Do I qualify for the State of Emergency Leave if I was on leave prior to April 1, 2020?

Just a few weeks ago, each of you were going about your daily lives — interacting with students, planning lessons, preparing nutritious meals, transporting students to and from school, etc. Now schools are closed, you and your students are working and learning from home, and the uncertainty of COVID-19 is keeping all of us wondering and looking for answers. The News Bulletin is usually a source of Association information, but we wanted to give you a platform to express your thoughts and feelings about our present situation. Here is some of what you had to say:

“A lesson I think the education community can learn from this disruption is to always be prepared and have a back-up plan. I ensured my students had open Internet access with each quarter. They have everything they need at their fingertips and relatives can assist them. I have ways to communicate with parents and I would like to assist new teachers with simple ways they can assist their students and family.” — Yetta Williams, Durham County “When school resumes, one thing that I plan to do differently is to ensure my students are ready to switch from face-to-face learning to virtual learning with only a small amount of assistance in case this happens again.” — Jo Shoemaker, Craven County

“My wife and I are both public school teachers. I’ve temporarily lost my part-time job as a Driver’s Ed instructor. So, we have to tighten the belt. We’ve had to discuss our ‘big rocks’ that involve a couple of days at the beach during the summer and whether or not we will be able to afford sending our daughter back to UNC-Asheville for her senior year.” — Kevin Vickers, Union County

“Working from home has its challenges. Pajamas at work isn’t terrible. The isolation part is the worst. Having to see our kids and how worried they are through the computer is sad.” — Christy Cor, Buncombe County

“I will learn and use Canvas as the base of operations for my hybrid courses. When class starts, students will know to go to our online classroom to do their bell ringer or first activity. I can record myself on my Smartboard when I lecture, and then save that to that day’s online classwork. I can put assignments that are auto-graded or I grade and they go straight to Power School. Students will become more and more proficient at online learning, which they will do often if they go to any type of college program.” — Doug Stalls, Moore County “I believe the greatest issue now is getting students to work from home. I believe it changes the idea of homework not being a common practice. Students have to do work at home or they will be behind. Also, as teachers can work from home, I believe many more will do so if the subject allows. For students it could mean a four-day face-to-face and one day at home of instruction. This could be a blessing for many cashstrapped systems.” — Jodi Chester, SNCAE NC A&T State University