Hello LMSD community,

I am a 6th-grade student at Welsh Valley Middle School. I am writing to you because I think it is wrong that students have to go to school and risk their safety and health to learn. 

But more importantly, the teachers are more vulnerable to the virus since they have to stay in one room all day and meet with different students on an hourly basis. And, of course, after only two weeks of a hybrid schedule, one of my teachers tested positive for covid-19 but still has to teach. Whether it’s for personal reasons or not that she’s teaching, I don’t think it’s right that she has to risk her health and the wellbeing of other students, and eventually their families. 

We know how fast this disease can spread. We know the effects that covid has caused. We know the precautions that we have to take to lower the chances of catching covid. We know who is more likely to catch covid. So, why are we still trying to go to school when we can just return to remote learning? It makes no sense to me.

On top of this, all 6 elementary schools and both middle schools are in hybrid, one of them being my middle school, this includes over 10,000 students risking their health and safety for education, it seems unfair. Children’s health and teacher’s health should be the most important thing right now. High school’s are going online why should we not? 

As of right now, my county has around 30,000 cases and 1,000 deaths –– and this number will most likely go up. This number is also almost half the number of cases that Philadelphia has, even though my school district is smaller.

And, according to the CDC, PA has a total of 11,557 covid-related deaths, which is larger than the number of deaths from 9/11 (2,977), Pearl Harbor (2,403), and Antietam (3,600) combined. 

When I looked at this number, I was very shocked. Although we may be all social distancing and wearing our masks, we are still getting more cases each day. If we still continue our hybrid model, we will increase the number of cases and deaths, which will be devastating.

I, like a lot of people, would like to go back to normal. During the hybrid model, it has not been easy to socialize with people and make new friends during our situation right now. And, learning from zoom is not ideal, especially when it’s easy to get distracted and difficult to keep up with due dates. But, with the current situation and winter fast approaching, the risks are not worth the price. 

I hope you are staying safe and that I convinced you to understand the dangerous situation we are in. I may only be a kid, but with your signature, we can get the school district to understand the unsafe situation that they’ve created and forced on us. 

Thanks,

--Tancey