This evening as we were walking the dog, we got the call we knew was inevitable. It was the high school calling to say students would be in class on Monday, then shift to e-learning for the remainder of the week. Families would be informed on Friday of the plan for the remainder of August, with in-person learning to resume on August 31 [as of right now]. This only affects the high school where there have been five positive COVID-19 cases in the first eight days of school, three just this past week.
Although I feel for each of the families, students and teachers alike, I do feel relieved that so far our high schoolers haven’t had to be quarantined. We knew the risks in making the hard decision to have them go to in-person learning, and as an educator, I am feeling a little guilty about being one of those parents sending my children to in-person learning knowing that means teachers must be at school.
The call was inevitable because it is hard to social distance when one is social by nature. It is also hard to self-isolate when a classroom is barely big enough to hold the number of students during “normal” times, let alone when one needs to stay three-to-six feet apart. It is also hard to police a teenager, whom has a mind of their own, in wearing a mask correctly all day long (just think about all the adults who are refusing to do so, or don’t seem to know the mask goes over ones’ nose too). I’ve picked up my child at their after school activity and seen their peers, and including my child, not wearing masks or social distancing, as well as seeing the athletes leaving practice doing the same thing.
If everyone in the community did the right thing to protect us all, and politicians wouldn’t make mitigating activities so political, and if governors would mandate fines for people not wearing masks through executive order, and if law enforcement would face disciplinary action for not enforcing said executive order, we might get this Coronavirus under control, meaning we could get back some semblance of normality in terms of school, work, shopping, and entertainment.
I know, that seems to be a big ask, a high number of if’s, and so far we are failing as a community, as a state, and as a nation in doing the right thing.
Which to me means, we, as a collective, must not really want to back to any semblance of normality.
Drama, defiance, and ego-centricity seem to be the order of the day.
So, I guess I’ll sit back and ride the roller coaster as best I can, and work to help my family make it through our dystopian reality in one piece.
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 