2020/11/19 11:08:30 AM EST
Emily Moody
703 Shepherd Street
Durham
Nurse, refugee advocate, and parent of a third grader and kindergarten, including one with
ADHD providing comment here. I want to strongly iterate that I am and have been in support of
schools returning since August 2020. As a refugee advocate, I WANT TO SEE these often at-risk
kids back in front of competent in-person assistance as this break will only further contribute to
challenges later, that may not be recovered. Additionally, as a healthcare professional, I have
been at work the entire pandemic and have had the fortunate ability to see firsthand just how
preventative masks are, have learned the evidence about transmission, and have watched
protocols change and be fine-tuned to match the evidence we have about covid transmission
and risk. The current understanding that schools are known not to be strong sources of
transmission, especially with young children, is what makes me a strong advocate to have in
person learning as an option for those that want it, especially elementary age. Also let's
remember that most schools in the state have already returned in some capacity and in
Durham, many children "have returned" already because many parents are relying on daycare
centers and childcare centers whether through DPS, YMCA, etc and in some of these situations,
the daily attendance fluctuates, making it actually more unsafe because it is a varied group of
kids joining together, rather than a cohort. For me, these childcare centers have either been
cost prohibitive or not effective and I have had to cut my nursing hours to make remote
learning work. As far as returning, effective proactive communication is lacking and needed. At
my large healthcare organization, I have watched how proactive education and clearly
communicated provisions for how we will be protected have been instrumental at making staff
feel comfortable in coming into work. I think this clear communication needs to go out to
parents so they can make decisions about plan B and understand that their decision to return
doesn't mean that their at-risk teacher would be forced to teach if she/he is at risk. Rather
than referring to various links that a parent is to find on a website, please make a 1 page flyer,
translated as needed, for all parents that details what precautions will be in place, resources for
support, and just how evidenced-based these policies are! The reality is that until you take that
step and return to school, fears of the unknown will linger, but so many fears can be decreased
if parents understand just how thorough and evidence-based the plan is!
Finally, here are my suggestions:
1) Provide a translated flyer to all parents with info on plan B. Have teachers poll 100% of their
parents to determine what their intentions would be in returning and submit those to DPS for
planning and possibly increasing the abilities for day/week in person instruction
2) Please decrease the amount of meetings teachers are having to do right now and find ways
to standardize work plans in an efficient way so that teachers can focus less on meetings and
planning and more on working with students, even 1:1.
3)For plan B, please cut out the in-person requirement to interact online with peers during the
day, outside of specials.