Wake high school students are working from home. Teachers ask, ‘Why can’t we, too?’
Some Wake County high school teachers are complaining that they’ll be required to work at school this fall, even though their students will continue taking online classes into January.
The Wake County school system has allowed teachers to work from home if they haven’t felt comfortable working on campus due to COVID-19 concerns. But Wake is requiring teachers to be at school by Oct. 19 now that elementary and middle school students will begin returning for in-person instruction later this month.
“This provides time for all schools to practice health and safety protocols, complete all the tasks needed to prepare for students’ return,” Superintendent Cathy Moore said at this week’s school board meeting. “It also promotes the sense of community and cooperation in our schools that we need because students at all levels will now be in our school buildings and facilities.”
But high school teachers say it’s unnecessary for them to be at school months before their students will be there.
“Why are we putting lives at risk when there’s no gain in bringing us back?” Bryan Elsaesser, a social studies teacher at Broughton High School in Raleigh, said in an interview Wednesday with The News & Observer.
In contrast, both Durham Public Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools are not requiring high school teachers to work at school. Like Wake, they plan to have high school students take only virtual courses this semester.
School reopening divides community
The issue of school reopening has become highly heated in Wake County, statewide and nationally.
Teachers protested outside Tuesday’s Wake County school board meeting that the district is putting the lives of students and teachers at risk by reopening schools. The Wake County chapter of the North Carolina Association of Educators organized the protest.
“With the virus, we know that it’s smart to have as few people in close places as possible,” Kristin Beller, president of Wake NCAE, said in an interview Wednesday. “If people can telework and have what they need at home, they should be allowed to do that.”
But Wake has also had protests from people who say that the district isn’t moving fast enough to reopen schools. They’re particularly upset that high school students won’t get in-person classes this semester.
“You need to get these kids back in school,” Cyndi Tomblin, a Wake parent, said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “They’re suffering.”
Wake’s PreK-3 students and K-12 special-education students in regional programs will return for in-person instruction on Oct. 26. They will be on a cycle of one week of in-person classes and two weeks of remote classes, before switching to daily in-person classes on Nov. 16.
Middle school students also will return to school Nov. 9 for a three-week rotation of in-person and online courses. Fourth- and fifth-grade students will begin on that rotation on Nov. 16.
Wake is keeping high school courses online because it says moving to a three-week rotation would result in many students being placed on new class schedules mid-semester. Unlike elementary schools, North Carolina is still requiring middle schools and high schools to operate under safety rules that limit how many people can be on campus at the same time.
Wake requiring teachers to come to campus
The return of in-person instruction means the end of flexibility that Wake has given to teachers and other school-based employees to work from home.
Teachers are expected to be on campus unless the district’s Human Resources Department approved their request to work from home. Priority for requests was given to employees who are at high risk from COVID-19.
But high school teachers have peppered school board members and administrators with questions about why they have to report back on campus so soon.
“Requiring all high school teachers to work inside school buildings long before students return has many down sides including: new time costs of commuting (likely to come out of teaching prep time), technology glitches from switching setups, slightly higher COVID risk from putting them all in the school building, and damage to morale by implying you don’t trust them to work from home,” Markus Peterson wrote in comments submitted to Tuesday’s board meeting.
“The benefits are unclear. They seem like ‘optics’ more than anything.”
A.J. Muttillo, Wake’s assistant superintendent for human resources, said he understands why lots of teachers are questioning the district’s decision. But Muttillo, a former high school principal, said that it was important from a “system perspective that we are going back to school as a system.”
“I understand the concerns,” Muttillo said at Tuesday’s board meeting. “We weighed some of them before this decision, but still think that in the best interests of the system and high schools that it is better to have school teachers begin reporting back just like the rest of our employees.”
Wake to bring some high school students back
Muttllo also brought up how Wake is planning to bring back some high school students for classes, athletics and clubs this semester before a potential large-scale return in the spring semester.
Several high schools have regional special-education programs whose students also work with general education teachers, according to Muttillo.
Wake may also bring back high school students on campus for in-person instruction for Junior ROTC and some career and technical educational courses such as firefighter training and automobile technology.
Band, chorus, theater, dance and other arts students may also come back on campus for after-school rehearsals. Student clubs may also be allowed on campus for meetings this semester.
Wake is also looking at bringing high school students back this fall if they need tutoring.
All these different activities will lead to high schools becoming a more active place in the next few weeks, according to Muttillo.
“We don’t know when there will be an opportunity to bring small groups back in,” Muttillo said. But when that opportunity arises, we do want to make sure that we have the staff available to support those kids who come.”
Wake accused of not trusting teachers
The explanations didn’t fly for Elsaesser, the high school teacher, who says he’s adapted to teaching the virtual classes from his home. Now he’ll have to take time out of his day traveling to and from Broughton.
For Elsaesser, Wake’s decision is showing a lack of trust in teachers who he says are working harder than ever trying to navigate the world of virtual teaching.
“My principal and my administrators know I’m doing a good job,” Elsaesser said. “They don’t need to look over my shoulders. Principals know who need to be in school and who doesn’t. There’s no reason to do it other than appearances.”
Elsaesser will report to Broughton as ordered. But he says he’ll have to limit how much he sees his mother, who is a two-time cancer survivor.
“If you don’t trust us to not be looked after, you shouldn’t have hired us in the first place,” he said.
This story was originally published October 8, 2020 at 7:30 AM.
