'I'm Terrified,' Says Tampa Bay Teacher As Coronavirus Rates Rise

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LARGO, FL — As Tampa Bay public school teachers begin their second week of the second semester, many are still worried that they're putting their lives at risk each day they enter their classroom.

Bianca Goolsby, founder of a Tampa Bay teachers advocacy and activist organization, Teaching for the Culture, said Tampa Bay educators are more stressed than ever about the coronavirus as the positivity rate in Florida continues to rise and hospitals report running out of beds.

Teachers are equally frustrated with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' refusal to give teachers priority to the coronavirus vaccine even though they say teachers are just as much at risk as the front-line health care workers and first responders who have received the vaccine.

Public schools in Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties require students and staff to wear face masks and practice 6-foot social distancing, but teachers said those requirements aren't always practical.

The day before Tampa Bay teachers returned to the classroom following winter break, Goolsby hosted a livestreamed YouTube program titled "Afraid to Return" (watch below) in which teachers spoke out about their fears.

"Honestly, I'm terrified," said teacher Matt Bartholomay, who has both a wife and son with compromised immune systems. "A lot of people don't understand the data, don't understand the science. That's what scares me. The kids don't understand what's going on, and it's a challenge for me to explain to them that they have to wear masks to protect the community. It's daunting. It's terrifying. I see students in the hallways and outside school, and those masks just pop off, and they're hugging one another."

Hillsborough County educator Michelle Stover is both an educator and mother. She also has a compromised immune system but said she had no choice but to go back into the classroom. She was never offered one of the few coveted online teaching positions and her husband's job was eliminated due to the coronavirus. Stover is now the sole breadwinner for her family.

"I feel like the district has been disingenuous with parents in many ways," she said. "We cannot socially distance in school. There are many classrooms where students are packed in tight. They're still not 6 feet apart in my classroom. Students are not wearing their masks correctly. Many are coming from an environment where masks are not supported, and they're defiant."

Even if teachers are able to convince students to keep their masks on or wear them correctly, the classrooms are too small to allow social distancing. Additionally, new ventilation systems in the school promised by school districts haven't materialized.

"We're in enclosed spaces, some without windows or outside doors," said Stover.

Stover said 25 teachers in Florida have died from coronavirus. But despite pleas from the state teachers' union, school boards and school superintendents, she said the governor has refused to prioritize teachers to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Like Stover, Bartholomay said the schools simply aren't designed to protect them from the coronavirus.

"We aren't 6 feet apart. Kids are all over each other," he said. "My school is 50 to 60 years old and there's no way they're going to replace the ventilation system. They made all these promises, but they're not following through. They're doing best they can, but we shouldn't be in this situation at all. We shouldn't be in these buildings period."

Hillsborough County school teacher April Cobb is a single mother. She said she cringes when she hears DeSantis say teachers shouldn't be prioritized for the vaccine because they have the choice to teach in the classroom or teach remotely online.

Although she has asthma, she was never given the choice to teach online. Her only choices were either go back into the classroom or not support her family.

"I'm very concerned, Cobb said. "In South Tampa on New Year's Eve, everyone was out there partying at the bars, and now we're getting ready to host the Super Bowl. People are acting as if everything is normal. It is not. The world is pretending this virus doesn't exist. Society is giving off this false pretense and has deemed wearing masks is not important right now. I'm concerned that children are ignorant of how dangerous this virus is."

Teacher Johnny Biggens agreed.

"It scares me so much that I'm not going back," he said. "I'm taking a leave. I'm a son who has an 80-year-old mom I want to see, and she wants to see me. But if go back into the classroom, I'm endangering her life. And I have a son with Type 1 diabetes. I want to be in my son's life. My wife is an e-learning teacher and, when I come home from school, I'm afraid I might infect her."

He said it was a difficult decision not to return to the classroom this semester.

"It leaves us in a financial bind but I'd rather take that chance because I don't know how I'd get over it if I endangered my family," he said. "The state shouldn't have put us in this position."

Teacher Latesia Coleman said she teaches in a predominantly Black school and, despite lectures on the importance of wearing masks and social distancing, she said she can't get through to her students and their parents that this is a matter of life or death.

Last semester, one of her students came to school with a runny nose.

"He didn't even realize it could be a symptom of the virus," she said. "And temperature checks don't guarantee that students don't have COVID. That student came back to school two days later, and he still had a runny nose. Some people are under the impression that kids don't get it and don't spread it. Kids do get it and spread it."

Like the other teachers participating in the forum, Coleman said the classrooms at her school haven't been retrofitted with updated ventilation systems.

"I have 19 desks in my classroom, and I'm encouraged to walk around, engage with students and do group activities," she said. "We're not taking some of these guidelines seriously. We're denying this is happening and sending our kids to school like it's no big deal. This is not the solution."

She said she's especially concerned about Tampa Bay's minorities.

"People of color are more likely to be negatively impacted by virus," she said. "They live in multigenerational households and don't have access to adequate nutrition and health care. A lot of Black students have asthma and diabetes, especially in St. Petersburg where I live. Black residents in Tampa Bay are two times more likely to live in poverty, and these things have an impact on health."

The teachers are equally concerned about the effectiveness of the school districts' quarantine protocols.

"If someone tests positive and tells the school like they're supposed to and goes into quarantine, they have brothers and sisters who are still coming to school," said Stover.

"It's a secret," Cobb said. "The school district can't tell us who contracted COVID, and contact tracing isn't done at the level of expertise necessary. There's just too many children to allow proper contact tracing. If I worry about it too much, I would lose my mind."

"Teaching today is a great responsibility," said Bartholomay. "We not only have to keep students safe, but we have to keep our own families safe."

"What happens when educators start dropping like flies?" asked Cobb. "We shouldn't have to be fighting this fight. At some point we have to be able to say that something different has to happen."

"Am I afraid to go back? Yes, because I know what I'm going back into," Stover said. "I'm going to be swimming in coronavirus. It's not safe."

Courtesy Teaching for the Culture

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This article originally appeared on the Tampa Patch