You want to talk about opening up schools again, sure. You go first.

School principals and administrators, school boards, stop meeting remotely to talk about opening schools.

Local, state, and national authorities, stop meeting remotely to talk about opening schools.

Elected officials, stop meeting remotely to talk about opening schools.

The CDC and other official health agencies at all levels, stop meeting remotely to talk about opening schools.

News broadcasters, judging teachers for wanting health and safety measures in place, stop talking about how teachers don’t want to go back to school, remotely.

All these people are doing this from the safety of their own homes. If you think it is safe to open schools, there is no risk to students, teachers or school staff, then you go first. You go back to your offices, meeting rooms, broadcast desks. You expose yourself daily. You risk your health and the health of your families, first.

Then tell teachers it is safe to be enclosed in a classroom with 10, 20, 30+ students all day. With no recess. No breaks. Inside lunch because we can’t open the cafeterias. It’s not yet safe to open the school playgrounds. Or to mingle with other classes on campus.

The answer is easy. You want us back in the classroom, You go first. Until then, we’re going to keep fighting for basic human decency. Basic human safety. We’re going to keep fighting for safe, clean schools, with enforceable sick student policies.

You go first!! Until then, we’ll keep answering the call that was thrust upon us last spring, and connect with each of our students, remotely; providing high quality education, meeting the individual needs of our students, remotely; being the awesome teachers we always we’re, remotely.

Until you go first.