As we continue to creep toward September there are many obstacles to overcome and options to consider in order to come up with a school year plan.
Being a high school student myself, I do not support the idea of going back to school this fall, considering that COVID-19 cases continue to rise. While getting a formal education is ideal, it’s not worth putting dozens of kids and families at risk.
There are many students whose family members are hospital employees and essential workers, and it can be difficult for them to manage contact with people.
Possibly the biggest danger of sending kids back to school, high school students particularly, is not knowing who the other kids come into contact with outside of school. This is very concerning for kids whose parents are essential workers. It can put pressure on the kids of these workers to not bring the virus home to their parents, and quarantining for 14 days due to an infection from a student can cause a financial burden, potentially costing the family lots of money.
Another consideration is the lack of health insurance in some families.
There are families that either don’t have health insurance or have very minimal health insurance. This could be the case for multiple reasons, but one possible reason could be because a family is at an economic disadvantage.
If a student comes into contact with the virus in school and becomes sick, then those without health insurance or with minimal health insurance will have to pay thousands of dollars in hospital bills, putting them at an even further disadvantage, which is particularly disconcerting during a global pandemic.
The bottom line is, is it really worth sending kids back to school if it potentially costs their families their safety, health and money? Remote learning is not ideal, but it is far better than putting students and families at risk of a potentially deadly virus.
THERESA CALANDRELLA
Lebanon
Some say remote learning was a disaster. I disagree. Yes, it was difficult, but people of the Lebanon School District put so much effort into the process. They called our home personally, they worked with our daughters the best they could.
Now one of our daughters is doing summer school. I am so impressed with Robin Zito from student services and paraeducator Kim Cook. They are consistently patient, kind and gently challenge Emily to learn more. Remote education has made me more aware of what my children are learning. I hear firsthand how hard the teachers work. I can also more easily attend to nutrition and hydration needs, which can be a challenge with a child with special needs.
What to do about school in the fall is a puzzle, but I do know that the Lebanon schools are working hard to develop a workable plan. I just wanted to give a shoutout to all of the teachers, paraprofessionals, school administrators and the bus drivers: Thank you for all you do to serve our children.
JULIA NEILY
Lebanon
A year ago, on July 25, 2019, under the headline, “Similar to earlier atrocity stories,” the Valley News published my letter in which I made a number of comparisons of the words and actions of the Trump administration to Nazi Germany.
I then noted that President Donald Trump’s words and the responses of his audiences are reminiscent of newsreels of Hitler, Vice President Mike Pence’s visits to a detention center appeared similar to SS and Gestapo officials looking through the barbed wire at Nazi concentration camps, and how Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids appeared to be similar to Kristallnacht, Nov. 9, 1938. I asked, “What are we witnessing in America today?”
Last week, on July 18, a headline in the Valley News reported: “Unidentified federal officers detaining demonstrators in unmarked vehicles.” The next day, The Huffington Post published an article citing the president’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, with the headline “Trump Prepping To Dispatch Federal Squads To More Democratic Cities.”
Yes, we live in trying and difficult times with the coronavirus pandemic, a destroyed economy with millions of lost jobs, demonstrations that are the legacy of the racist actions of our ancestors from 1619, and a political campaign that only seems to get more and more bizarre with each day.
Are we also witnessing and living with brownshirts and storm troopers in our midst?
America must come to its senses to ensure that the freedoms that our Founding Fathers dreamed of and that our fathers fought for are secure and guaranteed to all, both for today and for the future.
JOHN MUDGE
Lyme
With all these “Defund the Police” demonstrations, what I’m not hearing is: What are the demonstrators proposing in it’s place? Because I’m sure that if any of these people are mugged, robbed, have a car accident, medical emergency or other crisis event in their lives, the first thing they’ll do is dial 911, which will summon law enforcement into their lives to help.
In any civil society, laws are needed to protect people from other people’s actions, and there has to be some agency to enforce these laws. Sorry, this is not utopia, and people cannot police themselves.
And yes, in any group there will be some who end up going against the values of that same group and need to be weeded out. That doesn’t mean the entire organization should be abandoned.
STEPHEN D. RAYMOND
Sharon