I had long been looking forward to January 20th for two big reasons. It was the date Joe Biden would be inaugurated and the day the kids were scheduled to go back to school. I had been mentally preparing myself for the worst in both cases...that Trump would successfully carry out a coup and interrupt the peaceful transfer of power, and that the kids' school would stay closed indefinitely.
About a week before schools were set to open, the school board voted to delay reopening. Part of it is because the Covid numbers are so high and vaccination distribution is slow. Even though teachers are a priority, we haven't gotten vaccinated yet. But the other reason is that faculty and staff keep having to quarantine after exposure, and they can't get enough subs to cover classes. Online, there are people mad at the teachers and mad at the school board. I'm just mad at Trump and every single person that voted for him and enabled him. It didn't have to be this way.
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| Hui is the reporter on the school beat |
I had been stealing myself for the news that they wouldn't open, but it still took the wind out of my sails when the decision was finally made. It's not good for the kids to be home so much. They need to be around other kids and have other adults in their life. They need to do class activities, and get all those social skills and mental stimulation that they get from being around other people. They need to run around on the playground and chase their friends. It really, really sucks that they've missed almost a year of in-person schooling. And of course, I know things could be far worse and that ultimately everything will be fine. But in the moment, I am devastated. I'm just so tired of everything. Tired of dragging my own students through online classes. Tired of watching my kids do online classes. Tired of being a 2nd and 4th grade teaching assistant. Tired of everyone being home all the time. Tired of having to be so much more for my kids because there are so many fewer people in their life right now. Just tired, tired, tired of it all.
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| I've no idea who Tanzina Vega is, but I'm exactly in this same mental place right now. |
On the bright side, the kids are doing ok in their online classes. The days are technically not horrible. Just relentless and never-ending. The kids fight a lot. It's probably just harder because it's January and it's cold and miserable and we can't be outside enough.
