Teachers protest against in-person learning near state capitol

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Students across the state are beginning to return to the classroom either in-person or virtually for the spring semester.

Some teachers say they believe teachers and students should both be online.

On Saturday, a small group of teachers voiced that message near the state capitol.

They say that school systems should wait before asking teachers and students to return back to the classroom until the COVID-19 numbers go down or the opportunity to be vaccinated becomes available.

“When you open up school, whatever they’ve been exposed to outside is now brought into the schools and becomes an incubator,” Montgomery Public Schools teacher Tynisha Williams said. “Why would we incubate COVID? Why would we subject our children to that?”

“All the children I know and do not know who could asymptomatically bring this deadly disease home to a grandparent or a parent and I know my children need to be in home and instruction, but I strongly believe they need their family members more,” Tuscaloosa County teacher Amy Hoggle.

MPS will have the option to return to the classroom or remain virtual on Monday after a week of all virtual learning.

According to MPS Superintendent Dr. Ann Roy Moore, about a third of the system’s 20,000 students have indicated they want to return to face-to-face learning.

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