Whilst in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new academic year approaches. Families are supposed to make an impossible choice, one between their kid's education, social and emotional development, and their health. Teachers and staff are forced to choose between returning back to work with no safety protocols or standards that they feel are consistent, in place, or truly oriented towards maintaining their health, with the added stress of a workload that they had little time to prepare for. 

Directors of all schools are forced to prepare their spaces in order to maintain social distance, higher levels of hygiene, and protect their students and staff in schools that are not designed for that.

I think that every parent understands and supports the need of their children to be at school, to have a routine, to be able to get the best education and care for their needs, whatever they may be, AND YET, the majority of those who I have spoken to are considering an all virtual scenario for the coming months. 

They also know that it would go a long way to help our economy recover, their job performance smoother, and so many other things, AND YET, the majority are considering an all virtual scenario for the coming months. 

WHY? because we are NOW at the peak of the pandemic in Texas, and we can not compare ourselves with those countries that have already sent back their kids to school. They did it AFTER they peaked, and when society felt they had a better grasp of how to quickly resolve hot spots and perform contact tracing.

To compare what Texas is going through now, to what the Europeans or Asian countries are facing at the moment, is like comparing apples and oranges. There are not enough studies, not enough evidence of how schools reopening at the peaks of the pandemic are going to affect our community.

We are risking the lives of our future generations, the lives of those today in need of medical attention, the lives of those amongst us that belong to higher risk groups, and YES, we are also gonna risk the chance of our economy to ever make a full RECOVERY.  

WHY NOT DELAY THE REOPENING A MONTH OR TWO? We can extend the academic year into the summer, and to do so will allow us so many things... prepare better, address all of the teachers and staff's concerns, and give a chance to parents to truly make a decision NOT BASED OUT OF FEAR BUT OUT OF WHAT IS TRULY BEST FOR THEM AND THEIR CHILDREN.