Crystal Curtis, a health-care professional whose son attends a school in Plano, Texas, spoke with Education Week鈥檚 Stephen Sawchuk about the challenges of ensuring quality schooling amid a school staffing shortage, her discomfort with the state鈥檚 and district鈥檚 , and the complications of raising a Black child in a suburban district as policies shift.
The interviews were conducted at the end of January and the beginning of February and have been edited for length and clarity. A spokesperson for the district said that in January, COVID required the district to make adjustments to classroom configurations, 鈥渨hich included combining classes into larger groups, due to staff absences and a shortage of substitutes. This may have included activities that were atypical to regular classroom instruction, but that would have been the exception and not the norm.鈥� Its full statement is appended to the as-told-to.
I watched the Bill Maher show [on Jan. 21], in which this woman, and it literally ruined my Saturday. I called my mom. I was just ready to blow a gasket. You鈥檙e over it? Do you know what over it looks like?
I鈥檓 the director of an HIV clinic at [a Dallas hospital], and I just finished working a shift in the hospital cafeteria because we have so many staff out that we are having to pull everyone from anywhere in the hospital. The IT people, the cleaning people, VPs, directors鈥攚e are all filling in wherever we can right now because on average, we鈥檙e having 700-800 staff out a day.
I live in a suburb of Dallas鈥擯lano, Texas鈥攚hich is very red and conservative. We had masking for the first six weeks of the school year. And that was a sense of peace for my kid. At least everyone has to wear a mask. But that changed, and all these people were saying, 鈥淢y kids don鈥檛 need to be wearing masks, it鈥檚 against their civil liberties.鈥� But no one cares about my kid鈥檚 right to feel safe in his school.
That is taking a toll on him, and this takes a toll on me. My son鈥檚 counselor and I took him out of basketball because of omicron, and he was born with a basketball in his hand and went all of 7th grade not playing any sports. I talked to my son about it, and he said, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to get sick.鈥� We鈥檙e one of the lucky ones who have not had COVID, and the only way we can figure why is that we鈥檝e been very diligent.
Earlier that week, my son had been saying things like, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to get COVID. I know I鈥檓 going to get it. I鈥檓 just going to school so I can get it.鈥� Then, that same week, on that Friday [Jan. 21], he told me: 鈥淚 spent three hours in the cafeteria.鈥�
When I heard that, my mind: 鈥淲ho sent you to the cafeteria? And why? Are they singling you out?鈥� COVID was the last thing I thought about, and then I felt stupid for thinking about COVID last, but then that鈥檚 just being Black in America. That was how my brain categorized it.
My son was like, 鈥淥K, Malcolm X, hold on.鈥� It turned out it was because those teachers were out, either with COVID or taking care of family members who had it.
He said that, basically, they used those periods as an advisory. If you鈥檝e got homework, go do homework. But it was just a body in a room where they could put a lot of kids. And he said he has been doing color-by-number in science all year鈥攈e鈥檚 in Honors science鈥攁nd he only feels like he鈥檚 learning in math class, and sometimes English.
And it reminded me that this is affecting the quality of education, too; it鈥檚 not just about the psychological welfare of masks. When we are in these schools, and some teachers are wearing masks and some aren鈥檛, we鈥檙e just perpetuating the cycle of teachers being out, and kids being out for five days, having substitutes, and having principals stand in a cafeteria telling kids to color. Eighth graders!
Recently we were filling out his potential class schedule for 9th grade, and I was like, 鈥淎re you sure about Honors Algebra?鈥� Because I鈥檓 not sure he鈥檚 prepared.
My son was one of the kids who, in 6th grade, went on spring break and didn鈥檛 go back to in-person schooling for a year and a half. In the first half of 7th, I was lucky enough to have a community. My son鈥檚 best friend鈥檚 mom was a stay-at-home mom, and she created a pod, and the boys went to her house for online school. I brought the food for the week. But over the course of the year, I pulled my son out of the pod; they were sick of each other and getting into arguments.
Then he鈥檚 at home, having to navigate 7th grade, while I鈥檓 an essential worker having to go into the office. My son is a straight-A, honor-roll student and he was getting F鈥檚 on his report card. I had purchased a computer for him; financially it was not a burden for us, and even in the district they passed out Chromebooks. But even though it should have been easier for [my son], it wasn鈥檛 good for his socialization. I can remember several nights where we both sat at this table I鈥檓 sitting at now and cried.
My son was exhausted by online learning. But as much as we hated it online鈥攁nd believe you me, we hated it鈥攚e need an online option if you鈥檙e going to let in the people who don鈥檛 believe in masks. [Editors鈥� note: The district offers a virtual academy for K-6 students, but not lower secondary students.]
I live in Plano because I was trying to put my kids in the best public schools I could, and like a lot of Black people, that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e in the suburbs. That tide is kind of changing. I think we鈥檙e kind of realizing what it is we鈥檙e sacrificing to do that, and it鈥檚 a lot more than just paying more money in mortgages and rent and property taxes.
鈥業鈥檝e never been out of a surge鈥�
When it comes to the mask mandates鈥攅veryone was wearing masks. It鈥檚 cool, right? When they took it away, now I have to think about my Black son wearing this mask. And I鈥檓 embarrassed to say this, I switched him from this mask that was black and camouflage-y, and I switched him from that to wearing surgical masks. I felt like they were more nonthreatening. It鈥檚 just the kind of stuff you think about.
I felt like he was going to be a target because no matter what, they feel here like if you wear one you鈥檙e a Democrat and if you don鈥檛, you鈥檙e a Republican. I have been trained by the 1990s, by a person who grew up in the 1960s and 70s, that this is what we do to survive. We straighten our hair, we don鈥檛 wear Afro-centric stuff, we don鈥檛 listen to rap music in front of white people. And they are silly, but the things that get us murdered are silly.
I did send the counselors and all the teachers a message that Jordan will be wearing a mask, and I need everyone to understand I work for a hospital. Not one person said anything.
Since that week, I have received only one of the notices [that another student in class had COVID], and Jordan has not had to go sit in the cafeteria. But he has had some substitutes and a counselor in a couple of his classes.
And here I am. I鈥檓 watching people literally not be able to breathe. I鈥檓 the director of an outpatient clinic, and I鈥檓 pouring coffee and scooping fruit cocktail and things into trays because our staff is so low.
I think that if there were people who really were boots-on-the-ground with COVID, they would be completely different. I鈥檓 tired of this cycle. I鈥檝e never been out of a surge.
And that鈥檚 why when I鈥檓 watching this woman talk on TV, saying things like, 鈥淚鈥檓 over it,鈥� I get angry. I鈥檓 just as liberal as anybody, and I鈥檓 over COVID, too. But COVID is not over us.
The Plano school district鈥檚 statement:
In January, some Plano ISD schools did make adjustments to classroom configurations, which included combining classes into larger groups, due to staff absences and a shortage of substitutes. This may have included activities that were atypical to regular classroom instruction, but that would have been the exception and not the norm. This was during a resurgent peak of COVID-19 when, like many districts nationwide, Plano ISD was experiencing a low substitute fill rate, creating a critical need to find solutions to keep schools open and continue providing instruction to students.
Plano ISD took several proactive measures, which resulted in a 30 percent increase in teacher substitute coverage, increasing from a 55 percent fill rate to an 85 percent fill rate from January to February. Actions taken by Plano ISD to attract more substitutes include:
- Increasing substitute teacher pay;
- Offering a critical needs daily bonus;
- Offering a super substitute stipend;
- Hosting job fairs and doing advertising pushes on social media.
