The classroom and COVID: Teachers say they want to be ‘treated like real people’

At a school board meeting in Phoenix earlier this month, parent after parent got up to speak, letting the tensions of a year of uncertainty spill out inside a musty auditorium at the Queen Creek Unified School District.

At issue was the upcoming school year, which was set to start August 17 almost entirely in-person. The end of the previous term had challenged their children, many parents argued, and it was time that they return to the classroom.

Why, asked one dad and a physical education teacher at...