As concerned former students, friends, and advocates for the hardworking teachers of the Wauwatosa School District, we strongly urge the Wauwatosa School Board and Superintendent Philip Ertl to act in their best interest by not requiring any teacher who feels unsafe to return to in-person instruction within the classroom. 

On July 13th, the Wauwatosa School Board and district leaders met virtually to discuss plans for returning to the class in the fall. While they had the privilege of taking their own health into account by conducting the meeting virtually, this is not something they will extend to the hundreds of teachers anxiously awaiting news of their fate for the 2020-2021 academic year. Why did they feel unsafe meeting in person, but safe forcing adult teachers into packed classrooms in mere months? 

The plan the school board revealed is as follows:
Schools across the district will begin full time, in-person class on September 1st with little to no social distancing measures implemented in the classrooms. If they see COVID-19 cases in the schools, they will move to a hybrid model to decrease class sizes involving learning in-person two days per week, and learning virtually from home three days per week. The board has not yet required mask-wearing to be mandatory, and will make this decision prior to the first day. 
The complete plan can be found at: wauwatosaschools.org/reopen.

This plan is devastating for teachers who are horrified at the thought of returning to packed classrooms. They have all been diligently social distancing and teaching online since March; now the Wauwatosa School Board would like to throw this all away and push them back into the classroom to see how many survive? The hardworking teachers of Wauwatosa are not guinea pigs, and should not be forced into an experiment to see who is left standing. They are not expendable. And they are not superhuman— they are adult humans, just like so many of us, and face higher rates of contracting COVID-19 as well as suffering more serious effects.

Our teachers are invaluable assets to the lives of thousands of students, and we implore the Wauwatosa School District to treat them as such.

If you would like to send an email or call members of the Wauwatosa School Board and Superintendent Philip Ertl, click here for their email addresses and phone numbers, as well as a template for suggestions on what to say and write. You can also contact them through the form on wauwatosaschools.org/reopen.