In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, you could not go on Facebook or TikTok or Instagram without seeing videos from frazzled parents sharing their gratitude for teachers and the jobs that they do. There was a groundswell of support as people became more aware of the multitude of responsibilities teachers and schools are entrusted with to help America function.

Today, as the pandemic continues and takes turn after turn, things have dramatically changed. Now, you would be hard pressed to go on social media and not find some mean-spirited comment directed at teachers. Gone are the references to heroes. Instead, teachers are being told that they are lazy, that they are not doing enough, and – most disheartening of them all – that they just don’t care.

Yes, everyone wants the pandemic to end, no group more so than teachers. Teachers want to see the faces of their students again as well. Teachers want to teach in-person every day. Teachers want the ability to collaborate to create content that is meaningful to the students they know so well. Most importantly, teachers want their classrooms to be safe. They want their classrooms to be refuges for all their students, both physically and emotionally, where they can explore their passions and their interests without fear of getting themselves or others sick. No one is arguing any of that.

Yet just because we want something does not mean we can have it.

Yes, teachers want to see the faces of their students. They want to see the looks of confusion when students do not understand just as much as they want to see the smiles when everything begins to click. Seeing faces helps build relationships and all teachers– all of them! – entered the classroom accepting the role relationships have in helping students learn and grow as individuals. Those relationships actually recharge and reinvigorate teachers more than any test scores. Yet teachers are also concerned about the safety of their students – every single one of them. So, if the guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the administration says that students should wear masks, then relationships must be sacrificed for safety. And teachers accept that at the cost of their own ability to recharge.

Yes, teachers want to teach in person every day. They want all their students present because they understand that to be the best way to teach. Being present allows students to learn from one another and also about one another more so than being on a screen. Teachers understand that students need to interact with each other so that they can grow and mature. Yet teachers are also concerned about the safety of their students– every single one of them. So, if the guidance from the CDC and the administration says that schools need to move to emergency remote teaching and teachers need to adjust immediately an assignment or a task that can be conveyed remotely, despite the loss of passion and energy the assignment would typically elicit if the students were in person, then being in person must be sacrificed for safety. And teachers accept that at the cost of their energy and their passion.

Yes, teachers want to collaborate with colleagues to create content that is meaningful to the students they know so well. Teachers who went through the shutdown of 2020 often speak of how they needed to reassess their curriculum and focus on what was essential to their students, what really mattered to their students. Many spoke of eagerly awaiting the end to the pandemic so that they could help shape a new curriculum that would meet the needs of their students. Yet teachers are being given online platforms and state-sponsored curricula that are “high quality,” the implication being that what teachers did before was not. They are being tasked to implement materials that ask for conformity at the expense of creativity. Materials that ignore the needs of their individual students at that moment in their lives. And teachers are being told to accept that at the cost of their spirits.

Teachers are not asking for accolades on social media or half-hearted platitudes shared via email. What they are asking for is administrators and school committees to stop speaking of “learning loss” when no one has determined how much learning should be expected during emergency remote teaching. They are asking for people to stop speaking of how much they appreciate all that teachers do, but then not give them the time and resources to do it all effectively. They are asking for the same grace and compassion that extend to their students who are dealing with health and family crises that affect their performance. Yet what they are really asking for is one thing:

They are asking to be heard.

The question is: is anyone really listening?

Timothy Kenney, is a Ph.D. candidate in the University of Rhode Island's School of Education.