November is not soon enough. Our kids are our most important resource, and they are suffering significantly due to the inability to go to school for in-person learning because of the coronavirus pandemic. In-person attendance and learning at the schools provides the last chance to grow in so many ways beyond just academics for our children before they become independent adults. We all care about our children and want what’s best for them. We fear for their current mental well-being as they are confined at home to e-learning day after day. We are also concerned about the harm that is being done to them now and to their future due to the inability to go to school in-person. Our kids get a multitude of benefits necessary for their growth and development in so many aspects of their life that only in-person learning can provide. We believe we are failing our grade school students when we as a society and as the community don’t make every effort to have in-person learning available for them as it is clearly the best way to prepare our kids for their future and clearly superior to e-learning. E-learning did not work out well for most kids last spring and continues to be inferior to in-person learning this fall all over again. Our kids’ academic achievement in the short term as well as the long term is drastically impacted by not learning in-person. Kids emotional, social, behavioral, and mental health is harmed by not having the support that only attending school in-person can provide. All of Troy schools provides a safe environment and provides programs that are available only when kids are there in-person. It also provides programs to many students with special needs that are only available when students are physically present in school. Without in-person learning many kids remain in environments that are not conducive to learning, are unsupervised, and many kids fail to receive the help they need to grow academically, socially and emotionally. Many kids rely on in-person attendance at school for physical activity and nutritional support necessary to keep them healthy as well. We as parents wonder what damage is truly being done to our children now and in the long term by continuing to keep them out of school and not providing them with all the benefits that can only be attained at school by learning in-person. It is clear that by continuing the status quo and continuing the present set up of e-learning for our kids we are selling them short and not doing what is best for them now and in the long run. There are obvious concerns that we have for the safety of our children and their health with the current coronavirus pandemic. But we feel the harms to our healthy children from not having in-person learning are greater than the harms of them getting COVID-19. Statistics from the CDC and information obtained from their website point out that COVID-19 poses relatively low risks to healthy school aged children. The CDC website also points out that the risk of complications for healthy children are higher for influenza when compared to COVID-19. Statistically and in all practicality the coronavirus is not that dangerous to our healthy children but it is keeping them from going to school. We obviously do not want our healthy children to get COVID-19 but we realize that if they do, they overwhelmingly will be ok. When the day comes that the grade schools resumes for in-person learning every effort should be made to minimize the risk of contracting the virus at school for all involved and ensuring the school have the safest environment possible for everyone there. Teachers and staff and students can be protected with proper protocols and measures in place to minimize risk. We believe that in-person learning should be available now for families that feel it is best for them and their children. Families that have special circumstances should obviously be allowed to continue to have e-learning available for their children if it is best for them. We realize that COVID-19 is a serious disease and presents complex problems for the school, the administration, the teachers and all the staff and that creating a system and an environment that minimizes risk to all involved and maximizes safety for everyone is necessary. But we also know that it can be done and that schools all over the country, in nearby communities, and even in our own community have accepted the challenge and are succeeding because they have chosen to do what’s best for the children in their schools and their communities. We owe it to our children who are the junior school and elementary students in our community, to do what’s best for them and to provide them with the opportunity for in-person learning moving forward this school year.