Dear Teachers,
As we prepare for the uncertainty and confusion regarding the return of school, one piece of advice: Please keep the receipts for *anything* you purchase in order to teach online this fall…
- new office chairs
- tables
- computer monitors
- laptop stands
- headphones
- mics
- speakers
- cameras
- lights
- routers
- wifi extenders
- upgraded laptops, tablets, and smart phones
- enhanced internet service
- professional development classes or workshops
- home renovations or remodeling that need to be done to create a suitable online teaching “space” in your apartment or house
*Anything* you need to do your job from home–and submit copies of these receipts to your school’s business office for reimbursement.
Then use social media to share how much money you spent “out of pocket” to do your job. And how much your school district reimbursed you–or not–for these expenses.
Now, do I expect that schools will actually reimburse teachers for these expenses? Not really.
But it just might be a wakeup call to everyone who thinks that a switch can simply be flipped on the first day of “online school” this fall, and teachers can just move their classroom practices to a virtual space overnight with no preparation, planning, support, time, or cost.
When–not if–schools across the country move online, it will be because of the efforts of our teachers.
At the very least, those efforts must be recognized and acknowledged–if not paid for.
And whatever your school district doesn’t reimburse you for, send a bill for the rest of it to Betsy DeVos–she can sell a yacht or 3 to cover those costs.
