CLARK COUNTY, Ind. — After a few weeks into the school year, some southern Indiana teachers have said they are feeling overwhelmed. For those in Greater Clark County Schools it's been three weeks since students walked back through the doors. Greater Clark Education Association president Mark Felix said those three weeks have been stressful.
"Its very difficult. The teachers are under an enormous amount of stress. I know everybody is. The administrators are under a lot of stress. Every staff person that works in this corporation right now are under stress," said Felix.
Some teachers in the district reached out to WHAS after getting a letter from Felix that said in part, "some staff are expressing some very negative sentiments on social media. Please do not include GCCS in your comments. You could open yourself up to a disciplinary action as we have policies against doing anything detrimental to the image of our school corporation. Yes, I know. It sounds dumb but it does exist."
Those teachers told WHAS they felt 'muzzled' and 'forced into silence' about their concerns of safety within their classrooms. Felix said it's a school board policy, and that he's working to be their voice.
"I want them to know that this association and every other local association in the state of Indiana right now is working very hard to maintain safe working conditions for them," said Felix.
When asked what the biggest struggle facing teachers is, Felix said it's the workload, and added that the current conditions are unsustainable.
"I have teachers right now that are working 14-16 hour days just to get by," said Felix.
Those extra hours come from teaching kids virtually and in-person and then having that change as students are quarantined.
"I've been assured by our administration that they have made some orders on different areas of technology that will help the teachers do their job more effectively and not have to reinvent the wheel," said Felix.
The fight for funding for Indiana schools has been ongoing for years, and has led to teacher shortages even prior to the pandemic.
"If we had the staffing we could do this properly. We don't. If we had the technology we could do this properly," said Felix. "It's not that teachers don't want to be at work. Teachers want to be at work. Teachers just want to be safe at work and they want the tools and resources to be effective."
Felix said he's concerned that teachers mental or physical health will suffer with the current workload, and suggested building in breaks for teachers.
The GCCS administration did not respond to requests for comment.
RELATED: 'It's not safe': Florida teacher with two decades of experience resigns over COVID-19 concerns
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.