It is a ominous reminder that you cannot staff the schools when the community spread of COVID is high. It does not matter where the teachers got COVID if many of them are out sick and you cannot staff the school. The same problem occurred here in North Carolina which is why our schools went remote in Dedember. The schools have now only been re-opened for a few weeks and some counties (with high spread) are on the verge of having to close again due to lack of available staff. Both the WHO and CDC standards state schools should only be open when community spread is low.
Interesting that you saw this. We in San Diego are hearing that at least 1 in 7 of those kids have covid... And I know for sure they are asking hospital staff to come down and volunteer their time. The person telling me this was trying not to be judgmental as he/she was sort of pro Biden... but it sounds like a problem which could get worse.
bullshit... as it applies to America its a union problem... There always plenty of young subs all over a America ready to go in and staff the school to replace the unhealthy and or fearful teachers. And there are also plenty of people who are qualified who would be willing to fill in during emergencies.
North Carolina does not have teacher unions. The inability to staff schools when large numbers of teachers are out with COVID is not a union problem. The refusal of anyone to volunteer to sub in schools in N.C. despite being offered over 4X the normal pay is not a union problem.
I just looked at the headlines. Apparently North Carolina had a massive teacher recruitment problem prior to Covid. Maybe you should have mentioned that. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article63660742.html “It’s difficult for a school system to recruit teachers into schools if they’re listed as D or F,” Parker said. “I didn’t want a D or F on my report card. Why would I run to a school that’s been rated D or F?” The forum was organized by the Cooperating Raleigh Colleges, the Wake County school system and Wake County SmartStart. One of the goals was to share information on what strategies are being used that could help improve the state’s teaching workforce. https://www.publicschoolsfirstnc.org/resources/fact-sheets/the-facts-on-ncs-teacher-pipeline/ The Facts on NC’s Teacher Pipeline Click for a printable version of this page. If we don’t treat teaching as a profession, we won’t have professionals in our classrooms. North Carolina’s teachers are dedicated and hardworking, and their professionalism has made our public school system a jewel among Southern states. North Carolina leads the nation in number of teachers who have earned certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Disappointingly, we do not compensate our educators accordingly. The average NC teacher salary was $50,861 in 2017-2018, about $9,600 less than the national average of $60,483. With teacher pay at 37th in the nation, per-pupil spending at 39th, reduced job security, and no incentive to get advanced degrees, the appeal of a teaching job has been significantly reduced in North Carolina. Teacher Pipeline Shrinking Enrollment in undergraduate education programs across the UNC system is down 41 percent since 2010. Decline in enrollment for all levels of education majors, including master’s level, is 25 percent. There are 15 UNC system schools with teacher preparation programs, and all are reporting declines in enrollment in their degree and licensure programs. The severe shortage of math and science teachers and middle school teachers for all subjects is a critical and growing problem. Ways to Recruit and Retain The UNC system is so concerned about the teacher pipeline shortage that they launched a recruitment website called TEACH NOW, which is used to reach out to high school juniors and seniors, community college students, undecided majors at all UNC schools, and mid-career professionals. The effort even targets military personnel and their spouses.
Yes... North Carolina has low teacher pay. The Republican legislature has effectively eliminated programs such as the "N.C. Teaching Fellows" which paid for a 4 year education degree in state if the teachers stayed on in North Carolina schools and taught for 5 years minimum. But this has nothing to do with the staffing in our schools during COVID pandemic. Or local school systems, Wake, Durham, etc. had full staffing with no issues at the start of the pandemic. Our local school systems pay a "county supplement" for teacher's salaries. For example the average Wake County supplement is around $7200. This makes the local schools systems among the most desirable in the state. Normally our local schools systems have a long list of subs willing to work on any given day. Pre-Covid the daily list of subs for Wake was several hundred long and many did not get place. Now the list is a mere dozen daily. No one wants to come in and sub in schools in the COVID era. Even raising the daily sub pay from $65 to $250 per day has not helped. When teachers get COVID (and it does not matter where they got it in the community) and are sick at home there are no subs to replacement them in the schools. The administrators desperately struggle to cover all the classes with staff -- including using office staff, janitors, and the lunch ladies to mind the students. When enough teachers are out then it reaches the point where schools have to close. We experienced this in December after the schools only opened in late October. It only took 6 weeks to go completely downhill when COVID was highly prevalent in our communities. We can only hope that the situation does not repeat itself this spring. Hopefully warmer weather and increasing vaccination levels reduce community spread. Many counties are marked "yellow" now rather than orange or red -- which is a hopeful sign. However schools system in counties with higher spread are experiencing the front end of staffing issues that we saw in the fall -- after being open for only three weeks. Hopefully the situation improves rather than degrades... and we get through the spring with our schools open.
its always seems to be some sort of misrepresentation issue with you... I just did a quick search... this was the first article I found... In this case... it was not because your teachers got Covid... as you claimed... it was a quarantine issue. “Our own district’s data shows very limited spread of COVID-19 in our schools, a testament to the incredible effort of our teachers and staff in creating and maintaining safe environments for our students,” the district says on its website. “However, our staff is not immune to the rapid spread of the virus in the greater community. When cases increase, so do the number of our employees who are required to quarantine as a result.” In December, Moore said they only found enough subs to fill 64% of the daily teaching vacancies compared to 80.7% in October. Administrators said that it would likely get harder staffing schools due to the expected post-Christmas COVID spike. https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/education/article248261020.html
So the article you are quoting describes the inability of the school district to find subs to cover the staffing of schools in the COVID era. Which is exactly what I said... the teachers are out sick and they are unable to find subs even with increased sub pay. I never said the COVID was spreading in schools or not -- it does not matter where the sick staff member got COVID. If there is high prevalence of COVID in the community then there will be an increasing number of teachers out sick. How can you take an article which actually re-enforces exactly what I have been saying and somehow construe it as somehow I am incorrect? My head shakes in wonderment.
Let us see if your can comprehend a difference.... Here is the wording from the article ... “Our own district’s data shows very limited spread of COVID-19 in our schools" vs... your statement... "It only took a couple of weeks for the elementary school openings to rapidly proceed to be a fiasco in some counties --- with many schools overrun by COVID and on the verge of totally shutting down." ---- so I think its time for you to cease making statement without submitting proof with links. you get caught lying or misrepresenting facts multiple times per day. absence proof from you... it seems to have happened again here. you are either or crazy fearful or clinically split from reality.