Call to Action
Letter to School Committee
December 16, 2020
Thank you for engaging in school re-opening discussions.
Somerville's current plan will keep the vast majority of our youngest learners fully remote through March, 2021, at which point they would have the option to return in-person only 2 days per week (Hybrid model). The science no longer supports hybrid models, and Somerville must make up for the lost time this Fall.
Please sign this letter to request 5-day-a-week in-person school for young children ASAP
(click to sign at bottom of letter).
Dear Superintendent Skipper, School Committee, City Council, and Mayor Curtatone:
We are Somerville parents and other stakeholders writing to ask that you open our schools for young children, 5 days a week and in-person, as soon as possible, and no later than February 1.
We are thrilled that Mayor Curtatone has committed to opening some classrooms to our highest needs learners in January. We agree that it is essential that we prioritize the needs of children with complex special education needs, English language learners, and children with specific vulnerabilities including homelessness.
Once these needs are met, it will have been ten months since Somerville’s youngest children have been in a classroom. We know that, despite herculean efforts to make remote learning a success, there is simply no substitute for the educational and social benefits of classroom learning. The risks of ongoing closure are immense. There is mounting evidence that remote learning has amplified learning gaps, with children failing to make progress or losing previously acquired skills. Remote learning and social isolation are associated with escalating unreported child abuse and mental health crises for children and adolescents.
Our “phased hybrid” plan was developed with the assumption that children would return in September, and was based on early assumptions about how coronavirus spread. We have vastly more information now than we did in the spring and summer. We are in a position to benefit from experience and data from schools in the United States and abroad, including our neighboring public, private, and parochial schools, that have been educating children in-person for months. We can safely open all of our elementary schools full time, and we must do so to best serve the needs of our city’s children.
It is time to put this debate to rest: it can no longer reasonably be argued that schools are an unsafe place for children or teachers. The evidence is clear that elementary schools are not driving transmission anywhere in the world. We know what measures mitigate coronavirus transmission, and what is required to keep schools and teachers safe. Community spread is happening in other settings, and with proper precautions schools are in fact the safest indoor settings outside of the home. We know that:
There is no evidence to support keeping schools closed for “deep cleaning,” eliminating the need for remote Wednesdays.
There is no evidence to support spacing masked children at 6 feet as opposed to 3 feet, safely allowing for larger class sizes.
Rigorous screening test protocols, like Somerville’s, can keep schools even safer, including at larger cohort sizes.
Furthermore, there is mounting data that remote models may increase community spread as families are forced into a patchwork of care. Hybrid models have also proved challenging for families and educators alike, and it is essential that Somerville maintain high-quality remote education for families who require that option. This can best be accomplished if teachers work either fully in-person OR fully remote, but not both, so that they are not forced to split their attention between students learning in different settings. Starting immediately after our first wave of learners are completely back in the classrooms, we ask that Somerville Schools:
Strictly follow the highest data-based precautions for safe school reopening.
Open all school buildings with classrooms that can be remediated to meet Healthy Buildings Standards for ventilation and/or filtration.
Bring Pre-K through grade 5 back full-time, in-person, for families who choose that option.
Immediately make full use of the modular classrooms and the high school.
Abandon plans that would require families to bring their children to alternate school locations.
Finally, we ask that our leadership honestly engage families and teachers well in advance of reopening. We must start providing information about safety planning, protocols, and what to expect NOW. Misinformation and fear-mongering about school reopening over the past four months have caused immense damage, destroying trust in our schools and in our city’s leadership. We must give parents and teachers honest, accurate information about what we do (and don’t) know, so they can make informed decisions about what is best for their own families.
Somerville has the opportunity to be an example of data-based school reopening if it combines our impressive testing plan with a commitment to strong, data-driven leadership. Reopening schools is both safe and necessary for the wellbeing of children. It is time to let the science guide us, and to open all of our schools for children through grade 5.
Signed,
Wishing you and yours a safe and healthy Holiday season,
~ The SPESO team
FIND US AT:
Website: speso.org
Twitter: @SomervilleSPESO
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/speso/
Email: somervillespeso@gmail.com