Grandparents are Learning that Teaching in a Pandemic Ain’t Easy
There have been a number of recent reports detailing administrators, superintendents, and other district personnel taking over classrooms to fill the gap caused by a shortage of teachers and substitutes. Though once classroom teachers themselves, their experiences highlight the challenges of teaching. The challenge is even greater for grandparents who are required to fill in as the teacher when a child is quarantined due to either Covid-19 exposure or a positive test result. This became a reality for Eugene Jimerson when he learned that his granddaughter, Ashia, was restricted from attending school for 14 days due to exposure. Eugene is now taking over the teaching responsibilities.
The return to in-person learning was a relief for many parents who rely on schools for childcare, yet there are thousands of children out of school across the country. Like many school districts, schools in Arizona restrict attendance when a student either tests positive for Covid-19 or comes into close contact with a student who has. Students are restricted from attending school for a maximum of 14 days but can return sooner if they receive a negative Covid test after five days. “It wasn’t even her core class,” Eugene shared. “She takes math with a different teacher and that is where I think the positive test came from because her close friend and neighbor is still allowed to go to school and he has math with a different teacher,”
Eugene is doing his best to ensure that Ashia continues learning. “They have these videos she has to watch, but if she didn’t know how to work the computer then we would be stuck. I am not sure the schools realize that us older folks have been out of schools for almost 60 years and don’t know how to work all this technology.” While the school provides content through videos, there are no instructions for the parent, nor is there any daily contact with the teacher to explain the content of the assignments. “I feel like they should at least have the teacher talk to her once a day, maybe in the afternoon or in the early morning just to explain what we have to do today,” Eugene shared. A recent example demonstrated why daily support might be helpful: in the middle of an assessment, Eugene realized that a stylus pen was necessary to input the answers. “I don’t know what to do. It’s a test so I don’t want her to get a failing grade, but we couldn’t figure out how to put the answers in the computer.”
The type of daily support that Eugene wishes was available is what schools had hoped to provide through the CARES act. Schools districts allocated some of the funding for hiring additional staff to work with students in small groups during the school day — including students quarantined at home. Yet the inability to hire teachers has thwarted districts’ plans. According to a recent report by Frontline Education, 44% of districts have a teacher shortage with districts in low-income areas experiencing hundreds of vacant positions — unlike school districts in well-resourced communities.
Recruiting teachers continues to be an issue given that teachers currently working have publicly deplored the conditions. A recent Twitter thread with the simple statement “Educators are not ok“ received a litany of responses detailing the overwhelm teachers are experiencing. The most pointed of all of the responses was that by @WhimsicalWordsmith, “nobody cares. and that’s the real tragedy. i hope that every college education major is seriously considering changing their major. glaringly clear that lives are not valued.” A similar post by @Ms.Aisexhausted detailing how she almost cried while teaching her fourth period received a barrage of responses from educators, causing the poster to mute the thread.
While parents, grandparents, and guardians all support the return to in-person learning, many are feeling the overwhelm and exhaustion expressed by teachers as they try to adjust to the new context of teaching. After a week of managing his granddaughter’s learning, Eugene scheduled a Covid-19 test. “The earliest appointment I could get was in three days. I hope it’s a rapid test because this is not easy.”
The test results were negative, which meant that Ashia could return to in-person learning. When I asked Eugene how he felt, exasperated, he responded, “It was a big relief.”
Dr. Lanette Jimerson is a writer, educator and scholar. She helps aspiring and current educators craft a career trajectory that centers their professional and financial needs.
