Teacher says schools should not reopen
Morris Park educator says city schools are not prepared for September
BY JASON COHEN
With less than a month
before New York City schools
are set to reopen, many
teachers feel that they are
not ready for September.
Morris Park teacher Suzanne
Ribeiro spoke with the
Bronx Times about returning
to school in a few weeks
and how she and many of
her colleagues are nervous.
Ribeiro, 52, has been a special
education teacher for a
decade and spent the last four
years at Bronx High School
for the Visual Arts.
Ribeiro explained that
working remotely was not a
piece of cake. Kids would contact
her at all times of the day
and some would not submit
their work until 2 or 3 a.m.
But with school set to
begin Sept. 10, she is worried.
Kids and teachers have the
option to enroll in online or
hybrid learning, where they
do two or three days in school
and the rest remotely.
“Our concern is returning
to the health and safety
of the building,” she said. “I
think because we waited too
long to make these decisions
you lost a lot of planning time
and primitive measures you
could have taken.”
According to Ribeiro,
there are simply too many
unknown variables. She said
that some of these challenges
included parts of the building
that might not have good
ventilation, getting kids to
sit in one classroom all day,
providing soap in all bathrooms,
fi nding people to
take everyone’s temperature
before they enter and how
schools will handle positive
COVID cases.
“It’s going to be interesting
to see when students
come back and realize it’s
not their traditional school
experience,” she said.
According to Ribeiro,
many teachers including her
have underlying conditions
that would make them susceptible
to COVID-19. The
school conducted a survey,
which revealed more than
half of the staff would prefer
to stay home.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,2 AUGUST 21-27, 2020 BTR
She acknowledged that
teaching and learning virtually
were not the best experiences
but students and
teaches have gotten used
to the new way of going to
school. Now that most kids
are used to it and have the
necessary technology, Ribeiro
said that they could
continue doing it until there
is either a vaccine or strict
protocols put in place.
She wished the city didn’t
push this hastily thrown together
plan on them a few
weeks before school. She
shared that making all students
go back to the classroom
does not seem like a
smart idea.
“The vast majority want
to remain online because it
is safer,” she explained.
Ribeiro said she understands
why kids want to return
to school. They miss the
socialization and are tired
of being shuttered inside.
On top of that, parents need
to return to work, are not
trained as teachers and many
can’t afford babysitters or to
stay home.
“We all miss being in
school,” Ribeiro said. “Even
students that we spoke to say,
“no, I’ll wait, as long as we’re
doing more live instruction,
I’ll wait.”
Morris Park teacher Suzanne Ribeiro. Courtesy of Suzanne Ribeiro