Vaccinate Teachers Before Requiring Them to Return
By Elaine Maimon Philadelphia and Chicago teachers are being pressured to return to face-to-face instruction. Before that can happen, teachers and staff should move to the front of the line for vaccinations. Teachers and school staff members are essential workers, many of them especially vulnerable to COVID-19 because of age, pre-existing conditions, or both. It’s a no-brainer—protect the teachers and their families—then, and only then, require a return to the classroom. I write this from the perspective of decades in education as a university administrator and faculty member and as a thought leader and writer on educational issues. I also write from a personal perspective. My daughter has taught for 25 years in the Philadelphia pubic schools. My granddaughter, Rosie, an active and gregarious first-grader, has been sentenced to hours in front of the computer screen instead of interacting with teacher and classmates. She’s doing a great job of learning to read, but she’s lonely. There’s no doubt about the benefits of opening the schools. I’d like Rosie to be back in the classroom tomorrow–but not before the teachers and support staff in her school are vaccinated. In the meantime…
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