Now that we are a few months into 2021, a year that we are desperately hoping will be better than that year that came before this, which shall not be named, I thought that it was time to bring back one of my favorite topics: what I think is great and what I’m mad about. So join me this week for a few rants and raves.

Rave: Teachers

There has been a huge amount of hate heaped onto teachers online recently. From politicians to parents groups, it seems like all anyone wants to talk about is how teachers don’t want to go back into schools, despite the vast majority of them currently being in schools, and how they don’t care about their students’ emotional and mental health. Well, let me tell you, as a teacher, who knows a ton of teachers, this is just not true. The last year has been incredibly hard for teachers and the ones that I know spend more time prepping for, writing material for, and worrying about your kid than you know. I understand that parents want their kids back in in-person classes. And trust me, we all want that. But teachers asking for it to be safe doesn’t make them monsters, it makes them people who are concerned about their own health and the health of their students, not to mention the families of their students. Teachers care very much about the mental health of their kids, which is why they have advocated for more mental health services in schools for years.

It might feel good to post online about how the teachers are lazy or how they should just get other jobs if they don’t want to do them, but if you really want to do something that is useful and not unkind, consider advocating for teachers to be vaccinated, schools to have proper ventilation, increased mental health and counseling services in schools, and testing to be free and abundant. Also, remember that teachers are humans who exist in the world and online and, though you might feel great about writing that rant about those entitled teachers, your kid’s math teacher probably isn’t going to feel wonderful about it.

Rant: The Massachusetts Department of Education

I teach in Massachusetts (full disclosure) but this one couldn’t go by without me commenting on it. We all want kids to be back in physical classrooms. We also want it to be safe. But unilaterally demanding that kids go back, without considering the massive schedule changes, staffing needs, and emotional upheaval for kids when they have their teacher switched ¾ of the way through the school year isn’t the best way to do it. Conveniently left out of most of the coverage of this are the lack of staff and the lack of space that is required to pull this off. But hey, your 3rd grader wants a new teacher at this point in the year, right? Nope, probably not. This wasn’t the right move by DESE. You know what would have been great for DESE to do instead? Advocating for vaccinating teachers. You know what isn’t helpful for kids, parents, or teacher retention rates in Massachusetts? Pitting the teachers against the parents. Massachusetts, we can do better than this and we should. We owe it to our incredible kids to do better than this mandate.

Rave: The New York State Education Department

Shout out to the NYSED for canceling most of the NY Regents exams for this year! This has been such a tough year for so many of our kids and families, and standardized testing should be the literal last thing on anyone’s mind at this point. We know that standardized tests largely measure things like income level and that students and families of color have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic. So, what exactly do we think we are measuring with the standardized tests this year? Some people argue that we are measuring learning loss. But what is learning loss in the middle of a pandemic? Not a thing, that’s what. So, a big socially distanced high five to the people in New York who are doing what is best for kids in a truly terrible year. Next up, Biden administration, we are looking at you to do the right thing on the national stage. But that is a topic for another blog.

Stay healthy and sane, readers! And, as always, if you are looking for PD about how to make your district more gender-equitable and better for all your kids, reach out to us at AEC about the services that we can provide for you.