We the undersigned residents of Fairfield are writing to urge you to do everything you can to insure that a remote learning option is in place for Fairfield Public Schools in Fall 2021. 

We need our BOE, who we as citizens of Fairfield elected, to speak for us and protect our children.

High-risk families deserve the same access to public education that everyone else enjoys. Students who are immunocompromised or have other chronic illnesses simply can not attend school until they are fully vaccinated, which would not happen by fall even if children under 16 were approved for inoculation. Students who are healthy but whose family members are medically fragile can bring home the virus without showing symptoms, and so also depend upon a remote option.

The voice of this population is not being heard. We write and receive little or no response.

This is neither a political nor a budgetary matter. It is a question of public health, of long term suffering and trauma. 

This is not about fear, as many in the community continue to suggest. High-risk families are in a different situation than those without medical conditions that affect the outcome when infected with Covid-19. 

Some officials insist infections are down. Without in-school testing — which does not exist — there is no way of knowing this. What we do know is that more infectious and in some cases more virulent variants of the novel coronavirus from the UK, Africa and Brazil are already here and spreading.

The buck stops at your desk.

The vulnerable need to be protected

Parents in Fairfield shouldn't have to choose between life and an education for their children.

Will you help us?