Teachers share their biggest fears about reopening schools during the pandemic

I don’t want any of my colleagues to get sick and die.”Across the country, teachers like Amanda are grappling with uncertainty about how they’re going to instruct their students for the bulk of the 2020-2021 school year. They’re concerned about their own safety, the safety of their families, and the safety of their students.“The thing I am least worried about, for me personally, is being able to deliver digital instruction effectively,” Kristen, a high school chemistry teacher in Texas, tells The Verge. Other states like Arizona are insisting that at least some students come into school full-time — kids “who need a place to go during the day” — or else districts will not qualify for enhanced funding.A newsletter highlighting the COVID-19 research, developments, and stories that matter. That means many teachers are spending a lot more energy figuring out how to work new technologies and adapt their curriculum, rather than focusing on the content they’re teaching.Fortunately, Jessica’s school is letting teachers choose to teach from home for now if they’re uncomfortable, so she’s been avoiding going onto campus as much as possible. Less than two weeks before the first day of school was set to begin, Dan and other teachers in his district in Columbus, Ohio, still didn’t know what teaching was going to look like for the school year. His district was waffling between different scenarios, ranging from total online learning to having teachers and students come on campus full-time while wearing masks. District officials also discussed doing a hybrid approach, with teachers and students coming in for only a few days each week and then doing online learning the rest of the week.It’s made planning for the year incredibly difficult, as the teachers have had to prep for all three possibilities. To be honest I was planning on going in a couple times anyways for the labs, but making that mandatory because parents are complaining seems a little more political than I would like.” For Kristen in Texas, she’s also been experiencing a push from people in her district to make it mandatory for teachers to go onto campus. Her school will also start with three weeks of online learning before kids and teachers come on campus full-time.