2. An Open Letter to the Superintendents of the United States of America Concerning Reopening School at the peak of the COVID19 Pandemic

An Open Letter to the Superintendents of the United States of America Concerning Reopening School at the peak of the COVID19 Pandemic

An Open Letter to the Superintendents of the United States of America Concerning Reopening School at the peak of the COVID19 Pandemic

Hi Superintendent:

I’m going to get right into it:

First, we need to agree on some facts:

I need to know you believe the threat of injury and death from CoVid-19 is real.

I need to know if you understand and agree that an infected person can be asymptomatic and spread the virus for days before ever knowing they’re infected.

I need you to agree that the current death rate is reflecting at 3.5% of the infected population in the US.

I need you to tell me what number of students and faculty called in ill with the cold/flu last year. I need you to multiply that by ten, then take 3.5-4% of that.

I need to know if you’re prepared to have that number of people dying from a preventable disease on your watch.

That out of the way, I have comprehensive questions and statements that I don’t know if you can answer.

I need to know if you’re a gambler?

I need to know you’re not going to endanger the lives of the teachers employed in your district by asking them to come back in and be around students 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

I need to know that the teachers have the ability to opt out of participation in the school year without penalty.

I need to know you have different plans than to expose everyone in an enclosed space recycling the same air all day, every day.

I need to know you have an asymptomatic testing plan and an agreement with a lab for rapid testing in hours, not days.

I need to know you understand why I asked that last question, and the danger of reaction versus prevention.

I need to know you’ve got enforcement of masks, distanced kids, and outside classes when possible. The lives of everyone you are responsible for cannot become a statistic when distance learning is an option in 2020. You can just as easily enforce an attendance policy from a computer screen as you can a body in a chair in a building.

I need to know the ‘essential workers’ that give their all all year long aren’t going to be asked to give everything.

I need to know your medical plan takes care of *everything* if one of your teachers falls ill or dies, or worse, lives with the numerous chronic injuries as has been seen with CoVid-19. I don’t want lip service about a teacher dying ‘for the greater good,’ when a grievous illness could have been avoided by better planning or not participating all together.

I need to know you have a plan for the child whose only meal, only adult interaction happens within the walls of the school. I know the neglect that exists, and I need to know a plan of action is in place to care for those children.

I need to know my loved one is going to be OK.

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