aunts retiring about 5yrs before they would've been expected to.

[MU82]

My daughter in law teaches 5th grade in the Chicago burbs. Like everybody, she is tired of dealing with Covid, but she likes her job and says that this year's class is one of her favorites.

I'm not using this to refute anything that anybody here is saying. Just offering another POV.

[4everwarriors]

Did she get any combat pay, hey?

[The Sultan]

What happened to Mr "income doesn't matter, people don't go into teaching for the money". 

What?  She didn't go into teaching for the money.  She's not leaving teaching to make more money.  She's leaving teaching because she doesn't want to deal with Covid issues in her classroom, but since she is only 57, still need to earn a living.

[4everwarriors]

Eye'm a product of MPS. Butt, it wuz different in da horse and buggy daze, aina?

[mu_hilltopper]

Our district has announced an optional two week virtual school session to begin January.

Even in our highly vaccinated district (adults 90% .. kids 80%) .. cases are insanely high, IIRC at a new record.

[Lennys Tap]

The teacher's unions demanded virtual learning. So even the teachers who would have preferred classrooms being open are punished by all of the consequences of long term virtual (non) learning. I feel sorry for those teachers. I also feel sorry for all the hospital workers, firemen, policemen, grocery workers, meat packers, factory workers, etc., who have showed up every day throughout the pandemic.

[4everwarriors]

...and dentists too. Thank you for your service, aina?

[Skatastrophy]

...and dentists too. Thank you for your service, aina?

The thin pasty line