Local teachers mentally exhausted after Texas school shooting, effects of pandemic
CAMBRIDGE -- Walk down Harvard Street in Cambridge, and you'll hear the joyful sounds of children playing in the school yard.
It has been a difficult week for parents and students across the country. Many families have had to have difficult conversations about safety and schools.
For the teachers, this week has been a tough one as they are faced with the kinds of questions they often don't have the answers to.
"It's been tough. After what happened in Buffalo last week and then what happened in Texas," said Fletcher-Maynard Academy teacher Solana Herron-Smith. "We are the first line of defense in the pandemic, we were the first line of defense if someone dangerous comes into our buildings, and I feel like sometimes people forget that."
The fourth-grade teacher has been working at schools in our area for the past eight years and said the stress of the job is taking a toll.
"I didn't get into the job to be a bulletproof vest for my students."
Herron-Smith said the weight of the pandemic, distance learning, and constant concerns over school safety are starting to add up.
"I still have to come into the building every day," Herron-Smith said. "Not just prepared for a fire, not just prepared for a lockdown, but any situation. Because all I have learned is it could be anyone, it could be anything, and I have to be ready for that every single day."
Another teacher in Cambridge told WBZ-TV, "We have had all of these opportunities to make it so this doesn't happen again, like every other country where this doesn't happen all the time and we haven't done that," said Sam Musher. "We have just decided this is the price of doing business."
Cambridge Superintendent Dr. Victoria Greer spoke on the toll current events are taking on teachers.
"I think the pressure is immense. It's beyond teaching reading writing and arithmetic. It is about us being there for them in their lives."
