This is Giuliano Daddabbo, senior at Higley High School and an avid supporter of our community’s health and safety. It is with a heavy heart, after watching the full broadcast and witnessing the board vote 4-1, that I must inform you how the decision made was impulsive and wrong. Let me preface by saying that I absolutely LOVE this community and everybody that I’ve met in it. I would not be the man I am today without the education and social interactions I’ve received from the Higley Community. I too long to have a physical senior year but I am not selfish enough to jeopardize the health of others to attain that. With that being said, the decision made to open up was rushed and disastrous. 

The problem lies in the numbers. Although we may be in the “Yellow” according to the Maricopa County Dashboard, we are not at all controlled. The reason we were able to obtain these decreasing numbers was due to Arizona being closed and because our community legislators were wise enough to enforce masks in public when physical distancing was not possible. The data shown in the meeting shows a consistent decrease in numbers over a two week period but simply does not capture the full capacity of what Arizona will become as the governor allows the state to reopen. The Maricopa County Dashboard recommended we go into “Hybrid Mode” but because our school cannot support an inconsistent schedule that is Hybrid, we’ve chosen to round up and go fully IN-PERSON. On top of this, every single letter (excluding one) read at the board meeting from both teachers and parents in the community urged the board to wait a few more weeks to make sure going to school is safe. Who is the board appealing to when they voted 4-1? I’ve now witnessed that our own teachers don’t feel safe coming back to school and the board chose to neglect that when they voted. What is the difference between going back on September 8th and going back on October 12th? The difference is going back on October 12th would have allowed us more data to make a safer and sound decision. Teachers now have to scramble to go back to class and figure out how to transition from online to in-person in less than two weeks. The logical progression of that boggles my mind as fall break would have given the teachers enough time to prepare without having to balance teaching online at the same time. The board has put our teachers at a crossroads where they will become more stressed because an inadequate amount of time was allocated to them so they can prepare for in-person teaching.

The problem lies in the new reality students are forced to face. I personally am immunocompromised and would have to take online until it is PROVEN safe to come back. How will our schedules be changed? Will the students staying online be forced to switch teachers and lose their newly built relationships? I’ve heard that a program from Florida will be the replacement for students who cannot go back to school. Please correct me if I’m wrong but if in fact our teachers will be changed and we are taught by teachers that are not from Higley then that simply means we won’t be attending Higley. The board has thrown every student who can’t attend in-person under the bus and out the window. I go to Higley to be taught by Higley teachers. A suggestion that I understand may not be possible but I still think could work is to have students who can't attend in-person to watch classes live simultaneously as their in-person counterparts will watch in person. If this does not work, please explain to me how. I understand funding could be an issue and that’s completely out of my control as a student. I’ve heard some classes of students will not be offered online. This decision is virtually forcing students who may be at risk to come back to school in person if they want to continue their education with Higley because they 1. Want to maintain the relationships they’ve already created with their preexisting teachers and 2. Want to have every class they signed up for at the beginning of the year AT HIGLEY. Students who are at risk should not be the ones forced to practically leave Higley because of this pandemic. It is not the at-risk student’s fault for being immunocompromised and the decision to have the possibility of teachers not at Higley teaching them is a punishment due to their underlying health conditions.

The problem lies in mental health. A big argument for reopening was the mental health of those who wished to return. I too have experienced my sense of sorrow and depression because I miss Higley and wish I had the opportunities to see my teachers. That anxiety was shelved however as Higley engineered the remote learning system which allowed face-to-face contact virtually between a class and it’s teacher. With school reopening, why isn’t anyone considering the mental health of the individuals who have been kicked to the side because they need to stay home? A letter read at the meeting written by Mrs. French, a teacher I had for five years and current Drama teacher here at Higley, gave examples of her students who could not return back to school in-person and how their mental health will suffer because they were enjoying theater online. While every student had the opportunity to see their teachers at least online, now only a portion of students will get to have teachers at Higley and the rest will be moved to teachers they do not know, cannot see, and in classes they didn’t choose because “Drama” or a class similar was not offered. The term SEL or Social Emotional Learning was brought up at the board meeting yesterday and how it was important that students are receiving this along with their current academic education. Will no one consider the social and emotional well being of students who cannot return back while their own teachers are forced to leave them to teach only a fraction of a whole? 

The problem lies with the impatience. It’s not that many kids weren’t considering going back, it’s the fact that our board did not wait a few more weeks so everyone in the community could make a higher valued decision for themselves. With the data presented at the board meeting, it simply was not enough to justify our school will be safe when reopening. Mr. Glover, the only member who voted no in reopening, mentioned that we do not want our school to be the next “J.O Combs.” The board also agreed that we do not want to reopen just to have to close again. With all this said in the meeting, what data was shown that proved we would be able to remain open for the remainder of the school year? A letter read to the board asked that the students in this community not be used as test subjects. The board’s decision will end up causing both the students and faculty to soon be numbers on a graph. A graph can be consistent for a few weeks but that does not mean it won’t change due to other factors that were never even brought up in the board meeting like Arizona reopening and the seasons switching from Summer to Fall and then Fall to Winter. I understand the virus cannot be fully contained until there is a vaccine but the problem is that the data provided barely met the benchmarks if at all.

I send this message asking you to do everything in your power to allow ALL students at any Higley campus a proper education. Where students who wanted to go back no matter the state of the pandemic were at least given time with their teachers online, students who cannot go back at all will never receive a true Higley Education. Those who can’t go back will be devastated when they find that the classmates they’ve met online, the teachers they’ve spoken to face to face virtually, and the education they received in the first month of school from Higley will all be taken from them because of an unfortunate ruling stating Higley should reopen during a global pandemic. I call on you to revert your ruling and to truly represent all voices of the community who do not feel comfortable coming back but still wish to call Higley their home.