August 1st is the date that my colleagues and I expect “the dreams:” annual nightmares centered on unanticipated observations or classroom tools that morph into neon pool noodles. Late summer days are getting shorter and engaging ads for backpacks, spiral notebooks and new kicks peal with school bells ringing. That was then.
This is now: 
Covid-19 occupies us day and night, dominating pre-September angst. 2020 teacher nightmares reflect this new reality: unanticipated PPE failure and hand sanitizer dispensers that morph into pool noodles. For some, strict adherence to new rules will be a matter of life and death. Funding is short and specific plans are shorter still. The prospect of a new school year is fraught with new dangers.
Three years removed from “Labor Day Tuesday,” and I am relieved to be retired, but terrified for my grandchildren and fellow teachers.
Right now, it feels as if that the safety of my beloved family and friends has been left to luck. They are being offered up as COVID bait in a dangerous gamble overseen by a nasty pit boss whose primary motive is for the house to win at all costs.
Feelin’ lucky?
Confirmed cases are now on the rise in 40 of the 50 states. Florida saw a record number of new Covid infections in 24 hours. Doctors reporting from Houston describe hospitals reaching the tipping point. In virus hot spots, lines for tests stretch for miles and people wait a week or more for results.
Still feelin’ lucky?
Yet, the president dismisses science and mocks one of the nation’s most respected infectious disease specialists. The president demanded–on Twitter, of course– that the CDC lower the standards for school safety because what was asked was “very tough and very expensive.” Guess he is feelin’ lucky, huh?
The Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, insists that kids return to classrooms, but offers 
no firm plans because she said, “You can’t plan for something that hasn’t happened yet.” She asserts reopening schools is a simple matter of hygiene. Simple hygiene? Good luck with that.
Sorry, but there is nothing simple about returning to classrooms. Nor should it be left to luck. There is too much we don’t know about this virus. In NY, for instance, we saw a cluster of kids– who tested positive for Covid– experience life threatening inflammatory system responses. Do we willingly expose kids to this possibility when we know next to nothing about it?
And what about the adults? Should teachers be expected to risk their own lives? Before you say that this is an overstatement, look at the stats. More than 140,000 Americans have lost their lives to Covid since March, including school employees from NYC to rural Arizona. Should districts reserve beds and ventilators for school staff because their luck might run out?
And this doesn’t even address the families who live in multi-generational households. Will the virus hitch a ride on those new backpacks and notebooks? Hope Grandma is feelin’ lucky.
There are so many questions we just can’t answer. School safety requires more than luck. It demands meticulous planning and jackpot level funding. Federal response so far gives us neither planning nor funding.
The question we have to all ask ourselves is this: are we feelin’ lucky?
The Joy of Teaching 