Susan Hettinga
Susan Hettinga
327 Mimbres Drive
White Rock, NM 87547
Dear School Board Members,
I am writing because of concerns for opening schools using the hybrid model. I feel that fully remote would be the best way to proceed this fall for the safety of all LAPS students and staff. This topic has been weighing heavy on my heart and mind the past couple of weeks. This letter is my perspective as a parent first, teacher second, and community member third.
I am starting my seventeenth year working for LAPS and my twenty-second year teaching overall. The dread I feel in my stomach is so upsetting that it’s hard to put into words. I love teaching and all my students and can’t stand what we are going through currently with the pandemic. I was very upset when school closed in mid-March along with all my colleagues. I miss being able to teach using the hands-on techniques I use in my classroom in addition to being with my students daily. However, I feel strongly that the district needs to think hard about how to start this school year off correctly for the sake of students, parents, teachers, administrators, and all staff.
In the Safe-Start Task Force Report it stated that 90% of parents support a hybrid model and only 9% prefer fully remote for starting school in the fall (p. 7 & 8). We need to know when this poll was taken since these number may not reflect current sentiment. I myself choose the hybrid model but have since changed my mind based on the number of positive cases in our district. At the time of taking the poll, either the last week in June or the first week in July, the Los Alamos district case numbers were steady at six. However in the past couple of weeks the number of positive cases in Los Alamos has doubled which caused my husband and myself to change our request for remote learning only.
The hybrid model was designed when cases were steady or falling, not for when they were rising. In March our numbers were at 0 positive cases and now with 12 confirmed positive cases we feel safe opening schools using a hybrid model? This number is also half of what the lab is reporting since many employees live outside of our district.
I would rather spend the next four weeks working on my remote learning techniques and researching resources rather than focusing on purchasing a comfortable and safe mask along with writing my living will.
I ask that you talk to teachers directly to see how they are feeling about opening schools in four weeks and how comfortable they feel? I know that the Safe-Start Task Force has teacher’s interest in mind but realize that only six teachers were on the committee out of thirty-six members and nineteen members are in administrative roles. The teachers will be the ones working directly with the students on a daily basis.
As a school board you are meeting remotely yourselves - I ask you to consider when will you feel safe meeting in person as a board? Will it be in four weeks time or longer?
Please consider to start school fully remote and ease into opening more as the numbers decrease instead of having to close down when things get out of control.
We all want what’s best for our children, parents, teachers and staff.
Sincerely,
Chamisa Elementary
Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail, including all attachments is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited unless specifically provided under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and destroy all copies of this message.
This email has been sent from a verified laschools.net user.