Nebraska State Education Association Calls for COVID-19 Action from Governor Ricketts

BY ANUSKA DHAR

Nebraska State Education Association (NSEA) has announced the results from a statewide survey given to educators at the end of October concerning teaching during the pandemic. A press conference was held Tuesday, Nov. 16th detailing the survey results and publicly stating they stand with local and national health officials in asking for a statewide mask mandate from the governor. 

More than 6,500 educators were surveyed, revealing overwhelming support for a mask mandate from, 92% statewide and 98% in Omaha. More than a quarter of staff and students felt their district did not provide enough PPE (personal protective equipment) to protect them. 59% of educators also felt their current learning model was not equitably meeting the needs of all students, pointing to the lack of access to internet and technology many students face as well as the extra caretaking burdens placed on parents. 

Burnout is rampant among teachers,

as already low hours of planning time are taken away by covering for co-workers who are sick. 86% of them said they are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frustrated, and worried, and nearly 1 in 4 teachers who responded say they plan on leaving the profession by the end of the school year.

Image Credit to NSEA https://www.nsea.org/sites/default/files/content_images/COVID19/survey/StatewideCharts.pdf

President of NSEA, Jenni Benson, said during the conference, “If the leadership in this state won’t make hard decisions, and put mandates in place, our schools will close...Our hospitals will continue to be overrun, and more Nebraskans will die - our friends, our family. We hold Governor Rickketts, the one person in this state who could actually mandate change...we hold him accountable for what is happening.”

She explained this was not a political stance NSEA was taking, but rather a cry for the health and safety of Nebraskan educators, students, and their families. After teaming up medical experts from UNMC, they are asking that Gov. Ricketts immediately issue Directed Health Measures that will call for mandatory masks statewide, a limit of 10 people on gatherings, no indoor dining, and practices to de-densify school classrooms.

The association is requesting a moratorium on all in-person sports and extracurricular activities for students until January. The NSEA is also formally filing a petition with the State Board of Education to request the interventions and protocols recommended by the CDC and UNMC are implemented.

The NSEA made health and safety recommendations, but also made it clear one of the main issues to arise during the pandemic is that some educators feel their input is not being heard. Some teachers say they wonder if they are simply expendable in the eyes of decision makers.

To view the full results from the NSEA survey, and learn more about their work you can visit: https://www.nsea.org/survey.