Veteran teacher and coach: ‘We’ve got this’

August 24, 2021 | By Tommy Young

I am not an expert. I have not done clinical studies. I don’t think I have all the answers. I don’t use Tik Tok as a research tool and I don’t educate myself on the news via Facebook. I don’t use social media or my classroom to push a political agenda and you won’t find a political post on any of my pages. 

I am a 25-year educator. I take my job seriously and I give it everything I have. I am honest and straightforward and I think those are some of the reasons why people respect me. 

These are my facts:

• Last year we didn’t have a single case of student-to-student COVID-19 transmission in our district. Why? Probably because we wore masks. 

• My high school basketball team didn’t pass the virus from team member to team member. They practiced hard, were in each other’s space, and let’s face it, b-ball is a contact sport. We did wear masks everyday.

• I am going into my 25th year of teaching. I have not used many sick days during this time but have had at least a cold once or twice for every year I taught. Last year I had none and my allergies were never better. I wore a mask.

• Since this all started I haven’t had one parent tell me that their child felt scared, that they were worried to breathe the air, or that school felt like an unsafe place. In fact, a parent laughed at me last week when I asked them about their child ever feeling scared during this (because of masks). 

• This past week we were asked to verify vaccine cards during our parent conferences. I didn’t have one parent get mad, threaten me or our school, or bring up their “believed rights.”  In fact quite the opposite. I heard a lot of “thank you” and “we are so grateful for all the school does to keep our kids safe.”

These are my facts. They are not from the right wing. They are not from the left wing. They are from the classroom and they are exactly that. FACTS!

So turn off your Fox News. 

Turn off your CNN. 

Ignore the Tik Tok views

And all of the tweets again.

We’ve got this and you know we do.

It is your child’s interests that are in our view.

Duxbury resident Tommy Young teaches first and second grades at Waitsfield Elementary School and coaches Harwood Union High School girls basketball.