I fully understand Mr. Montgomery’s frustrations about not having his child’s school open more than part-time in his Wednesday My Turn opinion column. As a veteran elementary teacher in Kona, I know firsthand what the complaints are about us not returning to full-time instruction. The issue of returning to full-time instruction is much more complex than most people realize, and is essentially out of our hands as teachers.
I fully understand Mr. Montgomery’s frustrations about not having his child’s school open more than part-time in his Wednesday My Turn opinion column. As a veteran elementary teacher in Kona, I know firsthand what the complaints are about us not returning to full-time instruction. The issue of returning to full-time instruction is much more complex than most people realize, and is essentially out of our hands as teachers.
The educators I work with are already vaccinated; others are pending, few, if any have refused the COVID vaccination. Also, none of my coworkers have “refused to return to the classroom full-time,” as Mr. Montgomery suggests. I am not speaking for all my fellow educators, but from my interactions with many teachers at several West Hawaii schools, I believe most have remained cautious, and are following CDC guidelines to keep students and staff 6 feet apart as much as possible. The reality of the “6-foot distance” rule is much more complex than most folks can imagine. When fully enrolled, we have 900-plus students at our school; to have students safely distanced for lunch service, we would have to start meal service at 10 a.m. There are numerous other obstacles — recess duty; safely using/sharing equipment; checking out library books or other materials; classroom manipulatives, etc. The list is endless. To sanitize these materials between each use is an unachievable expectation.
Instead of complaining about teachers who “refuse to return to the classroom full-time,” why not volunteer and help supervise students so they can safely interact on campus? Sadly, because of budget constraints, we have had to limit our campus staff; perhaps with the new COVID relief money we will get some staff back, but in the meantime, perhaps Mr. Montgomery and others could help volunteer and fill our many gaps to make a safe return possible?
Again, please don’t blame the teachers for schools in our community not reopening full-time. We are but one small cog in the complex wheel of DOE/state of Hawaii machine.
Antoinette Reynolds is a resident of Kailua-Kona.
