As predicted
By me
The Tucson Unified School District
Once again
Ditched their plans
For hybrid learning
Days before the start.

I am glad that they changed
Their plans.

What I don’t understand
Is why they insist on
Pursuing this course of action
In obviously unsafe times.

All the extra pressure and stress
It creates
For parents that are already
Pressured and stressed

Can we please stop trying to get back
To “normal”
And accept what is?

I know that what is, sucks.

It sucks worse to have to constantly
Change your plans
(Or be ready to)
Because some large organization
Is pressuring you to do
Something unsafe.

It wasn’t the school system.
They just offered this half day (3 hour)
Option.

And what kind of option is that
If you don’t work from home?

No, it was my employer-
Pima County-
That added the pressure.

The county with the health department
That tracks the spread of Covid.

They are the ones
That let working parents know
That they would not be able to
Use emergency school leave
For remote learning
If their child’s school had an in person option.

(Well, they could use it on Wednesdays
When all classes are remote.
And they could use it in the afternoons
When the kids are out of the school buildings)

But if one doesn’t have permission to work remotely
And has to show up somewhere to get paid?

If any of those people managed to find some sort of precarious
Work-school balance?
If they could find money to do so?
They can be expected to be the ones to
Have to change their plans
At the drop of a hat.

All of our systems are designed to screw over
Anyone who doesn’t fit into the paradigm.
Some fantasy model
Of a two parent household
With a stay at home mom

Who lives this life any more in this country?
Some people do
But not most

We don’t build a new paradigm
By following procedure