By Kysa Harte
Shortly after the USA had seen its first case of the coronavirus and cases began to grow, many institutions and governments decided that it was vital to take steps to ensure the spread of the virus decreased. On March 15, 2020, Mayor Bill De Blasio, Mayor of New York, announced that all schools, in the city, were to be closed. Five days after, on the 20th, Governor Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, announced an official shutdown on the state. This shutdown was extended to all citizens of the state with the exception of essential workers which, according to the announcement made by the Governor, are persons that work in pharmacies, grocery stores, hospitals, and other such essential services.
Do Teachers feel Appreciated or Unvalued?
Though teachers do not fit the present definition for essential workers, they are essential. Essential, according to the Oxford Dictionary, means ‘absolutely important; extremely necessary’ and this definition perfectly describes who teachers are. Though campuses are closed, teachers and professors are still expected to educate students using an online system.
Ariel Parris, 23, is a fairly new teacher. She works at an all-girl charter school in Brooklyn. Parris enjoys teaching and being able to educate her students but when the virus became a global problem and schools needed to be closed, Parris and her colleagues, felt unvalued as teachers- specifically a week before schools were closed. She said, “In our school, a lot of us are young and don’t have pre-existing conditions but in school environments where teachers are getting older and they were being forced to come in and teach and compromise their health made us feel like babysitters because they were keeping the school opened knowing that children could be passing the virus onto us.”
When the shutdown began and many schools had started practicing distance learning, Parris’ school was still at a loss on what to do. Parris recalled, “There is a lot of confusion trying to figure out how to teach in a new way. We still don’t really have a plan about how we’re going to be teaching our students but we had given them two packets of work when we realized the school would be closing.” Eventually, the charter school figured out the logistics of online school and now students are able to meet with their teachers online for class.
According to a recent opinion piece published in the New York Times, teachers lack respect and the current pandemic has not positively contributed to respect teachers receive. Contrary to what this article states about teachers receiving respect, an article published in ‘The Telegraph’, discusses the appreciation that many parents and students feel for teachers, especially at this time.
One appreciative mother is Chinedum Agwu, a mother of 5. She has stated that her appreciation for teachers has increased since the state has been on shutdown. She said, “I have so much more appreciation [for teachers] not just for the work they do, but also the effort they put into maintaining great relationships with their students even during this time.”
Grocery Stores have Become Our Second Homes.
As mentioned before, grocery stores provide an essential service and must remain open. Since the shutdown, persons have flooded grocery stores so that they may have food and other essential supplies to last for a long time. While it is normal for persons to want to ensure their cupboards are full, social distancing still needs to be practiced.
Local Jamaica, Queens supermarket, Western Beef, has ensured that customers have access to supplies but are also safe. Since deaths have increased in New York, Western Beef has not allowed all customers into the store at once. Management has placed a supervisor at the entrance who only allows a new customer into the store once one has left. The supermarket has also placed signs on the floors of the store that urge customers to stay 6 feet apart at all times, especially when waiting to check their groceries out of the store. Also, according to the store's website, customers not wearing masks are allowed entry into the supermarket.
An article published by CNN Business stated that many grocery store workers have died due to the Coronavirus. The grocery store workers that have the most interaction with customers are cashiers. To keep their cashiers safe, Western Beef has installed separation screens at each check out counter to keep customers 6 feet away from cashiers even when the cashier is dealing directly with someone.
Once the virus became a prominent situation and persons were told to stay in their homes, persons began to panic shop and inventory in stores were being sold very quickly. Wagner Recio, Manager at the local Western Beef, confirmed that products in the store were being sold more quickly than usual. This affected the senior citizen community because next to nothing was left when they were ready to shop.
In an effort to reduce this problem and ensure that senior citizens were catered to, the administrative team at Western Beef implemented a senior hour -6:30 AM - 7:30 AM- which allows only senior citizens in the store at this time to get the items they need. The managers at the store have also moved some of the same products to different parts of the store so that persons may have a greater opportunity to get what they need.
Will Appreciation for Essential Workers Last?
As stated throughout this article, appreciation and value for teachers and grocery store workers, like cashiers, have increased. A recent New York Times article stated that being a cashier was once viewed as an unskilled job but now, these essential workers are being seen as heroes. These workers are putting their lives, and the lives of their families, at-risk so that persons can have access to food, so it is obvious that appreciation would have increased.
For teachers, there has always been some sort of appreciation {for them} before the pandemic, but now, because they are using creative measures to ensure students are educated at this time, the appreciation for them has increased, and rightfully so. The question to ask is, how are these essential workers being appreciated internally and will appreciation decline after the pandemic has subsided?
For the grocery store workers at the local Western Beef, managers do what they can to make cashiers and other personnel feel appreciated every day they are in the store. Recio, Manager of the store, said, "If the cashiers have no money we give them lunch." In the case of teachers, appreciation is shown by students sending simple notes, making videos, or even doing drive-bys to smile and wave- as seen in videos on social media platforms. But how will appreciation be shown when the pandemic is over?
Recio, Manager of Western Beef, on this matter said, "I don't know if their income will be increased but we'll continue to do an evaluation of the year where they can earn extra money."
It is known that teachers are not paid the way they should be but because of all the work they are doing now, they definitely deserve a pay raise. While this is something they deserve, Parris, the previously mentioned teacher, does not think this will happen. She said, "Most districts had to spend a lot of money on technology and remote learning. The DOE [sic] is currently on a hiring freeze because they can't afford to hire new teachers for the next year. So, I don't think this will lead to a pay increase."
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