Member Voices for Safety

By Todd Bloch I teach science, so I’ve been trained to make observations. From what I observed in the fall, I’ve drawn some conclusions about why in-person teaching and learning in a pandemic is difficult to sustain—and not necessarily for the most obvious reasons. Todd Bloch In Warren Woods Public Schools in Macomb County, where I teach middle school science, we developed…

By Paula Herbart When it comes to decisions on how to educate students, we must heed the voices of Michigan’s front-line educators. That’s been a steady refrain in my monthly columns – but it’s never been more critical than right now with lives on the line. This week, the Michigan Education Association released the results of a member survey that…

By Chris Thomas During a visit last month to a private school in Michigan, amid a global pandemic that has disrupted every aspect of American life, U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos called remote learning “a tragedy.” Chris Thomas is a 20-year educator and expert in blended learning and educational technology. He was a finalist for Teacher of the Year working for…

By Andy Jarema In the weeks leading up to the start of the school year, I felt great anxiety as COVID-19 continued to rage across Michigan and the first day of school neared. That feeling deepened when my district decided to begin in-person learning less than a month after we began the school year remotely. Andy Jarema After just four…

By Randi Trumble As a Lansing School District nurse, my face is the first one my students see after returning from recess with scraped knees or cuts and when they report having stomach aches, runny noses or sore throats. When we return for in-person learning, I’ll have another role: The first line of response if any of my students or…

By Robyne Muray As an historian, I never thought I would witness the life-altering experience of a pandemic. I believed our medical advances made us far more sophisticated than those living through the 1918 flu pandemic. However, persevering through COVID-19 has changed my perspective about who I am and what my professional future holds. Robyne Muray Teaching for me has…

By Dawn Levey As a public school teacher of 30 years, I have always been filled with great excitement and anticipation about a new school year. At this point every year, I find myself eager to meet a new group of students and explore new learning opportunities with them. Dawn Levey This year, that excitement is accompanied by great anxiety…

By PAULA HERBART/President – Michigan Education Association As we approach the start of a school year like no other, teachers and education support professionals are feeling scared and angry. Scared because of unknown consequences of returning to classrooms without clear answers about COVID-19 health and safety — because, frankly, the experts don’t have those answers about a disease we’re still…

By Kathleen Dillon-Dowd Kathleen Dillon-Dowd As a 38-year teacher in mostly public-school classrooms from preschool to eighth grade, I could have retired a while ago. But in March, when we all went into home isolation, I realized how much I want to be in the classroom. I may not like getting up at 5:30, or the hours spent on prep…

By Bill Daniels As a veteran public school teacher, I’m flabbergasted when I hear people say we should throw caution to the wind and return to full-time, in-person learning regardless of potential health or safety risks. This claim is short-sighted on many fronts, and in almost all cases is made by those with zero experience in the classroom. Bill Daniels…