As Omaha Public Schools students prepare to return to school this fall some of the teachers they expect to see in the classroom won’t be there.
The Omaha Education Association worries about losing years of teaching experience because of the pandemic.
Bridget Donovan has been a teacher with OPS for 26 years. The former Omaha Education Association president won’t be returning to her elementary classroom this year. She has decided to retire early.
“The more I read about COVID, the more I realized what a challenge it was going to be for schools and the fact that I do have preexisting conditions, I pretty reluctantly decided that I needed to retire," Donovan tells 6 News. "I didn’t want to take the risk of getting sick and possibly passing it to the people I loved.”
She says it was a very hard decision and not only did the threat of the virus cut her career short it also cost her financially, missing out on a small annuity.
“I’m one full teaching year away from it but in weighing it, it’s not worth the risk,” Donovan says. She says she knows a lot of teachers who have quit or retired early. Donovan believes OPS has one of the better plans to return to school, but with the recent uptick in COVID cases in our area, she thinks officials should rethink that plan.
“I don’t think that putting students together with teachers is going to be a good idea,” Donovan tells 6 News. She doesn’t believe OPS teachers have a true voice in the plan to return to the classroom.
“I feel frustration because I so much believe that teacher’s voices are valuable and it’s frustrating to not be able to hear what they’re thinking, to what they’re genuinely thinking,” Donovan says.