By Jessica Nguyen & Brian Pham
The Huntington Beach Union High School District (HBUHSD) recently announced plans for teachers who had 100% been teaching online to return to campus on Jan.5 or take a leave of absence.
The decision was a surprise to virtual teachers who received the news via email on Dec. 4 because they had expected at least to spend the entire the first semester online.
HBUHSD said the decision was made as emergency paid medical and family leave for employees unable to work due to COVID-19 related reasons was set to expire on Dec. 31. Some have argued that community concerns about the quality of hybrid learning and the unsustainable cost of hiring substitute teachers also lead to the return of virtual teachers to campus.
Here’s what a few students and teachers have to say.
“It’s very disheartening that the district chose to put teachers—their own employees who they should be protecting—in danger. The fact that teachers who are currently at home now have to choose between their job and their (or their loved ones) health or safety seems impossible to me… Almost all my teachers have underlying conditions or close family who do, in which they cannot risk being exposed to… Another thing I cannot comprehend is that if teachers are staying home for the concern for themselves/loved ones and are forced to take a leave of absence, how will they support themselves/loved ones who are more vulnerable and susceptible? Though their plan aims to better the quality of students and I understand that, the cost of its detrimental impacts on teachers make it an unsympathetic, immoral plan that should not be followed through. I propose two other options the district can make. 1. Counselors rearrange students and separate into a fully online academy and a hybrid/in person model according to the teachers who are in person…[or] 2. They develop a fully online academy,” Marina High School junior Michelle Tran said. 
“If students should have a choice, [teachers] should too. Teachers are old and because of the significant rise of COVID cases, they should be able to have the option to keep staying at home for their own health or their loved ones. I get that the school is trying to do their best to fit everyone’s standards during this pandemic but they’re leaving out the teachers by not considering how they could have pre-existing conditions and/or family members they can spread the virus to. I feel like the district should either make a system where they would need less subs so there wouldn’t be as much funds… or we should go back online all together because of the new cases of the virus and how there has already been a case at [Fountain Valley High School]. This isn’t fair for teachers because they have their own lives and own health to look out for. The district [is] practically putting forth an ultimatum in front of them, where they have to choose their job or their health, which shouldn’t even be a statement to put in front of them,” Fountain Valley High School junior Leyna Nguyen said. 
“Teachers at high risk to COVID-19 chose to teach from online to keep themselves and their families safe, and I think they are doing an amazing job, teaching just as much as the few of my teachers in the classroom. They too are going through this pandemic, just like us students, and I think that all teachers should have the same option to either stay home or partially return because their lives, health, and wellbeing are important and should not be forced to return to attempt to save money…Though I may not understand the financial situation for the district, I think the lives of teachers are priceless and that this decision should be reevaluated and changed. I think the only solution to this is to allow teachers to stay home, or fully move everyone back online, without the need to have substitutes…Every single hybrid teacher is teaching more students online than in the classroom everyday, so keeping classes for all students and teachers online is what I think would be a good option to propose. The only other choice would be to allow the teachers who would like to remain teaching from home, to remain teaching from home… Especially going into this winter season, there could not have been an even worse time to propose this to the teachers, adding one more problem to deal with, after they may have families, health issues, and risks themselves,” Huntington Beach High School sophomore Jasmine Dennis said. 
“The cases of COVID are getting higher and higher to the point of another lockdown and making teachers (who have families at home, including kids) go back to school is insane, especially when most kids agree with staying online from personal experience. Especially at [this] time, making both students and teachers stay online is the best [option]. Hybrid students might be fine, but just to be safe now, in a time where [California] has one, if not the highest, number of COVID cases in the US, everyone should be moved back [to] online. I think forcing teachers to go back to school unwillingly is definitely not fair to them. A number of my teachers have expressed doubts, worries and actual fear of returning back to school because of the fright of possibly catching COVID and spreading it to even more people. If they don’t want to go teach in person for fear, then there is absolutely no fairness in forcing them to go,” Fountain Valley High School senior Vanessa Nguyen said. 
“I feel that they should make all students come back to be fair. If [HBUHSD is] so confident in teachers returning as a success, why not just do it? I know it sounds crazy, but what is the point of making all the teachers return when there aren’t many students going to be there? Even if the district is trying to begin the transition back, the expectation was already set that teachers could stay home for the semester as well. This will cause an inevitable rush to prepare and won’t be fair to those who just [want to] celebrate the holidays… Hopefully things can return to normal and we can start having school events again. Stay positive and hope for the best. It’s [going to] get better soon,” Fountain Valley High School senior Preston Huynh said. 
“[The teachers] have their own families and…want to teach while wanting to keep their loved ones safe. There’s already been a case of COVID at school and while there has been safety precautions in place, it’s still a risk. [There are] students [who] chose to be at school but to force the teachers to be at school is a different story…If they want the students to have in person teachers, they should just have the students transfer to teachers [who] are choosing to be in person… It’s not fair [to teachers] at all. I know a teacher with a newborn and making them go to school puts their child at risk… You provide students [with] a choice. The teachers should have a choice as well,” Fountain Valley High School senior Kaylee Pham said. 
“Given the current case rates, and the warning from officials about hospital shortages looming. I wholeheartedly do not agree with the decision. Districts in the surrounding area have made the wise decision to return to all virtual learning for the remainder of the semester at least to keep students and staff safe. Teachers throughout the district practically begged the district administration to create a virtual academy so that high-risk teachers could be paired with students who needed or chose to stay home. The hyflex system implemented is not fair to anyone on any campus. I find this most unfair to students, who will be left with a substitute who likely will not have expertise in the subject matter of the class, mere weeks before finals. Teachers did not choose this solution. District administration did,” an anonymous Fountain Valley High School social studies teacher said.
