The undersigned ask that you reopen Melrose schools to in-person instruction immediately with priority given to children in the youngest grades and those with disabilities. This request is made according to the best available science and research to date, and we ask that you, as school leaders, make decisions based on the same.

As you know, state education officials have directed cities like Melrose to reopen with either full-time, in-person learning or some sort of hybrid model. Your decision to teach all children online ignores this directive as well as the science. 

Reopening schools for in-person instruction is warranted for the following reasons:

• The official Massachusetts reopening guidelines state:
  • Schools do not appear to have played a major role in COVID-19 transmission.
  • In general, rates of COVID-19 infection are lower for children than for adults.
  • If exposed, children may be less likely to become infected with COVID-19.
  • If infected, it appears children may be less likely to infect others with COVID-19
• Guidelines created by Harvard University experts say cities like Melrose, with low case counts, should reopen with in-person learning for K-5 and students with disabilities.
• Melrose's case positivity rate is under 1%, far below the 5% threshold endorsed by the World Health Organization for in-person instruction.
• Schools have successfully reopened in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Greece, Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand and Vietnam without raising community transmission, according to a list of studies compiled by MGH.
• Virtual teaching won't be possible for the youngest students when working parents can't provide direct, constant supervision, MIT experts say.

For the above-mentioned reasons, we ask that you change your decision to teach all students expressly online and reopen schools in accordance with the directives from state education officials.