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Thread On 12/10/20 I was on a zoom w/School Superintendents across East TN, these were their asks: teacher raises, holding students/teachers harmless on evals, hold systems harmless for BEP, more nurses/mental health, broadband, allow us to select our own programs, & NO VOUCHERS!
Tonight I’ve been talking w/ teachers. They are exhausted, they are working double & triple time, they need more support staff, more time for planning, and a safe work environment. They need the vaccine. They need to make more money than they did 20 years ago.
I talked to parents tonight too. They want their kids to be safe and healthy. Some are concerned about the meals they miss at school and hope the “distance lunches” could be healthier. Some are afraid their kids will bring home the virus.
Not a single parent mentioned learning loss as a concern. They were more concerned about the whole child. Most were impressed with their child’s teachers and the adaptations made for their student. Some thought online worked great for their child.
Most teachers and parents prefer in-person learning, but not if it isn’t safe. They think it would be far safer when teachers get vaccinated-especially when our entire state is a red zone.
Teachers and parents also thought the term “learning loss” was a ridiculous term that was not drawn from actual data. They were offended by it. Here are some examples...
“Learning loss? Kids are just trying to survive this damn pandemic! It could have been about mastery instead of grades. Learning loss? Please! Some of these kids are learning about the loss of family members. Its hard to learn when you are mourning.”
“I am focused on keeping myself and my kids healthy this school year. If they suffer from “learning loss” so be it- it’s better than “life loss”. “
“I am so tired of hearing about learning loss. There isn’t a learning loss. It is a pandemic. There have been learning interruptions.
We have not had fully funded public schools in a long, long time and are now sitting at 46th in the nation. Why isn’t he concerned about that??
We have definitely suffered from leadership loss!”
We have definitely suffered from leadership loss!”
“"Learning loss" sounds like political jargon. What even is "learning loss?" Was there learning, or was there not?”
“please work in "funding failure" in every way you can. peddling learning loss is a joke. :( “
“What “learning loss” ? And what has measured that! His stupid state tests have to be curved every year and they are not a great representation of education and learning”
“Let me guess. They translate “learning loss” into a need for vouchers.”
“Teachers have worked extremely hard under circumstances we have never taught in before to do the best we can to provide not only an education to our students but also a place to feel supported and an outlet of growth.”
“All of this under the worry of us getting Covid or passing it on to a loved one or the fear of a student and their family falling ill. I had two weekends this entire semester I did not work on school lessons, grading, etc.”
“It’s two days before New Years Eve and I’m working on school lessons for next semester even though we have no idea if we will be in person or not yet. I’m giving my all and then some yet it never seems to be enough. It makes me want to give up. 
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I hope @GovBillLee and my colleagues read some of these quotes, I hope they listen to parents and teachers/school staff in their districts. I hope we can all come together and do right for our students and schools. We have to!
