As a substitute teacher, one of the few who has continued subbing throughout the pandemic- I implore you to let teachers have the same rights to choose that I have as a parent for my children. It has been a long 2 years, this year has begun to wear on all of us. We have been blessed to see smiles again from a good percentage of students. But, especially in certain classrooms- children need to see our smiles too. I see more children suffering from diagnosis' that would have most likely gone unnoticed or not even surfaced. SpEd case loads increasing, little to no progress with SLP students because they can't watch the teacher model the motions. While I understand this doesn't mean everyone will make the choice to unmask, what matters most is just that-having the choice. 

I know personally, my decision to continue subbing in the next school year weighs heavily on whether or not I will have a choice when it comes to a mask. Let us breathe....please.