Jonathan Schuler

This interview with Jonathan Schuler took place on July 19, 2022 remotely via Zoom. Jonathan is a third grade teacher at Benito Juarez Elementary, a Title 1 Public Charter School in Richmond, CA. In this interview, Jonathan talked about his 2021-2022 school year- his school's first year of in-person teaching since Spring 2020. He spoke about his frustrations with the state of teaching, from students not being academically prepared for their grade to teaching with glasses fogged up from wearing a mask all year. Jonathan said that third grade is reading comprehension, but wondered what happens to his students who had school entirely online from March of first grade through second? He has seen that students don't know how to read. Jonathan spoke about how he felt his school was more concerned with the safety of the students, desk six feet apart, masks, whips and plastic shields on desks, but didn't give much thought or preparation for how they would be academically prepared for third grade. He also found students didn't just lose a year of academics but also a year of being social. He spoke of how kids acted like first graders, tattle-taling on each other. "That's a first-grade thing." He spoke of how second grade is usually when students get IEPs (Individualized Education Plan) for special services but "that's hard to see over a screen." Jonathan spoke of an education gap that has been created by the pandemic. He thinks his third graders will be affected for the foreseeable future.