Teachers, let's wear masks

Teacher colleagues, if you're like me, you're both excited and apprehensive about the start of the new school year.

The excitement comes from the prospect of building positive relationships, teaching students, and collaborating with colleagues.

The apprehension comes from all those things, too. Beginnings are important, and we all want to get them right.

An additional apprehension comes from COVID, vaccines, and masking recommendations/requirements. Many of us wonder how these factors will affect learning, teaching, and mental and physical health.

Decisions about school vaccine requirements and mask mandates are largely out of teachers' control. One thing that is within our control, however, is modeling healthy choices for our students.

This means wearing masks, whether our districts mandate them or not.

Currently in Stark County, where I live, as in most other parts of the state, coronavirus spread is significant enough that various health authorities, from the CDC on down, are advising that even vaccinated people wear masks indoors. This recommendation holds true regardless of what individual districts may have announced.

For our students under twelve, teacher masking is especially imperative. These younger students have no choice in vaccination: They can't receive it yet. They may also not be able to mask based on their parents' stance.

For our students twelve and older, teacher masking is also very important. The vaccination and masking attitudes of teens are similarly based on their parents'. Some want to be vaccinated, but can't without parental permission. Others may be on the fence.

Positive peer pressure is effective. Administrators who wear masks during times of significant spread send a powerful message about the importance of public health to teachers and students. (They send a similarly powerful message when they don't.) Teachers who wear masks send a message to students who may be unsure of how to proceed.

We don't have to wade into a political debate in the classroom. We can simply say we are wearing masks out of an abundance of caution, to protect students, ourselves and our families. Full stop.

I know masks compromise one of our biggest assets as educators: our facial expressions. For language and music teachers, this is especially challenging. There may be times, in mask-optional settings, when we can pull down our masks to demonstrate a particular pronunciation or inflection. Or to give brief mask breaks to ourselves and our students.

I also recognize concerns over student social and emotional health and how these may be compromised by masking. We need to take these issues into consideration, as well. But physical health, during a pandemic, must take precedence.

We all witnessed, to one degree or another, how disruptive and difficult online and hybrid schedules are. The best ways to extend face-to-face learning as long as possible this coming school year are:

1. Get vaccinated.

2. Wear a mask.

It is disappointing that this year still won't be business as usual in the classroom, as much as we would like it to be. I look forward to the day when I can safely remove my mask.

But we are not there yet.

If our goals are to stay in school, to limit community spread, and to get out of this pandemic without even more adverse health consequences, then the choice is really not hard at all.

chris.schillig@yahoo.com

@cschillig on Twitter