Q&A: Mrs. Kennedy (World Language)
Teachers are making safe zones around their desks to combat COVID-19. Multiple teachers have been taking extra precautions to the pandemic, such as buying plexiglass shields for their desks or taping lines in their room students are not allowed to cross.
August 27, 2020
Q: What changes have you made in your classroom? In your everyday life?
A: “I bought two plexiglass stands for the corner of my desk. I bought a medical grade air purifier for my desk area. I ordered large quantities of disinfecting wipes and sanitizer from an office supply distributor, and I blocked off the front of my room with tape to keep a student-free zone close to me. In my everyday life, I wear a mask when in public, sanitize my hands often and only see a few friends and family members- the hardest thing is to not hug my parents. Other than that, we don’t go out to eat often, but if we do, we sit outside.”
Q: What circumstances have brought you to do so?
A: “Three reasons: 1- my parents are elderly and my father is not in good health; 2- I am a cancer patient currently finishing an entire year of chemotherapy this October. 3- because Dr. Fauci says to do these things to stop the spread and protect others and yourself.”
Q:How do these changes protect you and your students from COVID-19?
A: “They probably don’t, but it makes me feel as though I tried everything that I could to keep myself safe and the students.”
Q: What challenges do you face in your classroom?
A: “1. social distancing. I have as many as 24 students in my classroom with little ventilation 2. I can’t give 100% to the face to face students and the online students at the same time… I am only 1 person.”
Q: How do you feel the corporation handled the pandemic for the 2020-21 school year?
A: “I am disappointed and saddened by the behavior at the Aug. 3rd board meeting. No one protected the teachers, so I do not think it is being handled well at all.”
Q: How should they improve/ have done differently?
A: “Board should listen to the recommendation of the superintendent who together with the teacher’s union agreed that distance learning was the safest option for all; even now, there is very little transparency as to the number of positive cases in the building and who is at risk; at the very least, those teachers with compromised immune systems should have been offered a position as an e-teacher.”
Q: How do you feel teachers were represented in the decisions for the school year?
A: “We weren’t and still aren’t.”
Q: What are your hopes for this school year/ what do you hope to see change?
A: “I hope I don’t get covid. It would really be a shame to fight cancer for a year only to have to fight this virus now too when it could have been prevented; I hope the teachers are thought of.”
