BCAT News

There has been a lot of discussion on how this school year has been difficult for students but it is also weighing heavy on educators. 

To get a glimpse as to how Burlington teachers are dealing the with strange year the Burlington Educators Association (BEA) conducted a survey over the holidays with a number of questions. 

“At the end of year break we surveyed our members and data we brought back to the Join Labor Management Committee has helped drive the discussions on where we can focus our efforts to meet the needs of educators and their students,” BEA President Patrick Murphy told the School Committee on Tuesday. “This year certainly like no other when we are implementing new technology, new learning models, new teaching methods, all set against the backdrop of the pandemic.”

Patrick added that despite the difficult conditions, including teaching both in person and online, teachers have been getting it done. 

“Educators in Burlington have delivered under unprecedented conditions and I can’t express my gratitude and thanks enough,” he said. 

In total 269 Burlington educators participated in the survey. Of those, 55 percent were elementary teachers, 16 percent were from the middle school, 27 percent from the high school and the rest taught in the Burlington Early Education Center. Additionally, 55 percent are teaching a hybrid model, 32 percent are teaching hybrid with the addition of live streaming and 12 percent are teaching full remote. 

One question on the survey asked teachers how safe they feel being in the classroom due to the pandemic. Here are the responses from the different schools:

Educators were also asked if they feel they have been taking on more work during off hours due to working on both in person and remote curriculums and programs. Murphy said this was an important question to ask because it can affect mental health.

“We asked educators if they were doing more work on their own time than in a normal year,” he said. “It’s important to recognize the impact this is having on educator’s mental health and social and emotional well being. It’s to see if educators are too over overwhelmed, anxious or risking burnout”

Here are the responses:

The survey also asked about how much support educators feel they are receiving from the district. 

“Next we wanted to see how supported educators are feeling from the district – both instructional and issues of well being,” Murphy said. “The challenge here of course is that while we’re innovating, we’re creating instruction in a hybrid and a remote model sort of as we go, there’s not a lot to compare for best practices.”

Here are the results:

Members of the committee said they appreciated the report. They also asked that since the survey was taken a couple months ago and now the town is in the yellow rather than the red whether educators were likely to be more comfortable in the buildings.

Murphy replied that from what he has been told teachers will feel more comfortable being in the classroom after they get vaccinated.

Finally, member Martha Simon, saying she was speaking for the committee, said they appreciate all the hard work Burlington teachers do day in and day out.

“I appreciate all the work all the teachers have done this year under such difficult circumstances. Teachers have had great experiences with the kids and the kids have had great experiences with their teachers even though this isn’t what we would choose.”