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My testimony from the @WTUTeacher #OnlyWhenItsSafe roundtable today: I just finished my 11th year as a teacher. In 2011, while grading papers during a planning period, I had a heart attack in my classroom. I was 26. My students saw me wheeled out of my room on a stretcher /1
in the middle of a transition. I've gotten healthier since, but I see my doctors regularly and take several medications every day and I probably will for the rest of my life. My cardiologist has made it very clear to me that the risk of death from COVID is greater for people /2
with hearts like mine. Even if I were to catch and survive it, it's more likely that my heart would never be the same. More likely that I would lose years with my wife. More likely that my students would again see me rolled out of my room on a stretcher, although this time, /3
I might not come back.
I understand that it’s impossible to eliminate all risk. Every time we walk out the door, there’s risk. But it falls on our leadership - on @MayorBowser and @DCPSChancellor, in this case - to do everything they can to minimize risk. By refusing to /4
I understand that it’s impossible to eliminate all risk. Every time we walk out the door, there’s risk. But it falls on our leadership - on @MayorBowser and @DCPSChancellor, in this case - to do everything they can to minimize risk. By refusing to /4
engage actual educators in the planning process, and by pushing to reopen our school buildings while the pandemic is still raging, our leadership has failed us, and lives like mine may be unnecessarily lost as a result. This is unacceptable. /5
I love teaching. It brings me more joy and pride than anything I've ever done. I’m also really good at it. I’m at my best in my classroom, and I can’t wait to get back to it. That being said, nothing is more important to me than my wife and my time with her. /6
I will not risk that - time, the most precious thing I have with my most precious person - until DCPS comes to the table so that we can collaboratively ensure that our buildings open #OnlyWhenItsSafe. /end
