Why This DC Teacher Actually Volunteered to Go Back to the Classroom

A first-grade class meets in-person and remotely in Yonkers, New York, Oct. 20, 2020 [AP/Mary Altaffer]

By Alexia Underwood

Millions of students, teachers and a deadly pandemic – it could be the premise of a horror film. All across the U.S., educators have been struggling with how to continue their work safely under dangerous circumstances.

In early February, I spoke to Del-Vaunté Scott, a 28-year-old teacher at a middle school in the Washington, D.C. public school system who volunteered to go back to the classroom after receiving his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Here’s what he had to say. (This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)

First, tell me a little bit about what you do.

I teach mostly ESL (English as a second language) students – that’s my specialty. I have 30-40 students and I work with sixth, seventh and eighth graders, and we’ve been doing virtual teaching since August … we were completely virtual until last week.

Teaching middle school students virtually sounds really difficult.

The students need so much support and I’m struggling to give it to them. I’m also working with a high-risk population ... I'm working with Latino students, ESL students, special ed students.

And my students are my babies, my kids. I tell them that like every parent, I want them to be successful. And I recognize that during this time, especially during the pandemic, it’s hard on adults, but even more, I think we underestimate how much impact it's going to have on children.

So you made the choice to go back?

I decided to go back, and my students are the biggest motivation for that. They’ve been prioritized to go in first, and they're going back in cohorts. Within those cohorts, we're focusing on students who are failing and also having issues with attendance — they're the ones who are receiving invites to come back into the school. It makes sense. Their parents have to work, and they need that extra support.

What’s it been like so far?

Huge sigh. It’s been an interesting experience. Much of the plan that has been rolled out looks good on paper, but … we are on a ship and building the ship at the same time. Trying to work out the logistics … it's been a wild ride.

For example, teachers arrive at different times. Students are not allowed to enter until a certain time. There are nurses at the entrance who screen you every single time you walk in. You're getting your temperature checked.

You 100% have to wear your mask the whole time, of course. Students and teachers do not share the same bathroom. Different student cohorts have different bathrooms. When you walk into a classroom, you can see they’ve limited the class size to 10 — that’s the number they can fit and still be 6 feet apart.

And while the students are there in person, they're still taking their virtual classes in what we call “CARE classrooms” — if something comes up, like a technology issue, you have a teacher there who can assist you. If they’re having a hard time staying focused, a teacher can help out. They all have their own separate computers, their own chargers. They all have assigned desks. So once they come in and they pick a desk that they are required to stay there, they’re not allowed to move around.

Do you feel like the transition back to the classroom is being handled well?

I do … but there’s some tension between the union and the district.

I'm in the Washington Teachers Union. We [the union] pushed back on the start date for sending students in, because some schools did not have everything they needed to make the environment a hundred percent [safe]. And the DC public school system is saying, OK, we need this many teachers to go in, so pick the teachers, send them in. But you have teachers who don't feel safe, or you have teachers who … have kids at home that they have to babysit and they still have to teach at the same time. There are so many other circumstances that are not being considered.

So you have a lot of apprehension, fear. I count my blessings that I am younger. I don't have a family, I don't have as many responsibilities as some of the other teachers. If I can ease the burden on them [by volunteering to come in] and be able to assist my students, to me, it's a win-win.

Are you afraid of getting COVID?

I do have a little bit of fear and anxiousness about it because we're still learning about the virus. I'm only half vaccinated, and even after getting the vaccine, I have a compromised immune system, and there's not many studies that have been conducted on people with that. So the doctor did say, there's still a chance that you could catch COVID.

What are you hoping will happen over the next few months?

The world has been shaken up by this virus, and this pandemic. It’s been a challenge, and it's going to take us a minute to get back to normal, but I'm hoping that we can at least get one inch, one step closer to what normal looks like.

[Since we spoke, Scott received his second vaccination.]

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