The impact of the pandemic on education 1:57
Editor's Note: W. Kamau Bell is a comedian and sociopolitical author who hosts and executive produces the CNN Original Series "United Shades of America," which airs on Sundays at 10 p.m. ET. The opinions expressed here are his. Read more opinion at CNNe.com/opinion.
(CNN) - The average person who does not have children at school may not realize that being a teacher during a pandemic is like being a firefighter: even when you are sleeping, you can be awakened and called to service.
Monique Davis is no different. As a special education teacher at Shaw High School in East Cleveland, Ohio, she has always been available to her students and has always provided her phone number in case a student needs to communicate.
But during the pandemic, Davis has found that her students need her sometimes first thing in the morning. Teaching during the covid-19 crisis, she said, has made her "burn the candle at both ends."
Monique Davis teaches a boy during a class in 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio.
However, when I visited his classroom last fall for an episode of "United Shades of America," I'd say he was already burning the candle at both ends, plus the middle, for his students. Her classroom was filled not only with the equipment the school provided, but also with many, many things she had brought from home or purchased with her own paycheck.
Public school teachers across the country are related at this point. In the United States, public schools are funded through a combination of primarily state and local resources, plus some federal resources, but some states are poorer than others, and some cities are poorer within those states. And when that kind of inequity exists, teachers like Davis often step in to make up the difference.
She wanted to know how things were going for Davis as she transitioned to virtual teaching during the pandemic. Following are excerpts from our conversation in June, lightly edited for length and clarity.
A notice board in Monique Davis' Shaw Middle School classroom.
Kamau : Monique, I feel like I should call you Mrs. Davis, because you are a teacher and I will respect you.
Monique : Oh, it's summer, (call me) Monique.
Kamau : What was it like to be a teacher in the middle of this? It started as if the schools were going to be closed for a week or so, and then it spread, and we all finally realized that this would hold until at least the end of the school year. How was it for you
Monique : There was a lot of anxiety at the beginning because I didn't want anyone's notes to be spoiled; she didn't want anyone to become too lax. I didn't want there to be that delay. I was very careful to get in touch with the parents, get in touch with the children (and ask) «What are you doing? Are you doing the job?
But as we saw that it was going to be something more permanent, the surveillance had to become "this is in the long term." It became "slow and steady wins the race" instead of "do it now, I want to see it."
I have many children who keep in touch. My children always have my phone number. If you have my number, you always have a way to contact me and find out what you need and when you need it.
Monique Davis talks to W. Kamau Bell during the filming of "United Shades of America" in 2019.
Kamau : You're ruining the idea that teachers have good hours: They arrive at eight in the morning, they work until three, and then they go home and kick their feet up.
Monique : Oh no. I felt for a while like I was burning the candle at both ends, because I had to be awake during the day in my contractual school hours, but then my kids were teenagers and many of them were working so they didn't come out until 10 o'clock , 11 o'clock at night. And that's when I started getting text messages about "how am I supposed to do this page?" or "Can you help me with this?"
So I started working more and later. I had a day when it was one o'clock, two in the morning and he was texting me with three or four different children. And it's like, well, normally this would be considered completely inappropriate!
Kamau : Teacher sends a text message to a student at two in the morning . That's the local news headline sometimes.
Monique : Right, right. But then I'm saying, "Did you complete the documentation? Did you fill out the survey? Give it back. If you didn't receive the email, let me send you the link again. " So we came and went like this for almost an hour. And I thought: «It is two in the morning; I have to go to the bed".
Kamau : And just to be clear, you can't go to school and say, "I worked a few extra hours this week."
Monique : Correct.
Kamau : So there is no "pay me for these extra hours."
Monique : I started planning appointments early in the morning so that I could be available in the afternoon. Even the children who were not working did not get up and move until one, two or three in the afternoon.
Kamau : Well, yes, as a parent, it is difficult to motivate your children to get out of bed when they don't have to be somewhere.
Monique : It was much more than: when the children are ready, when the children need me is when I am available. I even passed by a couple of houses, made some visits from the car. "I have not heard from you. What's going on? What are you doing?".
Kamau : I know that at the school where you are teaching, I imagine that some of the students do not have the technology they need to keep up to date or access to the Internet. So maybe they have a smartphone, but they may not have a computer. You know, it's hard to do everything on your smartphone. Can you talk about the digital divide?
Monique : Yes, we have a digital divide. That is common in our district. But one of the things I did was make sure that everything I offer my boys was something that could be done on their mobile phone. The programs I use at school are done regularly on your mobile phone, even during the day. We did some of that, and then our district also offered pencil and paper packages. So they had the option of going digital or traditional.
Either way, no matter what your needs are, they were met throughout this crisis.
. @ EastCleSchools will use a grant from the Greater #CLE # COVID19 Rapid Response Fund for technological resources to equip students for successful remote learning. #CLEresponds #InThisTogetherOhio pic.twitter.com/Y08m6hKpPR
- Cleveland Foundation (@CleveFoundation) July 27, 2020
Kamau : But didn't the district have the resources to give each child a computer?
Monique : But if they don't have Wi-Fi, how do you use the computer? So what is something we know we can do? Something we know everyone has, rather than assuming that people have the Internet and they don't.
And you can have the Internet for a month, but as the pandemic continues, you may not have the next month because food is more important than the Internet.
Kamau : Is it frustrating to feel that the problems of how we finance schools and the divide between public schools in the city center and public schools in the suburbs are exacerbated in the midst of this pandemic?
Monique : It is frustrating. And brings it to light. It is becoming more evident, not only for those of us who live it every day, but now others look at it and say: “Hey, we have to do something about it. We need to find out how to make this equitable for everyone. "
What we have been saying for eons. Let's just make it fair.
Kamau : I do believe that the fair word is important. People sometimes get caught up in equality and it's like, well, no, everyone has different sets of needs. We want to make sure that everyone gets what they need.
One of the things that my wife and I encounter as parents of children who are learning at a distance is that there seems to be pressure to keep children on the academic road. But sometimes the social and emotional growth of children is such that they cannot even assimilate it. You know what I mean? Are you dealing with the mental health challenge?
Monique : Oh yeah. Many times in my Zoom calls with my boys we talked about what was happening in their lives, what they were doing and how their brothers were making them nervous; or how some of them were looking for a job or were having birthdays that they could not celebrate. We did a lot of that.
We have an external agency that enters and performs social work services in our building. So I got in touch with her, and with some of our girls we got together and got together once a week just to talk about some of the constantly evolving problems that could be happening. They were advanced students and were preparing to graduate. There was not going to be a prom. And you know, for many girls, prom is a big topic.
Kamau : And for children who have been unable to keep up with school work, the summer regression will be even more profound. What are you thinking about that?
Monique : That is something that we as teachers always worry about, but we solve it. I have children who are at various levels at any given time ... you only meet the ones where they are. You know, not everyone comes here ready to go every day.
You don't know who has lost relatives to the coronavirus. You don't know who has lost houses. Who has lost jobs. There are so many things kids come to school with sometimes, and learning is not the most pressing thing on their mind. So if they can get past some of the things that might prevent them from learning, you meet kids where they are, you can take them at their individual pace.