“We Have No Procedures In Place": Schools Leaving Teachers Without Pandemic Plans

“I'm bracing myself for the inevitable consequences"

Untenable pandemic conditions in US schools are the latests indications that the American education system is deeply broken. 

District administrators have had two years to put together a plan for how to handle the pandemic, but are still coming up short. Jane, a teacher in the Hudson Valley in Upstate New York, told me that her district isn’t even able—or willing—to provide basic protective gear.

“My kids are young and have small faces,” Jane said. “The district does not provide appropriately sized masks for young children, so if we want masks that fit our students we buy them out of our own pocket.”

I talked to Jane and other teachers from around the country about the continuing decline in how their schools are handling a still-raging pandemic. What they told me was not encouraging. 

Photo: SF Chronicle/Polaris

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