Marjorie Hundtoft
Hundtoft is a science teacher at Gordon Russell Middle School. She lives in Portland.
How can we safely reopen schools? I teach middle school science in Gresham and I can’t imagine a scenario of “regular” school in which my students or I would be safe. I don’t know how we can reopen schools, but I do know our solutions need to address my students’ realities.
I know that public schools like mine cannot provide sufficient physical distance at current staffing levels. My average class size last year was 34 students in a classroom built for 24. The suggestion to split classes into two smaller cohorts that would alternate coming to school would still result in too many students per class to provide the recommended 35 square feet per person – which I estimate means about nine students per class at my school. I interact with as many as 180 students in a day. At lunch, 250 seventh graders are packed together in the commons. Between classes, nearly 800 middle-schoolers pass each other in the hall. How can students attend classes without encountering too many other students?
I know that if we open up schools, families will send sick kids to school. Left with the decision to leave kids home alone or to send them to school sick, many will send them to school. Knowing this, how many other families will decide it is better to keep their kids permanently at home or seek out private school alternatives? Will we facilitate the removal of families of means from the public education system, reinforcing a two-tiered educational system, one private for those who can afford it, and one public for everyone else?
I know that a majority of my students identify as Black, Indigenous or students of color. They and their families are at higher risk than the general Oregon public, accounting for a disproportionate number of cases. How can we consider opening schools with such high incidence in their communities?
I know that it is in the nature of middle-school students to push boundaries. Every day we must encourage them to sit in their assigned seats, walk on the right side of the hallway, and keep their hands to themselves. For every five kids mostly following the rules and avoiding trouble, there’s one or two pushing back. How do schools reinforce natural consequences, if the actual natural consequence may be getting someone sick?
I know that about 5% of my students are too emotionally dysregulated to succeed in mainstream education. They coerce their peers and teachers, wander in late and storm out early. Some are intentionally unsafe – throwing or destroying things. We do not have an alternative environment focused on teaching them what they need to learn, so they continue to disrupt class. What do you suggest we do with these students if we return to regular school during the pandemic?
I know that kids need social environments to learn and grow appropriately. It was heartbreaking this spring to hear how lonely my students were. Every Friday I ran a gaming and hangout session. An hour and half of giggling later, they would beg me to keep it going. They would tell me it was the best part of their week. They would comment on their Tuesday assignments that they wished it was Friday. It was awful. But can’t we come up with a solution for peer interaction that doesn’t risk the health of the community?
I know that online education is an inadequate Band-Aid for the learning wounds aggravated by this pandemic, and it disproportionately impacts my students. More of my families are dealing with trauma, mental health challenges, addiction, incarceration and other barriers that make it difficult for them to support distance learning. These are challenges for my students under the best circumstances, and the pandemic is widening the gap even further. How can we create a solution that addresses, rather than exacerbates, the inequities of the system?
I know that any solution that is truly fair, safe, and workable will require more money than government is likely to spend. Real answers to my questions will require us to be bold and design the solutions first, and then find the money to support what my kids need. I love and miss my students, but I need them to be safe. I need to be safe, too. I don’t know what the best solution looks like, but I know if we are to find it, we will need to view education as it currently exists rather than how we wish it would.
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