COVID leaves old problems, brings new ones for Regina teacher

The challenges around COVID-19 are twofold for Paul Gullacher.

While the Regina man wages a continued battle against the after-effects of a virus he had months ago, he’s also trying to find the best path forward for his students as a high school teacher.

“We’ve just got to recognize that school as an institution is basically just a mandated super-spreading event. Every day we pack way too many people into way too small a space,” he said.

It has been an especially trying time for the Campbell Collegiate teacher. He lost his father to the virus last spring. Around the same time, COVID attached itself to Gullacher and spread through his immediate family.

Remnants of the virus have lingered with him.

“I still get winded walking up a flight of stairs or two. I still get winded speaking,” he said. “I’m hoping that things start to turn around soon. I’m concerned that if I were to get sick again, I would not be as resilient.”

Many students in the Regina Catholic and public school divisions went back to in-person learning Monday after having been away from it since December. An increase in COVID case numbers forced both divisions to make the switch to remote learning.

It has created an unforeseen challenge for Gullacher.

“I don’t have a lot of time (and), especially in the spring, I didn’t have a lot of time to work with my own kids,” he said. “I’ve spent most of my time working with other people’s kids.”

High school students remain staggered; they’re still alternating between classroom and virtual learning.

Even though he said high school students are better able to cope with distance learning, student needs are still increasing.

“Teachers are concerned about the ever-growing gap. There’s many students that have learning gaps that are getting larger,” Gullacher said.

He believes teachers, especially on the elementary level, should be vaccinated as quickly as possible so that all kids can go back to class and parents can go back to work.