Working parents across professions were forced to balance the demands of their jobs and their children鈥檚 remote education in the spring, and teachers were no exception. But this new school year has created even more logistical hurdles for teachers with kids at home.
In schools that have adopted a hybrid model of instruction where groups of students alternate days of in-person instruction, teachers are often expected to be in their classrooms full time. And in the schools that are beginning an entirely virtual fall semester, teachers will have to spend more time doing live instruction on video than they did in the spring. Yet in many cases, they will still be without child care.
Nearly half of teachers have children鈥攆rom preschoolers to teenagers鈥攁t home, according to an analysis by researchers at the Brookings Institution. For many of these teachers, the spring semester was stressful: A recent survey of nearly 8,000 teachers in nine states found that 40 percent said caretaking responsibilities for children and/or other dependent adults , and 16 percent said they were unable to balance their work with other responsibilities at home, according to an analysis by researchers including Brown University鈥檚 Matthew Kraft.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e [teaching] from home and you have four kids under the age of 10, if you don鈥檛 have a spouse, babysitter, or someone to sit there with them, it鈥檚 really difficult,鈥� said Sherri Dutton, a 2nd grade teacher in Las Vegas. 鈥淎s a teacher, I have to be available online to facilitate the instruction. It makes it so tricky to go between my classroom online and my own kids鈥� education.鈥�
In some cases last spring, districts even told teachers they could not work and watch their children at the same time.
Now, in hopes of making this school year more manageable, some districts are providing child care for teachers, while others are letting teachers鈥� children get priority for full-time, in-person instruction. Other districts are allowing鈥攐r requiring鈥攖eachers to work from their empty classrooms and to bring their kids if they need to. That option has been praised by some teachers, who say it gives them access to more reliable internet and a sense of structure for school-aged children. Others have balked at that idea, saying it puts them and their kids at risk for COVID-19 and shakes up any routine for small children.
In Massachusetts, Jeffrey Riley, the state commissioner of elementary and secondary education, that the state education department expects teachers in districts that are providing remote instruction to teach from their empty classrooms. He wrote that this approach will provide more consistency for students, allow teachers access to more instructional supplies and reliable internet, and foster more collaboration among educators.
Teachers who are parents in need of child care should be able to bring their kids to school with them, Riley said. Districts should also prioritize children of teachers鈥攊n addition to students with disabilities, English-language learners, and other high-needs students鈥攆or full-time, in-person learning, he wrote. The department will release more detailed guidance for teachers with children at home soon, Riley added.
Still, teachers across the state are 鈥渇urious鈥� with this directive, said Merrie Najimy, the president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association. They find it 鈥減atronizing鈥� to be told where and how to teach, she said, and it鈥檚 added an extra burden on teachers who are parents.
She has heard from teachers who have said they don鈥檛 know how their toddlers will be able to nap in a bright classroom while they鈥檙e teaching virtual classes. One school counselor asked how she is supposed to preserve her students鈥� privacy if her own child is in the room with her during counseling sessions. Other teachers are worried about exposing their children to COVID-19.
鈥淚t鈥檚 heartless and reckless,鈥� Najimy said. 鈥淎re their infant children supposed to crawl around on the classroom floor?鈥�
Local unions are negotiating with districts about whether teachers will be required to come into classrooms to teach, she said.
Kristen Picard, an 8th grade English teacher in Northampton, Mass., is still waiting for her district and union to finalize an agreement on the details of remote instruction. But so far, her district superintendent has said it will be voluntary for teachers to work from empty school buildings.
That鈥檚 a relief, Picard said, because she doesn鈥檛 feel comfortable bringing her 4-month-old daughter into a school building with poor ventilation that鈥檚 filled with other people. She was already uncomfortable sending her 4-year-old son to daycare this fall鈥攂ut she felt like it was the only option, given her teaching schedule and her husband鈥檚 14-hour workdays.
鈥淯ltimately, I said, if I kept both my kids home, I鈥檇 feel like I was failing my son and failing my students because there鈥檚 just no way,鈥� she said.
It will still be a challenge with just the baby home: Picard is teaching four 83-minute classes a day. 鈥淏alancing all of that with breastfeeding and pumping鈥擨 just don鈥檛 know what it looks like,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know how well it will work out.鈥�
And there hasn鈥檛 been clear guidance from her state or district for teachers who are dealing with these child-care issues, she said.
About 80 percent of teachers are women, 鈥渁nd the ones who are making the decisions are not, and the feeling is just, 鈥楾hey鈥檒l figure it out, they always do,鈥欌�� Picard said. 鈥淎nd we do鈥攂ut it comes with a lot of stress.鈥�
鈥楲ighten the Load鈥�
Some local teachers鈥� unions are negotiating how their districts can support teachers with children. For instance, the Los Angeles鈥� teachers鈥� union secured child care for its teachers who are working on school campuses. The also states that teachers working remotely 鈥渟hall not be subject to discipline if and when instruction is occasionally interrupted鈥� by their children or other family circumstances.
And some districts are preemptively finding solutions for their staff. Grant Rivera, the superintendent of the Marietta City, Ga., school district, knew balancing work and child care had to have been a challenge for his teachers with kids in the spring and would continue to be one as the district starts the fall semester remotely.
鈥淭eachers largely internalize the stress and just try to make it work,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a conversation that originated in central office from basically a position of common sense: If they鈥檙e trying to juggle their own child at the same time as they鈥檙e trying to teach someone else鈥檚, what can we do to lighten the load?鈥�
This fall, the district began offering child care for teachers鈥� kids, aged 4 to 12. There are 92 children enrolled in the program, and they each have Chromebooks to participate in remote learning. (Only five children are allowed in a classroom at once to ensure social distancing, .) The district reassigned school staff whose jobs are no longer needed during remote instruction鈥攍ike bus drivers, cafeteria workers, and some substitute teachers鈥攖o oversee the program.
For the first month, teachers had to pay $60 a week per child, which Rivera knew was a large, unanticipated expense. He asked community partners for help, and a local church has made a donation that will reduce the cost to $30 a week.
Some teachers in the Marietta City district have chosen to work in their empty classrooms, and the district has made sure that those teachers鈥� children are in the same building as they are so teachers can check in on their kids and eat lunch with them. Other teachers wanted to drop their kids off at the school building and then go back home to teach remotely.
Rivera said he doesn鈥檛 have a preference on what teachers do, and if they want to teach remotely with their kids at home with them, that鈥檚 OK, too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nothing more than a service. 鈥� If this makes your life easier, we鈥檙e here to help,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e care about our staff as people first and educators second.鈥�
Making It Work
In the spring, the Madison, Wis., school district told teachers that they 鈥渃annot watch [their] children and work at the same time,鈥� and must secure child care either outside or inside the home. Teachers were outraged, , and the district softened its policy, asking staff to 鈥減lan ahead as much as possible for child care in [their] home so that interruptions are minimized.鈥�
This fall, the district hasn鈥檛 issued a similar requirement, said Andy Waity, the president of Madison Teachers Inc., the local union. (A district spokesperson didn鈥檛 respond to 91直播鈥檚 requests for comment.)
鈥淭he expectation is that folks are doing their work, and they鈥檙e finding some way to arrange for support of their own children, and of course that presents a huge challenge for people,鈥� he said.
Waity said there鈥檚 been an increase in teachers applying for leave. The federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act grants workers who need to care for a child whose school or child-care provider is closed or unavailable due to COVID-19 up to 12 weeks of leave at two-thirds pay.
Other teachers are just trying to make it all work. Greg, who asked for his last name to be withheld, and his wife both teach at the same private school in Florida where their three kids attend. In the spring, he and his wife would teach their Zoom classes in the mornings, and then deliver the provided curriculum for their then-kindergartner and 2nd grader in the afternoons. (Their other child, a middle schooler, was able to work more independently.)
It was chaotic but manageable, Greg said. But this fall, he and his wife are expected to teach until 3 pm. Their kids also have a full schedule of remote learning planned鈥攁nd teaching their kids after teaching their students didn鈥檛 seem feasible.
鈥淲e end at 3 o鈥檆lock, and all of a sudden, now we鈥檙e going to start helping the little ones?鈥� he said. 鈥淗ow long can the day be?鈥�
Instead, he and his wife have hired a family friend to come for three hours a day to help the kids with their remote learning. At $20 an hour, it鈥檚 a large expense鈥攅specially since Greg鈥檚 secondary income stream from tutoring has shriveled up since the start of the pandemic鈥攂ut he felt like it was the only option.
Meanwhile, a middle school teacher in North Carolina, who asked that her name be withheld, said she鈥檚 taking it day by day. She鈥檚 working in her empty classroom alongside her two kids, because she has more reliable internet and access to more devices at school than she does at home.
Still, she said, teaching her classes while her kids are on their own video calls in the same room can be chaotic. And she has to take several breaks throughout the day from her own work to help her kids, one of whom has ADHD, do their lessons.
鈥淚t feels very scattered [and] piecemeal,鈥� she said. In an email, she added, 鈥淩ight now, it鈥檚 working, but I am beyond tired and stressed. I鈥檓 not sure how effective I am as a teacher and as a good mother.鈥�
