Michelle Čertík
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing, albeit last minute, to request that you uphold the plan to open elementary schools in Los Alamos Public Schools district on Oct 21, 2020. There does seem to be a lot of fear regarding going back to school, but it is time. Are numbers rising in New Mexico as a state, yes. Are they rising at an exponential rate in Los Alamos, NM? No. Allowing elementary school to continue as virtual will affect the education of our elementary school aged kids. Some kids may be doing fine online, but many are not. I already pulled one of my children out of LAPS to homeschool because the virtual learning was so bad (and my husband and both work full time jobs and I am onsite every day) - this is no easy task, but significantly better than the virtual learning experience he was having. My kindergartener has a great teacher, who wants to be back in the classroom and actually TEACHES FROM HER CLASSROOM every day - I greatly appreciate this effort and commitment. Although the online experience is causing him to struggle and I'm regularly tempted to pull him too, I have held onto the hope that he will be in hybrid and his learning and overall kindergarten experience will improve. Additionally, he loves his small group - getting to go to school is the best part of his week. An article in Kids Health notes that "Younger children and kids with special needs learn best in school. Middle school and high school students might be better able to handle distance learning."
The CDC notes that "the cumulative rate of COVID-19–associated hospitalization among children was over 20 times lower compared to adults". While we do need to be cognizant of teachers, school staff and administrators, these roles are filled by adults. I assume that like many adults in the USA following covid protocols, they can watch children in their space (6 ft), wear a mask and/or shield properly to reduce their risk. Many people have gone back to work in jobs where they interact with people regularly, daycares are back in operation and are able to maintain protocol/safety procedures. I know our teachers can do it too. If their health situation is that they cannot be at school (for instance, actively treated with chemo, has had an organ transplant and the medications they take are significantly immunosuppressing - these are examples) they should be teaching on the online only platform, not the platform that was anticipated to be going back to in person schooling. An article from NPR stating that children are superspreaders also noted "transmission from a primary case to someone else — was 80% for passengers sitting next to an infected person on a bus or train for more than 6 hours without a mask. By comparison, there was only a 9% chance of an infected person giving the virus to another member of their household." Transmission comes from close contact and no mask wearing, predominantly. Appropriate spacing, except in transient situations, and enforcing mask wearing will prevent the "super spread" in schools.
Hybrid schooling will allow for more effective teaching for elementary aged kids, improved mental health and at least a small part of social interaction. Obviously not the
same as school prior to covid, but better. Please look at the local numbers and the protocols in place for schools to control covid when making your decision. Please choose to reopen elementary schools for hybrid style learning.
Thank you for your consideration.
Michelle Certik