First, it should be pointed out that there are two reasons that remote learning might become necessary. One is that the teachers may rightly feel unsafe and the second is that teachers may wind up having to quarantine and or become ill in large enough numbers that the school won't have enough employees to safely open. NYC has already stated that even teachers with a positive COVID test and 'mild' symptoms should still work in order to have a better chance of having enough staff. Needless to say that is crazy. Staffing is a major issue in many schools. Sub pools tend to be made up about 80 or more percent of two classes of people, one is people who are trying to break into teaching and are subbing until they can get a job, and retired teachers (at least 55 years old usually into their 60's and beyond) who are supplementing retirement income. Both groups have taken hits in the COVID world. The first group shrank because teaching jobs are more plentiful even in locales where they haven't been and the second group is less willing to sub due to increased risk of COVID. Thus the teachers who are there often have to cover classes. Which causes them to burn out, which leads them to quit, which leads to more shortages, rinse and repeat.
The fact is society's unwillingness to control COVID in an effective way is making schools vastly more difficult to run. Our system has been as aggressive in terms of in person learning as NC would permit. My school has been partially in person (an ABC system) since Aug 2020. We went to an AB system in Jan of 2021, and we went full in person Apr of 2021 (all of these included the ability of parents to choose full remote for those kids which meant we had lower in person class sizes but still had some teachers with no ability to social distance under the full in person option and we were expected to both teach in person and remote. Since Aug 2021 we have been full in person with a very limited ability for parents to opt for remote instruction which means full classrooms, no social distancing, and no teaching remote (except for teachers who applied for and were chosen to teach remotely during their planning periods). Today my school of around 900 had over 230 absent students.
My county's health department can't do COVID tests until further notice as we have no kits. When I returned from Ohio, I had to drive 40 miles to get a COVID test and when I feared I couldn't get those results back to a record keeping screw up I tried to get a test two days later and couldn't find one within 50 miles of me. Our vaccination rate is still under 50%. My school stopped requiring masks in October of this year. We will wind up with staffing shortages if this continues for any length of time. If you don't have staff you can't have school.
If you want schools open and staffed then you need to get vaccinated. You need to wear masks. You need to do your part and not blame teachers.
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