What A Day - Teacher Buffering

Episode Date: August 13, 2020

The last time we spoke with Monise Seward, a 6th grade special education teacher in Georgia, it was April and schools had just begun to tackle remote learning. It's now the new year, and her class remains completely online. We spoke to her about the challenges of the new normal and her thoughts on in-person classes.Senator Kamala Harris and VP Joe Biden made their first appearance as running mates yesterday. Harris has already begun laying out the case against Trump.And in headlines: anti-government protests in Bolivia, Ilhan Omar wins her primary, and Trump will not let up on showerheads.

It's Thursday, August 13th. I'm Akilah Hughes. And I'm Gideon Resnick, and this is What The Day, where we are currently imagining booking plane tickets to a real DNC. Yeah, I mean, we know it's a silly dream, but it just kind of gives us hope to imagine. Yeah, I'm having a ball looking for neck pillows online. On today's show, a conversation with a teacher in Georgia dealing with the return to school, then some headlines. But first, the latest. And let me tell you, somebody who has presented my fair share of arguments in court, The case against Donald Trump and Mike Pence is open and shut. Just look where they've gotten us. More than 16 million out of work. Millions of kids

who cannot go back to school. A crisis of poverty, of homelessness, afflicting black, brown, and indigenous people the most. A crisis of hunger afflicting one in five mothers who have children that are hungry. And tragically, more than 165,000 lives that have been cut short. That was Kamala Harris detailing the abject failure of the Trump administration yesterday in the first public appearance of the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket. Yeah, it was super interesting to see how this was all laid out with not a lot of people or people clapping or anything. Right. Yeah. I mean, it was socially distanced. They were both wearing

masks. And then when they were speaking, they were not wearing masks, but the other was like very far away in a chair. So it's just different than anything in history, like pretty much every moment that we're living in. But go off Kamala, tell him about himself. In other news, parents and teachers are still struggling with the return to school, which has already begun for some students and will begin for more soon. Backdropping all of this is the fact that in many districts, the coronavirus is far from under control. And our understanding of COVID-19 in kids is still really developing, but a recent report from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that almost 100,000 children tested positive for COVID in just the last two weeks of July. Some of that uptick was attributed to more testing, and most children do not get critically

ill, but it's definitely become a flashpoint as officials make decisions about how to start the year and the risk of spread in and around schools. Yeah, that's right. And Kentucky's Democratic governor cited that report on cases among children earlier this week when he recommended that schools in his state delay in-person classes. And then yesterday, New Jersey's Democratic governor

relaxed a prior position he had by allowing schools to have all virtual classes when they restart next month. Meanwhile, we have Florida's Republican governor who wants one of the larger districts in his state to actually reverse a virtual plan and go in person. So a lot of unevenness in how this is being dealt with place to place. And Georgia is another state where the Republican governor supports school reopenings in person. Let's get into a little bit more on that. Yeah, so we've been following along as some counties have gone ahead with in-person classes and the issues that are popping up as to be expected. Take, for example, the Cherokee County School District, where over a thousand students and staff have been told to quarantine

following some of those positive test results. A high school in Paulding County was made famous by viral photos of crowded hallways. For counties started remote like winnet county the largest in the state there are reports of some technical issues so to get a better sense of what it's been like we decided to check back in with monice seward she's a sixth grade special education teacher in dekab county another metro atlanta county like the other ones that we mentioned we last spoke to her in april when schools halted classes she starts school next week and her district is going all virtual for the foreseeable future. Monice, it is so good to speak with you again. Thank you for talking to us.

I'm glad to be back. Yes. All right. Well, the last time we spoke, we talked a lot about, you know, the students that you teach. You work with special needs students and special learning needs and, you know, students who don't have English as a first language. Have you been in touch with your students and their parents over the summer? And what do you think some of their biggest challenges might be, you know, as you go into this new virtual school year? Well, we just got our rosters for this year yesterday. So, and I just got my caseload

because I have a caseload as a special ed teacher. So I just got my caseload today. So tomorrow I'm going to spend some time reaching out to my parents in English and Spanish. And just doing that reassuring like I did last time. This is a difficult time for everybody. My expectations in terms of the amount of work that I, that I think we're going to get done. It's not really, I don't want to say this the wrong way. It's not really high because I don't want, I don't want people to think that I'm going to try to just go, go, go like I would in a, in a, if we were in the building, cause I'm not, I'm not going to do it. Um, but I want my parents

to understand that I'm still going to give your child what they need, but I'm just not going to do it in the traditional sense. Right. And we read that a board member in your district said that this past spring semester online was a bit of a disaster with low student participation. Did you experience that on your end? And do you think the issues from the spring have been worked out at this point? Let's see. 164,000 people are dead, right? Yeah.

Okay. That hasn't changed. What do we have? How many millions of people are unemployed? That hasn't changed. What do we have? How many millions of people are unemployed? That hasn't changed. I don't know how many of my families have people who are sick or who passed away or who lost their jobs. I don't know who's going to lose their home. I don't know that stuff. So, and that comment you brought up, I'm glad you brought it up because I was infuriated when I read it for a number of reasons. Because first of all, the low engagement had absolutely nothing to do with the way we were teaching.

It was not the fault of teachers not knowing how to use Zoom. We were in a situation that many of us had never experienced before. So for someone to insinuate that my colleagues and I, and I'm speaking for all the teachers in my district, that my colleagues and I were part of the reason why engagement was low, it was very offensive. Because I know a lot of us were struggling through that time. Because yeah, education is not perfect, but damn it, we love what we do.

And despite the low pay, the disrespect, the fact that we spend our own money on classroom supplies and sometimes food for our students and whatever else they need, we still show up every year. So for that, that one thing to be blamed on low engagement, when nobody had taken the time to talk to those families to find out why their kids maybe weren't logging in every day or reached out to the teachers and say, hey, what do you need? Because we're dealing with this too, right? Yeah, exactly. Almost all of us have kids too. And then as the time went on, people that I know from work had people who were affected, directly affected by COVID-19. People who, they were losing family members. So for you to say that engagement was low because of Zoom, I mean, you don't have to be a Rhodes Scholar to work Zoom. Exactly. Everything's labeled in Zoom. If we can't read, we wouldn't

be in the classroom. And in terms of the kind of power that teachers can exercise if there is stuff to be done there, we've seen in some other cities and districts, teachers unions being the people that are the ones that are kind of putting a stop to some of the ill-advised plans from other people. So are you in a union yourself? And if so, what sort of actions have they been taking or what conversations are going on around that? Oh, we don't have a teacher's union here. We're in a right to work state. So there were some teachers in the district where I live who were protesting at the county office for the past few days. There are some teachers from that district who've also resigned because they either, they don't have childcare for their kids or they have a spouse who's immunocompromised and they don't

want to take anything home to them because if masks are not going to be mandated and if you can't social distance, why would I want to roll the dice and go to work? Right. Even though I love what I do. So, but you know what though, this is a perfect storm. We don't have a union here, but I think even though we're, we're pushing back against this, it's going to make things change. We won't see it immediately. But I think now that we have more Black people running for the school board and winning in my district and people getting more civically engaged to find out what's going on in their local school district to see, you know, if you're in accounting with the highest number of new cases, why are you trying to force teachers to go back into a building? So right now we're limited to what we can do, but I do think that gradually we're going to start seeing some things shift because we, some of us are not accustomed to seeing people raise hell. Some people are not accustomed to it.

And I think now that some of these people are seeing other people step out in front and do this, they're going to be like, oh, okay. So people are doing this and I wouldn't be by myself, even though this is a non-union state. So there's some considerations you have to make in the back of your mind. What would I do if I'm not teaching? How am I going to take care of my family? Because believe me, I've been sitting here thinking of a plan too, figuring out what

I'm going to do to take care of my family. But more people are willing to speak up now. More people are willing to speak up now because they don't, who wants to wake up and say, I'm going to go to work knowing that I might get COVID-19, that I might die in 14 days. Right. Right. And it makes all the sense in the world. And yet we're having conversations about, well, what if we just have the desks a little further apart?

Like, can we go back to that last question? Oh, my God. Well, Moniz, thank you so much for always being so open and lovely to speak to. And we really hope everything turns out great where you are with your family and hopefully things just start changing in this country. But thanks for talking to us. Oh, absolutely. I had fun. That was Monice Seward, a sixth grade special education teacher in Georgia. And that's the latest. It's Thursday WOD Squad, and for today's Tim Check, we're talking about a classic seasonal treat. It's pumpkin spice, a flavor that usually marks the start of fall, but which Dunkin' Donuts is bringing back in just one treat. It's pumpkin spice, a flavor that usually marks the start of fall,

but which Dunkin' Donuts is bringing back in just one week. Starting August 19th, Dunkin' will have pumpkin-flavored lattes, coffee, and donuts. A VP said, quote, while there's so much uncertainty heading into the fall, one thing our fans can count on is the return of pumpkin at Dunkin'.

So, Giddy, is this an appropriate time to sell these foods and drinks? Yeah, why the hell not there's no there's no seasons or time or whatever i mean i'm i'm with this vp here you know like give people a little bit of what they want if you want to go get those those pumpkin pumps in your insanely huge duncan drink god bless you um you know it's it's always going to be autumn until the end of time because it's we've there was March for six months. And then now it's it's autumn as far as I'm concerned.

I mean, I guess I could see the like whole let people get what they want. Everything's kind of bad perspective. But I got to I got to disagree. I got to say it's just like it's too hot outside. Like it doesn't sync up right. Or I mean, it's definitely a lot of things. I would start there. The weather is not a pumpkin weather.

It's very hot. So you're not going to enjoy a hot pumpkin spice. And like, I don't believe in cold pumpkin like that, like maybe pumpkin pie. But again, that's like its own thing. I also just think it's too soon. Like if we were in regular non-COVID times, there'd probably be Christmas trees at the JCPenney and there'd be, you know, like a discount on Halloween candy. Like it's already Thanksgiving or something. I feel like we're just jumping the shark. My birthday

is at the end of August. Stop trying to make fall happen in my birthday month, which is securely in the summer. It's not right. It changes the nature of the gifts I get. And I also think that like, it's a real bad omen. Like, why are we trying to skip ahead? Like, I get that this time sucks. So I get why we want to skip ahead. But also, I would like to stay young forever. So like, please don't force me to get to the end of the year. Like, can we just take it a day at a time? That's what my therapist said we're supposed to be doing. And I just feel like they didn't tell Dunkin Donuts the same thing. I think this is very well argued and i also think you know i can go ahead and maybe just return that pumpkin cake that i had ordered for your birthday seems like it's not really gonna fly in this

particular situation that's okay i'll eat it yeah you eat that one uh for for the squad listening it's it's funfetti for me it's apple pie pie for me. It's the not pumpkin spice for me. Well, all right. Just like that, we have checked our temps. They are cool, like a nice gust of air conditioning in the summer, which it still is, and not hot like a latte, which it shouldn't be. Stay safe, and we'll check in with you all again tomorrow. Let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines.

Anti-government demonstrations in Bolivia have entered their second week. Leftist groups, including labor unions, farmers, and indigenous activists, came together to protest the government's decision to postpone their election for a second time. The election was supposed to happen in May, but it was moved to September and then moved further back to October. And critics see the delay as an attempt by current right-wing President Jeanine Añez to extend her interim presidency. As a refresher, she got her position last year after accusations of a rigged election of former President Evo Morales, which led to his ouster. Side note, a later analysis of that election showed no statistical evidence of fraud. During Añez's time in power, an investigation by Harvard Law found that there was a huge surge in human rights violations, things like state-sponsored violence, free speech restrictions,

and arbitrary detentions. Now protesters are asking for her to step down and move up the elections. Not great. Well, the UK is experiencing one of its worst recessions on record. Compared to all major economies in Europe and North America, Britain's economy was hit the hardest by COVID-19, with its GDP dropping by over 20% between April and June. The British economy shrunk back to the size it was in 2003. Not great. Experts say the government's slow response to the pandemic played a major role in the severity of the recession. Because they waited until late March to shut things down,

the country needed to stay locked down longer than its neighbors to curb virus spread. That proved to be a huge issue for Britain, whose economy is largely dependent on consumer spending. The government plans to reopen schools soon and is begging, whose economy is largely dependent on consumer spending. The government plans to reopen schools soon and is begging Brits to go back to working in offices. The government also dropped millions of dollars last week to subsidize meals eaten in restaurants. Fun fact, in England, they call free french fries free chips. Cheerio, Gav, pass the chips.

Results are in for the primaries held in several states on Tuesday. And notably, with the victory of Representative Ilhan Omar in Minnesota, the three members of the squad who faced primary challengers have all won and all four are expected to go back to Congress. Seems like this whole time their secret weapon was friendship, plus passion, integrity, electrifying skills at posting and great progressive politics. Among GOP candidates, newcomer Marjorie Taylor Greene won her House primary in Georgia and is favored to win in the general election. She is a supporter of QAnon, making this another big loss for Satanist Democrats who wear fingers as jewelry. Now, if you need a primer on Q, here's one from Greene in a 2017 Facebook video. Q is a patriot. We know that for sure. But we do not know who Q is. Okay. Great. All clear to me. Green has also made extremely Islamophobic, anti-Semitic and racist

statements in the past, which House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy once described as, quote, appalling, though that wasn't enough to stop Trump from calling her a, quote, future Republican star in a congratulatory tweet yesterday. Unfortunately, I think that prediction is an accurate one. Green is one of several Q-friendly candidates who will be on the ballot in November, but for now, she has the best shot at winning a seat. I blame all the conspiracy theory podcasts. All right. And in other Trump news, his administration is finally tackling our most pressing issue. The Department of Energy has proposed a rule change that would allow showers to shoot out more water. Trump has popped off about water-efficient appliances in the past,

limiting the very real and relatable problems of ineffective showers and toilets that must be flushed 10 to 15 times before they work. The DOE's new rules would fix the first issue. They'd end up current policy of limiting water flow to 2.5 gallons per minute per shower and apply that same 2.5 gallon limit to individual shower heads. Meaning if you have four shower heads in your bathroom, like the president probably does, you could start every day with a 10 gallon splash vest that leaves you absolutely drenched and disoriented. Drag critics say this isn't a big concern and that most Americans are

already using significantly below the maximum water allowance. Personally, if I were Trump, I'd be wary of making water an election issue since he's going up against Delaware's most fearsome lifeguard, Joe Biden. This will inevitably end in some kind of swimming contest, and I just pray that everyone is aware of their limits. Yeah. You know, which guy's going to do butterfly? Which guy's going to do breaststroke? It could be tight.

He's going to hold the towels. And those are the headlines. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe. We review salt or chips and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just consumer reports, reviews of shower heads like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Akilah Hughes.

I'm Gideon Resnick. And stop wearing people's fingers. It's gross. You know, it was a cool trend, but I think it's enough. Yeah, just get some gloves. Gloves would be more efficient for everyone involved. What a Day is a Crooked Media production. It's recorded and mixed by Charlotte Landis. Sonia Tun is our assistant producer.

Our head writer is John Milstein and our senior producer is Katie Long. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard andshaka.