“I would much rather be at school”; Covid-19 teacher opinions

By: Abby Miller

On March 13, 2020, Visalia Unified School District scheduled the shutdown of schools through April 13th. With that date now pushed back even further, many teachers are having to take a look at how they will adapt to this change.

Mrs. Feehan, Sophomore English teacher feels that this is a very unfortunate circumstance for everyone. She is” very sad with the way we all left; I did not get to properly say goodbye to my students, especially since it is so uncertain if I will get to see them again this year.”

She is doing her best trying to keep things as normal as possible for her students, let alone her own children. “This is a bizarre time and something I hope blows over soon so we can all get back to our regular lives; but I also hope that it teaches us something about life and to appreciate what we have.”

World History teacher, Ms. Aguilar is also feeling a little shaken up by the current situation. “At first,” she says, “I was living in denial and that might seem a tad dramatic, but I truly did not think the virus would get this bad this fast.”

Aguilar was sitting in her car waiting to get gas at Costco when she got the email stating that the district would close schools immediately. “I didn’t believe it until the following week when I was finally allowed to go back into my classroom for the first time in 11 days.” Opening her classroom door made her realize she would not be seeing her students for weeks.

“I love my job. I love coming to my classroom. I love interacting with my kids and it breaks me to know that I wont see them for another 6 weeks.” Aguilar says in the meantime she has had a mix of very productive and unproductive days at home. She feels for her students and it has been hard to know she can not physically be there for them during this time. “I am a counselor, mom, therapist, cheerleader, all types of things and I can not be there physically for all my kids right now so I am trying to be there electronically.” She says its hard but she will not stop reaching out to let them know she cares and is thinking about them on a daily basis.

Redwoods ASL teacher, Mrs. Duerre is hoping that “we can get back for at least a week.” She thinks that both students and teachers need some sort of closure right now but considering the school boards most recent announcement, “it does not look like it is going to happen.”

Duerre hopes that seniors and students will be able to do something to remember the school year when this is all over.