Thread by @AnnieTangent

I’m a Teacher in New York. I’m Doing My Job by Fighting an Unsafe Reopening.

Teachers routinely go above & beyond call of duty, but hastily reopening schools during a pandemic puts students, families, & all of us at risk.

Read my @newrepublic interview:
newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"What worries me most about schools reopening in the fall is that more people will die. Right now teachers are feeling like we’re rushing toward a reopening that isn’t well thought out." Read more of my @newrepublic interview: newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"There’s also the issue of proper ventilation. So many of our school buildings are older or already overcrowded; they’re not set up for social distancing. My classroom is windowless..." Read my @newrepublic interview: #OnlyWhenItsSafe #DemandSafeSchools newrepublic.com/article/158799…

To ppl saying teachers r essential workers: "our duty is to each other—to protect each other & to make sure the community is safe. & in a pandemic, we do that thru making sure we’re social distancing & staying away from indoor areas as much as we can." 1/2 newrepublic.com/article/158799…

To ppl saying teachers R essential workers: "It just doesn’t make sense to have an eighth of the city’s population—1.1 million students—go back to schools in person. That’s going to increase spread of the coronavirus & put all New Yorkers in danger." 2/2 newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"...every public school teacher in America already had to reckon with the idea of boundaries: What am I willing to do beyond my job description to educate our students? And every single teacher I know has constantly gone above and beyond the call of duty." newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"Schools do provide food for low-income students, temporary shelter for homeless students, and childcare for parents. But schools only have to be that support system in a broken society." Read more of my @newrepublic interview: newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"Is it essential for me to teach my students & socialize w/ them in person during a pandemic where more than 150,000 people in US have already died? The answer is no." (Esp. when there are other options.)

Read my @newrepublic interview: #OnlyWhenItsSafe newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"To actually reopen safely this fall, New York schools would need a lot more funding. There is just no plan that is feasible right now given the budget cuts... Schools have been defunded for decades, & that’s led to crumbling infrastructure." @newrepublic newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"My school’s whole budget has been slashed. We have no money for materials...we already didn’t have enough soap in our school in March; we had broken sinks in our students’ bathrooms. Last year I had to buy my own air purifier for my windowless classroom." newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"Not every school has a nurse. We don’t have enough counselors & social workers in every school to deal w/ the trauma that students & families have gone thru as they’ve lost jobs or have lost relatives & friends to Covid-19." @newrepublic #OnlyWhenItsSafe newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"Teachers right now are reckoning with the fact that our leadership—our government—doesn’t care about us... They’re going to leave in droves. And we are going to have an educational crisis like no other because our leaders are telling us we don’t matter." newrepublic.com/article/158799…

"The choice New York teachers are going to have to make this fall is whether or not to call a work action in order to save other people’s lives—and our own."

Read the rest of my teacher interview w/ @newrepublic: #OnlyWhenItsSafe #DemandSafeSchools newrepublic.com/article/158799…