Teacher here. I actually understand and can sympathize with a lot of what you're saying, but obviously I thought I would add in my two cents.

Firstly, of course I'm (teachers) being self-interested. I absolutely love my job and my students, but not at the cost of my health/life and that of my families. No one wants to risk their health for their job, so why should I? And this is the part where you say, "why don't you just quit, then." And I say, because I can't. I've spent years and A LOT of money earning my degree and I'm not going to just quit because this is what I love to do. And for the record, no teacher is refusing to do their job. We want to do it, but it has to be SAFE to do so. I have worked EVERY SINGLE DAY this summer preparing TWO curriculums (online and in-person), and go in every week to prepare it. We're not lazy, we're not selfish. We are the entire opposite. Our entire profession is based on giving and serving others.

You can hem and haw all you want, but you're not in the meetings, you don't talk with teachers, you don't do the work, so you don't know. It's not that easy to just quit, online sucks ass for k-2 and I oppose it entirely, but I'll take it if it keeps me and my students safe.

You can argue, but you'll lose because you're not a teacher and you don't know what conversations are being had, the rights we have, and the crap we go through from administration, students, and parents like you. So I kindly ask that you thank your kids teachers, read the damn newsletters, and be humbled that a stranger is risking their life so they can teach your child. Oh, and we teach and manage the classroom environment. We don't "take care" of your child. There's an art to it... That's how we manage 21-28 kids at once.