Am I hypocrite?
As a history teacher, I’m used to looking at events and wondering, how could someone do, currently, due to covid I've questioned a lot of the practices I see society put into place.
Being a high school teacher, we were first quarantined in March after our March break, first for 2 weeks, then it continued up till Sept. Despite still being in a pandemic, teachers were told to go back to work this past September - in school, teach in front of students. Now as we are witnessing a spike in our pandemic as we go through the second wave, I wonder why we are not going virtual. I work for the Catholic Board, which has insisted on all teachers coming into the school to work, even if they are “virtual teachers' ', which I was this past quadmester. I love my profession, teaching is a rewarding job. But I will be completely honest, it's never been because of the adults that run the show. My students have always been the ones I do it for.
Recently, however, the way we teachers have been treated by our employers makes me question their pedagogical goals. I really do believe in always leading by example and that everything is a learning/teaching opportunity. During this second phase of the pandemic I have witnessed my employer not take into consideration Peel health guidelines which are currently urging employers to allow employees to work from home, where permissible. Our board obviously sees the importance of this since at the Board level the Board offices work in cohorts, two or three days a week working from home and/or office, any logical person with an ability to think, would assume that would be proper protocol during a pandemic. What I fail to understand using my logical brain is why that is not the protocol for all employees, the teachers on the “frontlines”. I pride myself with managing to surround myself with people that are good to the earth people, friends of good character, we have all beard witness to what bad character looks like, and I think I’m working for an employer that is not acting using good character, which makes me wonder what my role is in this pandemic am I a bystander that is allowing bad behavior? Like many historical events, I’d like to think I would have been the one that spoke up to stop injustices, but instead I come into work everyday, hearing on the news radio, “numbers up, government is urging everyone to stay home”, I just shake my head walking into the school, knowing it is all wrong and that I am being a hypocrite, not leading by example.
An open Letter to my employer:
Furthermore, as a high school teacher who is disabled, Left arm fully paralyzed, and I walk using a brace and cane, working from home is a true blessing, I have easy access to a work space that is safe and fully accessible, Since working from home this past week, the usual muscle tension I experience at school has not arisen since I’m in a safe working environment therefore making me more productive for my students. Furthermore, working from home this past week has also allowed me to avoid using Peel TransHelp and coming into contact with many more people, therefore increasing my risk of coming into contact with a covid case. As a Catholic Board one of the reasons why I was drawn to it as my employer was that strong sense of social justice and acting on the side of the most vulnerable, I am here now, beginning you to understand during these stressful times, our teachers are part of the vulnerable population, please treat us with dignity and understanding. Be a model for our students, in reaching out a helping hand during these uncertain stressful times. Be the beacon that we say we are.
