Jacobin Radio w/ Suzi Weissman: COVID and the Crisis in Education

Suzi talks to Arlene Inouye, UTLA Secretary and Bargaining Chair about the system-wide pressures facing teachers, support staff, students, and their families, all seeking safety and stability during the deadly and disruptive pandemic. A new NEA survey reveals anxiety, exhaustion, burnout, and an alarming number of educators leaving the profession they have loved. Arlene gives us a big picture of the crisis and the pre-existing problems made suddenly worse by COVID: teacher and staff shortages, declining enrollment, and irregular class attendance. We’ll hear how UTLA has addressed the health and safety concerns such as ventilation, masking, and other actions to make safer classrooms, and what ideas and programs they are trying to implement to address these issues in an unstable environment with ongoing funding issues. Georgia Flowers Lee brings her experiences and difficulties teaching preschoolers during the pandemic. The conditions of teacher and staff shortages—plus frequent shutdowns for two weeks whenever someone falls ill or tests positive with COVID—adds to burnout and hardship for educators, students, and their families. Hector Perez Roman, who teaches high school AP world history in Arleta in the northern San Fernando Valley, brings us news and stories from the classroom in an underserved and hard-hit area. Perez-Roman talks about how teachers and students are dealing with the trauma of COVID illness and loss, attendance uncertainty, lost time for learning, yet are still being bogged down with unnecessary standardized tests. Belinda Barragan is a LAUSD PSA (Pupil Student Attendance) counselor working with students and their families, teachers, and staff on the mental health issues brought by pandemic stress. She sees more cases of depression and social anxiety daily, with parents coming in to ask how to deal with these issues with their child at home. She describes teachers who are frustrated, anxious, and fatigued from their own classrooms while also covering their peers because of the shortage of substitutes available. We hear their stories, and Arlene Inouye discusses the UTLA platform to address these issues with solutions that bring hope.