Keep on Track with hybrid!

[Karen Morris]

Dear Members of the Board, 

Thank you again for your dedication to our community during this trying time. 

This week my GATE student, who has adored school her entire life, sat down with a sigh and said "mom, I hate school right now." She hates online schooling. She hates staring at a screen all day. It is failing her and failing my Hard of Hearing child as well. Our teachers are doing their best, but online schooling simply cannot replace the person to person connections we all need. 

My daughter sees her cousins and friends in other states going back in person and struggles to understand why with our incredibly low numbers of infection and green go-ahead from the state it will be a month before she can even think about being in school.

I am desperately worried about the state of mind of our kids if we were to back away from  hybrid schooling at this point.  Mental health for our kids needs to be a focus. We can absolutely do hard things, but asking our kids to continue to give up face to face time at school when science says we are ready to return is perhaps a step too far for these young minds.

Thank you,

Karen Morris