OPINION: Teachers need more support in terms of child care

Julia Wagner lives in Westport.

It is with a heavy heart that I write in defense of those who have already given us so much with so little in return: our educators.

As a working mother of three who has volunteered in schools for years, and as a wife of a high school teacher, I write to raise awareness of educators' plight and hopefully bring about change. My spouse has devoted the last 18 years of his life to the crucial role of shaping the young minds of our future.

During the pandemic he was responsible for over 160 online learners as well as overseeing our three children, as I work out of the house full time. In the past few months we have gone from an initial plan of a hybrid approach in Westport, requiring two to three days of unanticipated child care for them, to now cyber learning, requiring us to scramble for child care for a full five days a week.

In response to this crisis, as there is nothing we hold more dear than the safety and well being of our own children, my husband's school system and my employers could not have differed more. My wonderful nursing agency has been flexible, resourceful and innovative, working with my schedule to address my individual needs. My spouse, however, was not as fortunate. Not only did they want him back in school every day physically present in his empty classroom as of Sept. 1, but they have balked at every possibility to help educators deal with child care issues.

They further stated that he could take only 10 days off for childcare for the year, and in their most recent email made a new demand that these 10 days be taken within a two-week period or he would only make two-thirds of his salary. In meeting with the Massachusetts Teachers Association and his union, nothing has been accomplished to aid him or the other countless teachers and parents in the same predicament.

I don’t understand in this crisis how educators can be treated in such a manner. Asking parents to abandon their own children to teach to an empty classroom seems ludicrous. I have heard that this is to assist with teacher coverage, but I do not understand why additional substitutes can not be put in place as they will be required to cover these child care leaves of two weeks. My poor spouse does not want to miss two weeks in the classroom with his students, who are already at a loss from last year's abrupt end and the new cyber learning style.

I hope that something can be done in support of those who have given us so much -- our teachers.

Julia Wagner

Westport