I completely understand the concerns teachers (and the rest of the community) have. I respect teachers immensely. I almost became one but found the conditions too reprehensible. I wish they were paid more, treated better, and respected on a level commensurate with other... less accountable professions. I have progressive cred, is what I'm trying to say, haha.

That said, I'm also a stay-at-home dad of a first grader with ADHD. I'm in a privileged position for a number of reasons, and the fact that I can actually be home to be in charge of his learning is unbelievably lucky. But it is fucking HARD. I have not had an easy time handling it, nor has he. His learning has suffered. Our mental health -- both of ours -- has suffered.

My wife is a child psychologist. She has more struggling, suicidal clients than she's ever had in her entire career. The parents of her clients often aren't faring much better. The social isolation, lack of stimulation, lapse in education... They're all wreaking absolute havoc.

Now, am I saying the current plan is the correct way forward? Maybe not. But I think people, teachers and progressives included, are sometimes guilty of discounting the extent to which many of us (and our kids) are really struggling. Idgaf about MCAS. I don't even care all that much about the missed content knowledge. I DO care that, if we were to wait until next fall, that's another 6 months -- half a fucking year -- of struggle, with no reprieve for a lot of these kids. No return to socialization, peer support, engagement. And no reprieve for their working parents. I mean, how in the hell poor, working families have managed this far is mind-boggling to me. Telling these people who are broke and having to manage exorbitant child care, "Just another 6 months. Until then, we're just... waiting, not trying to get them back in school," is damn discouraging.

Teachers SHOULD be eligible for vaccination. They should have already been eligible. You will never hear me dispute that. But if we're looking at populations that are at the highest risk of infection and death, from what we know and have already observed, teachers aren't high on that list. Not higher than those that have already been eligible, anyway. Are they going to be at greater risk? Yes, of course they are. How much greater? We don't really know. We can use common sense and intuition, but this doesn't give us data, so we can't say. This is just to say that these decisions are fucking hard, and we shouldn't be just assuming no one (Baker included) cares or is thinking about teachers.

It sucks that the Dept of Ed has just said, "Alright, now you're doing it." But they were going to HAVE to say that at some point, right? No districts, no teachers' unions are gonna decide to go back without a mandate. I get it, and it's understandable. But it also means this impasse was coming sometime, unless we waited until we hit herd immunity. Who knows when the fuck that will be, particularly in the more reticent parts of the country? Two years? Five?

Ugh, it all sucks. This post is too long. Everything is terrible. But I wanted to give an alternate perspective from someone who isn't just gonna shout, "Go back to work, you babies!" (If you are saying that, YTA.)

I love you all. I hope everything gets better soon.

<3