On My Soapbox!

 Brace yourself.  I'm angry.   

Back on March 13th, of 2020, we closed the buildings of schools but kept teaching.   We taught virtually, but we did everything we could to attempt to give them as much as we could in the time we were given.  We taught summer school virtually.  We taught first semester virtually. We're still doing it.  Teachers are trying to teach.   

Multiple vaccinations now exist.  They've been slow to roll out, but they exist.  
We've managed to wait this long, why the push to have us go forward to open before we've had a chance to get the vaccination?  We get that things are hard but here's what I want to bring up as a point.  This is a link to where Corona Virus is spreading more.  

Corona Virus Update across the 50 States

Here's a  site that shows where schools are open.  

Across the States School Openings/Closings

I'll wait.   

As I look at them, where is the spread being contained?  (0-21 per day infection).  
Hawaii, Guam and North Dakota.    Maryland and DC are going down, they're still a rate of 21 and 23 per 100K respectively. 

Where is it exploding?  New York, California, Texas, Illinois, where more schools are open, where there is less continuity of policy across the state, where there has been tremendous pressure to go back to normal.   

The world right now is not normal. 

Next, I looked at the metrics for our county because I've studied that throughout the pandemic. 

In January, the metrics exploded.  Why?   Think about it.   It makes sense the infection rate rose because people got together for Christmas, for New Year's, for Kwanza, for Hanaukkah, and/or took vacations over Winter break.  If you look at the metrics for the rate of infection detected, (here's the link), the pattern emerges.  The infection rate in November rose because of Halloween and Election Day.  The infection rate in December rose because of all the holidays I mentioned.   There aren't holidays in January that involve travel or big events.   The rate has decreased.  

 I also looked at the rate of infection  of now versus the summer, and our current rate, while trending down, is still above the rate observed and recorded during June, July and August.  Past trending is no promise of future, and the major challenge of this pandemic, is as we open up, we increase the likelihood of infection.   The metrics aren't secure at this point or indicative of safety, but merely of where we are today. 

The reality is, right now Maryland looks good because it is more cautious than other states. 

If it jumps the gun, following the Governor's proposals, (which I suspect is putting tremendous pressure on the local municipalities), the consequence will be lives.  I'm not trying to be melodramatic. I'm stating the reality.  We all have family with mitigating health conditions that would be severely compromised by Covid.   

If we're willing to show leadership and finish this year, we should have the time and allocations to ensure everyone who can be vaccinated, get vaccinated by the start of the new school year, and while it won't be popular, we'll be doing what's hard and what's right.   

What's hard and what's right is seldom popular. 

But this decision to force a re-opening is tripping and quitting with the finish line in sight. 

As a school system, county and state, we can get every adult vaccinated, and we can begin again provided we're willing to be patient.  We can even get all the parents of those kids vaccinated as part of the enrollment process for next year.  We just have to decide, everybody matters more than test scores and that we can't have good outcomes if students are at risk by coming to school. 

Let me state the reality.  I get that teaching virtually is hard hard hard hard hard.  I've done it this past year and it's hard.   Let me say, I want to return to the classroom because I want to be engaging my students.  I want to have my kids in school too.  However, I'm not willing to bet their future lives on an impulsive present.  I'm fine with redshirting everyone and going another year. We'll all emerge stronger, smarter and wiser, and alive.   At the end of the day, how many kids families are we betting on being impatient?  Because one is too many, and many more than one will be affected. 

Thank you for listening.  Be safe. Be smart, and let's finish this the right way.