By Cassie Fambro| January 25, 2021

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – After the death of four teachers in Montgomery in less than 48 hours, the Alabama Education Association (AEA) says teachers are reeling.

The AEA tells us that they want teachers to get vaccinated quickly to feel safer in the classroom.

The American Federation of Teachers estimates 530 teachers have died nationwide, and AEA says 30 of those have been in Alabama.

While the official causes of death have not been confirmed, Montgomery Schools announced they’ll go all-virtual again.

“One death is too many, and four, is most certainly more than enough,” said Lynn Pettway, UniServ Director. Pettway, who works out of Montgomery, says it’s taken an emotional toll.

“Morale is very very low at this time because — for instance, many of the educators are at the point where they think nobody cares,” he said.

The state superintendent’s office provided WBRC a statement today — saying in part, “clearly Montgomery is a shaken community because we have lost so many educators in the past few months, my heart grieves for each of these families and communities.”

The AEA is not pushing for a statewide shift to virtual learning.

“The things that have to be considered for Montgomery, we can’t apply that to the other schools who might be a lot smaller,” said Pettway.

But they are pushing state officials to let teachers get vaccinated ASAP.

The AEA also said it has received many calls from teachers concerned about their safety across the state.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT! #iBELIEVE