Letter from a Tired Long Beach Teacher

[Editors’ Note: The author of this letter requested that FORTHE publish it anonymously to be able to write freely without fear of losing their job. This publication does not generally publish opinion pieces without a byline. But after an exhaustive discussion, our editorial team made the extraordinary decision to grant anonymity in this case because we believe it is in the public interest to publish a first-hand perspective from a Long Beach Unified School District teacher who has worked throughout the pandemic. 

Our editors independently verified the identity of the author. Readers who have questions about our decision to publish this letter anonymously can email us at editors@forthe.org. 

The views expressed in this letter do not necessarily represent those of FORTHE.]

Dear students, parents, fellow staff, and residents of Long Beach,

Just over a week ago, Long Beach Unified School District Superintendent Jill Baker sent out a message, via an unlisted YouTube video, to District staff. Throughout her message, she acknowledges our hardships, our worries, our dedication, and our uneasiness with the increasingly alarming pandemic situation. She thanks us despite not having the words to share her unending gratitude towards teachers and other District staff for laying their health and lives on the line day after day so we can continue teaching academic and “life lessons.” 

Each day in classrooms across the city, teachers have no choice but to deliver the harsh life lesson that prudence is wholly dependent on those in charge. We’re expected to tell our students that even in the midst of rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, as their friends, peers, and teachers are absent, quarantining or in isolation, it’s business as usual. Despite the daily upheaval and disruption in our classrooms, students are expected to keep coming to school, stay focused, and prepare for upcoming standardized tests, even when they’ve just exited quarantine and haven’t logged into the school portal in weeks for a myriad of reasons. It’s harmful for both students who are experiencing high rates of anxiety and depression in what will soon be a two-year pandemic, and for teachers who struggle between teaching the District curriculum and supporting students’ social and emotional health. 

Nearly two years into a gruesome pandemic and these times are no longer “unprecedented.” In fact, they are so precedented that there is an air of complacency regarding the Omicron strain of this virus. The District halted widespread testing in September 2021, citing a positivity rate below 1% among unvaccinated students, despite my school, located in a disadvantaged community, seeing a rate of COVID-19 absences of at least 5%. In talking to teachers at other schools in our city’s disadvantaged communities, they reported a similar trend.

According to the latest numbers from the City, only 15.5% of children between the ages of five and 11 are fully vaccinated while 69% of children ages 12 to 17 are fully vaccinated. North, West, and Central Long Beach vaccination rates are significantly lower than in the eastern parts of the city.

It’s clear that the District was not prepared for this new wave of infections and adamantly refused to revert to virtual learning for a period of time to allow infection rates to fall after the winter holidays. Classroom sizes do not allow for social distancing and the shortage of custodial staff has resulted in a lack of proper sanitation in classrooms at some school sites. These poor protections for teachers, staff, and students would be laughable if it didn’t mean potentially dire consequences for those unfortunate enough to be inevitably exposed and infected. 

At this point we don’t need more acknowledgement and we don’t need more praise; we need unquestioned raises in line with inflation rates (and then some), we need full-time classroom aides, we need reduced class sizes, we need smaller counselor-to-student and school nurse-to-student ratios, and we need proper personal protection equipment. We need continual weekly testing for all unvaccinated personnel and students in addition to those who want it, we need more planning time, and we need more teachers hired on probationary contracts as opposed to “special” or temporary contracts (which are effectively at-will).  

Tomisin Oluwole
Fragmented Reflection I, 2021
Acrylic on canvas panel
24 x 30 inches

Click here to check out our interview with Tomisin Oluwole, a literary and visual artist based in Long Beach.

Instead of gunking up our site with ads, we use this space to display and promote the work of local artists.

This last point may not mean a lot to many, but for teachers on these temporary contracts, it’s a real low blow. Teachers on these temporary contracts can be let go at the end of the school year without cause, meaning there is a possibility they will have to look for new employment at the onset of every summer. Most teachers aren’t interested in hopping school districts, or even schools, yet temporary contracts make it easier for the District to let them go.

Our teachers and staff are not disposable. At a time when there is an increasing shortage of qualified teachers and a shrinking workforce population in general, placating your staff with proverbial thoughts and prayers is not conducive to maintaining and retaining good educators. The District cannot afford to lose teachers and staff, yet as teachers everywhere are leaving the profession, ours are being driven away by inadequate actions and protections. 

No one can deny the vital role public schools play in our society, yet public school employees are continuously denied grace, compassion, and perhaps most importantly: compensation commensurate not only to the education and services they provide, but for the risks and extra-curricular duties their jobs entail. Meanwhile, our superintendent enjoys a salary of $345,000, having received a $58,000 bump over her predecessor when she was hired a few months into the pandemic. The starting annual salary for a teacher at LBUSD is about $64,000, while the average salary is about $94,000 a year. Classified employees like maintenance workers and bus drivers make even less on average. Baker makes up for the discrepancy in pay between District administrators and staff, by showering us with glowing praise, recognizing how “driven, intelligent, and simply amazing” we are.

Because what more could our wealth of Bachelors, Masters, PhDs, National Board Certifications, and other credentials and qualifications possibly ask for? After all, being the “lifeblood” of communities everywhere is pay enough in and of itself, right? Of course, even though our certificated and classified staff are “exhausted and worried,” they must be grateful Baker reminded them they “also know that this storm will eventually calm.” Let’s just hope we still have a little bit of “lifeblood” left in us when it does, because “with 15% of our workforce out for days on end,” this blood will eventually run thin.

Superintendent Baker and Long Beach Board of Education: With so many of our colleagues, friends, families, students, kids, and classmates out of our schools over the last two weeks alone, yes, you are expected to do more—especially when what you have done is in no world nearly enough. If the spirit of your teachers and staff is what “gets [you] up in the morning,” as the superintendent says in the video message, then it must be what you’re having for breakfast; because spirits are being broken every time a new student is missing, every time a new colleague is sick, and every time a new email chimes in asking to cover a class or to notify us of a positive case. 

The worst thing you could do is to pat us on the back for “trying [our] best” while simultaneously refusing to do things within the School Board’s power, like providing a substantive wage increase for classified employees, creating sorely needed full-time classified positions, hiring hundreds of new teachers with the promise of permanency so that they may feel comfortable integrating into their community, and instituting a delayed return or temporary return to virtual classes in the wake of infection increases. 

Meanwhile, there is a massive rainy-day fund made possible in part by the allocation of COVID-19 related resources from the state last year. Declining enrollment may become an issue, but so will an increase of staff shortages if the concerns of District staff are not taken seriously. So don’t just “accept” our frustrations—absorb them. Internalize them. Realize that if you don’t do something and don’t do it soon, it simply won’t matter if the storm eventually calms. 

Sincerely,

A Tired Long Beach Teacher