Hybrid Opening

[Kevin McCabe and Janette FRIGO]

Greetings LA School Board and Dr Steinhaus,

Respectfully, I request you rescind your decision to open LA Public schools with the hybrid model for the following reason:

 The schools cannot randomly test students and teachers for COVID on campus, thus, an outbreak is imminent. Please read the following recent article about the transmission of the current strain of COVID-19 in the US, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867420308205

Tracking Changes in SARS-CoV-2 Spike: Evidence that D614G Increases Infectivity of the COVID-19 Virus - ScienceDirect A SARS-CoV-2 variant carrying the Spike protein amino acid change D614G has become the most prevalent form in the global pandemic. Dynamic tracking of variant frequencies revealed a recurrent pattern of G614 increase at multiple geographic levels: national, regional, and municipal. www.sciencedirect.com

We cannot risk the lives of our teachers and students. If you cannot open schools for in-person learning safely, you cannot open schools. I feel it's not fair to the teachers or students to change the model until conditions are safe to return to school full time.

Please note: the goal for the students is to learn and the best way for this to happen is for the teachers to be less stressed and have "safe" and flexible access to students. I think the online model affords this objective.

Best wishes,

Jan Frigo (Chamisa parent)

[Kevin McCabe and Janette FRIGO]

Greetings LA School Board and Dr Steinhaus,

Respectfully, I submit suggestions for safely opening LA public schools for your consideration:

1) Suggest a 2-4 hour meeting time for in-person instruction per day with the hybrid model due to reduced risk to the teachers/staff/students yet to promote social health of the students. Supplimental on-line instruction for the remaining hours/day. The spread of COVID = amount of time and numbers of people gathered in-doors (at close proximity) AND the amount of virus present in the building.

2)Suggest a waiver from the state of NM to optionally include lunch due to the issues/time required to monitor lunch, clean/sanitize and the risks when masks are removed. Alternately, to include lunch ONLY as a grab-n-go option for students.

3) Suggest adoption of one model of learning for a semester and change models at semester transition only in order to minimize COVID risks, reduce stress and enhance continuous learning for students.

4) Encourage teachers to use outdoor areas to teach during in-person hybrid, to minimize risks and additional sanitation time and costs.

5) Weekly testing of each school open to in-person learning via the methods described in this article. In this way, if a positive test sample is found, the whole school is tested and those affected quarentined before an outbreak in the school/community occurs. Since people are not "required" to have random testing in this waste sampling method, testing will be cost effective and timely.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/28/arizona-coronavirus-wastewater-testing/

University of Arizona used wastewater testing to detect cases of coronavirus in a dorm - The Washington Post As 5,000 students prepared for move-in day at the University of Arizona this week, the school warned they would be tested periodically for the coronavirus. One test, though, doesn’t involve a ... www.washingtonpost.com

Best wishes and thank you for your consideration,

Jan Frigo (Chamisa parent)

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From: Kevin McCabe and Janette FRIGO
Sent: Tuesday, September 1, 2020 10:01 PM
To: Dawn Jalbert <d.ja...@laschools.net>; Ellen Ben-Naim <e.ben...@laschools.net>; Kurt Steinhaus <k.ste...@laschools.net>; Melanie Colgan <mcol...@gmail.com>; Steve Boerigter <s.boe...@laschools.net>; c.ber...@laschools.net <c.ber...@laschools.net>; j.b...@laschools.net <j.b...@laschools.net>; public....@laschools.net <public....@laschools.net>
Subject: Hybrid Opening