Christian Narine                                                                                                     November 18th, 2020

BUS311 1900                                                                                                        Professor Brielle Buckler

Assignment: Unit 11: Employee Relations & Business Ethics

My debate reflection along with my personal opinion that I agree students and remote learning should be mandatory as cases continue to rise all around the country.

With COVID-19 ravaging the country and the world, as the Human Resource manager who work in school systems, I will strive to maintain strong & positive Teacher and Student relations as I advise School System leadership to continue mandatory remote learning; While ensuring Teachers genuinely feel valued and leadership cares about the Students & Teachers overall health & safety.

There are ethical and controversial issues to navigate between the Students, Teachers and Parents perspectives and their respective voices should be heard.

Following are some of my debate Ethical Dilemmas, while balancing different perspectives between:

• Psychological and physical benefits of Students.
• Health & Safety for Students, Teachers and Parents.
• Overall Economic Well-Being & Burden on The Health System.

Psychological and physical benefits of Students:

Re-engaging in re-opening schools, participating in activities with friends has both physical and psychological health benefits for children and adolescents. Participating in sports allows youth to improve their cardiovascular health, strength, body composition, and overall fitness. Mentally, youth may experience benefits from the increased socialization with friends, teachers and coaches as well as from the return to a more structured routine. These psychological and physical benefits can help support their developmental growth. Exercise also has immune system benefits.

Health & Safety for Students, Teachers and Parents:

During our debate, I had the opportunity to listen to Professor Buckler’s Mom who presently teachers first Grade and we were able to hear Professor Buckler Mom’s perspective at school since the pandemic hit the US. Following are my take-aways –

As a Teacher, Professor’s Buckler’s Mom is afraid of contracting Covid-19 in the classroom. She is concerned if any of her students are carrying covid-19. Some younger children could be asymptomatic, who does not exhibit symptoms during the course of infection but can still be contagious. Professor Buckler’s Mom clearly stated, “Teachers are at Risk”, and shared her personal family situation of having an at-risk spouse which further exacerbates her personal risks. Professor’s Buckler’s Mom indicated her personal options if there is no clear guidance on whether all students should be back in the classroom or whether remote learning should be mandatory, which she stipulated as either:

• Retire or Quit a job she still enjoys.

or

• Go to school, wear PPE, follow current CDC & School guidelines which, for her first-Grade class, is not an effective use for teaching first grade.

On the day of the class debate, Wednesday November 18^th ’2020, the overall covid-19 death toll, reached 250,000. In less than 10 months, Covid-19 has killed more people than strokes, suicides and car crashes typically do in a full year combined. Following are some statistics to date –

• Flu 42,200
• Covid-19 250,000
• Suicides 45,439
• Covid-19 250,000

Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Car accidents 24,166
• Covid-19 250,000

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Policy makers and school administrators must consider the mounting evidence regarding COVID-19 in children, adolescents, teachers & at-risk relatives or spouses including the role they may play in transmission of the infection. As a result, coincidentally on the same day as the class debate, it was announced that the nation’s largest school system, with 1,800 schools and 1.1 million students, New York City, will shutter the entire public-school system on Thursday November 19^th. The announcement came from the school’s chancellor Richard A. Carranza in an email to principals, signaling a worrisome indicator that a second wave of the coronavirus has arrived. Schools were open for in-person instruction for just under eight weeks prior. Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/nyregion/nyc-schools-covid.html .

 

Overall Economic Well-Being & Burden on The Health System:

As the number of confirmed (COVID-19) cases and deaths continue to rise in the United States in the Fall ‘20. While new information is published daily, still much remains unknown about this virus and post infection risks to Students & Teachers. Covid-19 is well on the way to becoming the single leading cause of death in the United States on a daily basis. The US health systems are already overwhelmed, over burdened & under staffed.

Coronavirus rates are the highest they have been since the pandemic began last spring. Some governors are issuing stay-at-home orders and mask mandates. Prolonged, close contact with a person infected with COVID-19 is the main driver of transmission. The potential effect of COVID-19 on an exposed or previously infected Student or Teacher is a major concern in the re-opening of schools. Sending children back to school does not just expose the children and employees to possible infection; it also exposes all those adults with whom the children interact. As children are known to be carriers even when asymptomatic, reopening schools can re-expose elderly grandparents and caregivers to the virus through the children who attend school. This is a secondary transmission issue, but one that must be considered on an already overburden Health care system.

Community Spread to Children, Teachers, Parents and Relatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, as an HR Manager, I will identify the following additional goals and advice-

1. Consider revising teaching formats

• Hybrid, online and in-person, to try and minimize the risk of contracting the disease as well as consider the student’s overall psychological benefit.
• Modifying teaching formats while transitioning to hybrid, can potentially afford parents alternatives who are unable to effectively fund an entire week of childcare, but can now consider alternates or more flexibility for child care as they return to work.

2. In all patient encounters, healthcare providers should emphasize the importance of physical distancing, masks & air handlers in schools when considering reopening of schools

• Determine the general physical and psychological health of the student, teachers.
• Evaluate the student, teachers for conditions that may be life-threatening or disabling.
• Evaluate for conditions that may predispose the student, teachers to injury or illness.
• Serve as an entry point into the healthcare system for student without an established medical home.

I would present these statements as a framework for evaluating why schools should return to all remote learning based on the best currently available evidence at the time.

 

 

Work Cited

Shapiro, Eliza. New York City to Close Public Schools Again as Virus Cases Rise

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/18/nyregion/nyc-schools-covid.html Accessed Nov 18, 2020

 

Marder, Jenny. How Risky Are Indoor Sports This Winter? https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/17/parenting/covid-19-indoor-sports.html.  Accessed Nov 18, 2020