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Teachers Worried About Keeping Students Safe As School Districts Release Return To School Plans

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - As school district after school district lays out their plans to return to school this fall, teachers watch with nervous anticipation.

"I would say very concerned for a lot of different reasons," says Matt Edgell of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, the union that represents most of the teachers in the region. "As we know, the one thing that children need is safety and security and we feel that is going to be an issue."

Teachers feel like the onus is going to be on them to make sure students are wearing their masks, maintaining social distancing, and teaching, "In addition to the normal discipline that takes place in a classroom every day," says Edgell.

The points of concern Edgell says are numerous, "and lots of fear having to go back into an unsafe situation not only for the teachers but also the students. But if a district mandates that children return to the schools then teachers and children return to the schools."

Teachers are fiercely protective of their students and worry about keeping them safe in the classroom.

WATCH: Education Or Safety? Teachers Worry About Back To School

But they also worry about themselves and their families.

Edgell says, "You know, what about a healthy teacher who has someone at home who has a respiratory problem or some sort of issue that makes them more susceptible to COVID? Are they supposed to quarantine from their loved ones, their wife or husband, or child? It makes it a difficult situation."

But they also worry about the quality of education. How is a teacher supposed to maintain an effective line of education when students may only be in the classroom part-time and some are learning online simultaneously?

Edgell says in the end teachers feel like they have little choice, "We all miss the normalcy of the school day not only children but the teachers. The teachers I've talked with can't wait to get back in the classroom but there's always that balance of the fear of COVID-19 for their students and themselves too."

As one teacher tells KDKA on social media, "We have to sacrifice education or safety; we can't have both right now. We always put the kids first so, I suppose we choose education over safety."

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