As we return to school, I would like to offer prayers.
Recently, I resigned as the art teacher for two westside elementary schools within the Granite School District. No effort was made by those in power to mitigate my risk by lessening the amount of students I see, despite my health risks. I was offered more personal protective equipment.
Within my position, I see two entire school populations. This year there would have been 500 students face to face. A teacher who has 20 students is at far less risk than one who has seven or eight classes of 20 students every day.
In many Democratic National Convention speeches, I heard many express pride for teachers who are working so hard to tackle online learning, but I heard no praise for the hundreds of thousands of teachers who are being bullied into returning to the classroom during a pandemic.
I pray for all the teachers who feel trapped. One teacher I know built a shed in her backyard to live in this year in order to keep her medically fragile kid safe.
I pray for the children in these school communities, many of whom are living with grandparents. I pray that they will not bear the burden of killing grandma.
I also pray for the local and state leaders to have the backbone to stand up to bullying. Logic and common sense about keeping citizens safe has gone completely out the window due to threats to withhold federal funding for states that do not send their children back to school and their people back to work.
Lastly, I pray that you vote in November.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs dictates that on a base level a person needs food, water and air first and foremost, but then they need to feel safe before they can reach for anything else. Bottom line, my country is not keeping me safe. Do you feel safe?
Jennifer Levy, Millcreek
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3jyqKVG
September 01, 2020 at 08:30AM
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