It’s not the time to open schools
It’s an oxymoron to say that “Children absolutely need to return to in-school learning for their healthy development and well-being” when there is a virus that goes against that very same statement.
The fact that “many families in Lawrence have struggled with Internet and technology access during the pandemic” is the fault of the school district themselves for the lack of training to parents on the technology. Additionally, was it not the fact that the LPS provided free hot spot internet to all students that required it for virtual learning.
The reports from the legislative state delegation state that “mandatory masking, robust ventilation systems, enforced social distancing, and new developments in rapid testing have helped schools prevent COVID-19 outbreaks and quickly respond to new cases. The best available evidence shows that COVID-19 transmission in schools is low among both teachers and students, particularly younger students.”
However, neither the LPS nor any other school system in the US has any full data to prove that fact. Let’s not kid ourselves here, students, teachers, parents are people. It’s the same people who have been getting positive COVID-19 or transmitting the same.
The LPS has housed the most defenseless students in in-service classes. Those are the students that can’t speak, walk, or hear, the mentally disabled, and with more vulnerabilities than the two comorbidities that Massachusetts has in the phase 2 vaccination stage. These are the students who can’t speak to say what hurts or not. How can the LPS say that the students are safe if we know that LPS had both staff and student positives in the classroom itself?
On any given day in a normal school year, hundreds of children are transmitting flu and colds to one another and bringing those illnesses or diseases home to family members. Schools are a place when the transmission is at its highest.
The fact that the delegation relied on data from North Carolina, a state that has been prone to not being up-front about its positive COVID-19 rate is absurd. They write about low numbers of student–to–staff ratio. It’s not the student-to-staff ratio that we should be worried about. It’s the Staff-to-Student ratio that should be the main topic. The same students that would get the virus from an asymptomatic teacher or staff can bring the virus home.
The delegation gave data from the first two months of school days in the fall (September and October) of 2020 for North Carolina. But we know that North Carolina’s highest numbers of COVID-19 began in November 2020. In November 2020, they had the seventh-highest positive rates of the 50 US. The delegation did not use those numbers.
Lawrence has been one of the highest positive cities in Massachusetts! The only reason that the positivity rate numbers have been reduced is because the testing has been slowed down. Testing sites through the city are shutting down because the money is in the vaccine sites. Lawrence General Hospital has no white tents for testing up any longer, and the city’s mobile site is no longer testing. Lawrence is very much still the highest city in Massachusetts with a positive rate.
The fact that the delegation is providing low numbers is to use this false/incomplete data is to trick the school staff to return to the classroom. Let’s not indicate false stories about how wonderful it is to open schools in Lawrence. Lawrence should be the last city to consider re-opening. You want to get closer to re-opening the schools doors again – vaccinate school staff! Get the governor to include them into the current phase. All of the custodians, in the LPS, have been vaccinated. Why not the teachers?
Additionally, the hoopla about opening schools in a safe manner is false unless there is a vaccine that our kids can obtain to protect themselves, from a virus that yet has led to any medical reports of the lingering, or future, effects of our kids’ health.
For politicians, including the President, this return to school campaign is all about the economy and getting people back into their workspace. It’s about money, and will always be about money. Now is not the time to bring our children back to school. It’s March 2021, with only a couple of months left for the school year.
This re-opening can wait until September 2021, when most vaccinations have been given to most adults and laboratory results are published concerning under-16 vaccine testing.
By then maybe vaccines for under-16 are in order. But even if the vaccine is not in place by then, it gives the LPS time to spend the recently acquired $33 million of COVID-19 funds to beef up their air distribution systems in these very old school buildings.
First it’s disrespectful that the state delegation is only writing to one union, when there are 12 other unions in the LPS that deserve the same respect to be addressed. Secondly, why the hell is the delegation involved? There is the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Alliance Board that should be negotiating these things. Not only did you all support the home rule petition postponing the election because of COVID-19 safety issues, but now you go against that very same reasoning to make students and staff less safe by returning to school on April 1st.
If it is safe for children to go to school, why is it not safe for councilors to meet in the Council Chambers so that we can all watch them on television? Another effort to keep up the deception.
Moreover, shame on Senator Feingold, Representatives Moran, Devers, and Minicucci, and shame on newly appointed Acting Mayor Vasquez for putting profit over the safety of our children. I bet that all of you are still working virtually or from home! Hypocrisy.
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