美国国家公共电台 NPR--在奥密克戎激增期间保持学校开放的挑战

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The challenges of trying to keep schools open during the omicron surge

Transcript¹

With COVID-19 surging, schools may decide to send students home temporarily. What's going on behind the scenes, as school leaders fight to keep the doors open — despite staffing and safety issues.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The rapid spread of omicron is forcing some school districts to do what seemed pretty unthinkable just a few months ago, send students home and take school back online. NPR's Cory Turner joins us now to talk about all this. Hey, Cory.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE²: Hey, Rachel.

MARTIN: Are we really back here, Cory? I mean, all these school closures have been happening over the last few weeks. Where exactly?

TURNER: Yeah. So we're looking at places like Detroit, Milwaukee and Louisville - are all virtual or have been, as well as a third of Baltimore schools. There's also Chicago, where teachers and city leaders appear to have resolved their standoff overnight over whether it's safe to learn in-person. Looks like students are set to return to class there on Wednesday. Closures are still fairly isolated³ and short, just a week or two. But honestly, Rachel, it wouldn't surprise me to see more. We have to remember that omicron was hitting its stride right as we hit the big holiday travel rush. I spoke⁴ with one elementary teacher in Louisville, Penelope Quesada, who said she supported the decision to go virtual for a week, but now she's worried about her students being home. You know, she told me school staff met online yesterday to prepare for this week of remote learning.

PENELOPE QUESADA: Man, I mean, nobody was smiling. Everybody had this like, traumatic face of, oh, my God. We're here. We're back again.

MARTIN: I mean, omicron, we know, is more transmissible than other variants⁵. But it appears not to make people as sick, especially if you're vaccinated⁶. And lots of pediatricians have been pretty forceful, saying kids are better off in school. So why is this happening?

TURNER: You know, in many cases, it really comes down to one word, staffing. So many teachers and bus drivers are out sick right now that districts just don't have enough adults. You know, making matters worse, Rachel, many communities are suffering from a very real shortage of substitute teachers. I spoke with Louisville Superintendent⁷ Marty Pollio yesterday, not long after he moved the district online for a week. And he told me that last week, he even sent staff from his district headquarters to cover for sick teachers.

MARTY POLLIO: But when you start like, on Thursday, it was over 600 uncovered classrooms in our district. It becomes really untenable at a certain point.

TURNER: And for context, Pollio estimated that that's roughly 10% of his classrooms that didn't have teachers. So you're looking at a lot of consolidating⁸ classes and asking folks to essentially⁹ be teachers who don't have any specific expertise¹⁰.

MARTIN: Have schools gotten any better at just being more nimble, managing the big swings of all this?

TURNER: I think they're practiced at this art at this point, but there are also just limitations. And I think also, one really important thing has changed, which is the tone of all this. You know, I was talking to Dan Domenech yesterday. He talks to superintendents¹¹ all the time as head of the National School Superintendents Association. And he told me he's heard something from a few superintendents personally that he's never heard before. And I should say this might be a little hard to hear.

DANIEL A DOMENECH: Superintendents calling me, telling me that they're ready to commit suicide. That - I've never, ever seen a period of time where I've had to deal with that.

MARTIN: Oh my gosh, Cory. I mean...

TURNER: Yeah.

MARTIN: ...That's just amazing, awful to hear that school leaders would feel this way.

TURNER: Yeah, I mean, it's a pressure cooker right now, this debate around safe schooling¹². And school leaders and educators feel like whatever they do, they're going to make somebody angry. And that is a huge difference between now and, say, where we started this thing almost two years ago. If there is hope, though, it's that closures we're looking at will be brief, a matter of a week or two.

MARTIN: Yeah. NPR education correspondent Cory Turner. We appreciate you, Cory. And if you or someone you know is having thoughts about suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 1-800-273-8255.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

6 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

7 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

8 consolidating   

v.（使）巩固， （使）加强( consolidate的现在分词 )；（使）合并

参考例句：

• These measures are meant for consolidating the system of basic medical care. 这些举措旨在夯实基层医疗体系，让老百姓看大病不必出远门。 来自互联网
• We are consolidating the Chinese and English versions of our homepage. 我们将为您提供中英文版本一起的主页。 来自互联网

9 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

10 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

11 superintendents   

警长( superintendent的名词复数 )； （大楼的）管理人； 监管人； （美国）警察局长

参考例句：

• Unlike their New York counterparts, Portland school superintendents welcomed McFarlane. 这一次，地点是在波特兰。
• But superintendents and principals have wide discretion. 但是，地方领导和校长有自由裁量权。

12 schooling   

n.教育；正规学校教育

参考例句：

• A child's access to schooling varies greatly from area to area.孩子获得学校教育的机会因地区不同而大相径庭。
• Backward children need a special kind of schooling.天赋差的孩子需要特殊的教育。