Governor Henry McMaster 

The following pre-written message was written by a South Carolina teacher and is posted here with permission. Some edits for clarity have been made. There is a space for you to insert your name. Please don't forget to change that!

 

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Note: if the embedded form below does not work, clicking on his photo should take you to his contact form. 

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Mr. Governor,

 

We have never felt more devalued or disrespected as public educators than we did while watching your press conference on July 15th. You undermined the amazing work that was done when you abruptly closed school buildings. You pretended to care about the “lost” students that we have been telling you existed in the normal school setting for years. You had no detailed answers to the questions asked on behalf of teachers nor about the plans to keep us safe. You chose money and politics instead. At least we would rather hope it is that instead of you actually wanting to kill off our students and communities and already dwindling teacher population.

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Education has finally come to light as the backbone it really is of this country. Instead of recognizing that and finally supporting us, you throw us to the wolves. You are calling for us to work twice as hard for less pay, all while risking our lives and the lives of our loved ones. Why were these last several weeks not spent figuring out ways to get technology into homes? Or at least come up with answers to questions you must have known were coming with the decisions you have made? Why were no educators consulted in the decision-making? Have you ever been in the hallways of any high school during a class exchange? We have and we can tell you that in the time it takes us to walk to the restroom (which by the way was likely occupied since there is typically only one hallway of anywhere from 15-20 teachers who all only have those 6-8 minutes to go unless they get held up by something, and is constantly out of soap and paper towels) we get shoved into sweaty arms, sneezed on, coughed on, spilled drink on, etc etc etc.

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The parents that choose to send their kids to the schools are likely also the ones who believe the virus is fake and that masks are a violation of their rights. Do you really think those kids will respect the guidelines in place? 

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Returning to schools in-person is a disaster in the making and we as teachers still can’t wrap our heads around how someone in your position could in good conscience promote such a thing. We could do wonders virtually if you would provide the resources and time for preparation. What will end up happening is each individual school will have outbreaks and have to shut back down in a matter of weeks, at which point we will be back at square one. There will be transmission, sickness, and death due to in-person learning.

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Though parents should absolutely have their rights about their children’s education, they are not experts about how their child learns best. Educators are, but you have silenced our voices. So here is one teacher's voice directly to you, hoping that it scratches the surface.

 

I, *insert your name here*, am genuinely so embarrassed and upset to have a governor who does not look after the needs of our education system. It is the most precious and valuable resource in our state and in our nation and it is people like you that are its largest threat.