Hi, my name is Justin Grunwald. My wife Abigail and I, are proud parents, of a student at District 45 in DuPage county. Recently, all of our lives were turned upside down. I don’t need to go into detail on that. What I do need to go into detail on, is how our children’s future are currently at stake.
 
On April 17th, governor Pritzker ordered all Illinois schools to be closed. At the time, with the little information we had – it was expected.
 
At first, everyone adapted, made even more changes in their home personal routine, and we continued to be flexible. As the summer went on, we continued to get mixed information on which school Districts were doing what, and when.
 
Finally, on Wednesday, July 22nd, we received our information about hybrid learning. We were so excited that our son would get the chance to go to in person class.
 
It was less than a week later; we were all informed that District 45 would be a remote-learning curriculum until further notice.  Now what transpired over the weekend, one can only speculate. But what I can tell you, is that news all over the country was covering teacher unions demanding that school be remote learning.
 
Now, let’s get back to the issue at hand here. Remote learning.
 
Yes, Covid is real. But so is the flu, cold, allergies, etc. Did we close school for any one of those reasons? Is your 90-year-old grandfather not high risk to the flu?
 
Everyone has their opinion on the what precautions should be made – but you are not hearing about the long-term effects of those actions.
 
Studies have shown time and time again, the direct link of mental health and the importance of interaction with students. A child’s immune system is built up when they are surrounded by others – the longer we ‘social distance’, the weaker their immune system gets. So once these kids are allowed to get back to school, odds are you are going to see a very high flux in sickness numbers – that’s what happens.

Is my son going to get the same hands-on learning? - Which is more important now in his life, than any other time.

Is he going to make lifelong friends, like most of us did at that age?

I am being told to be patient, we’re all in this together. Patience can only go so far. While I’m being patient, is that teacher who demanded remote learning – out grocery shopping? Out to dinner? Socializing with friends? Going to vote in person? I hope so. If they are able to do any of those, why aren’t they able to go into the school?
 
These children are putting their lives in our hands, and we are failing them if we are not at least given the choice of in-class or eLearning.
 
Our children are the future. I don’t know how clearer I can be than that. Our children today, are tomorrows leaders. Do you want our CEO’s, lawyers, presidents, all taught by a less than nominal eLearning platform?
 
I am by no means suggesting that our teachers aren’t trying their very best, but it’s time for the parents to decide what is best for our children, not politics, not money, and certainly not by someone who doesn’t have children.
 
I know my wife and I have full time commitments, who is going to take care of my child at home while he e-learns?

At what point, did the teacher’s wants, become more important than our children’s education.

I’ll leave you with this, Please, if you are a DuPage county parent with a child in District 45, please sign the petition for District 45 to offer a hybrid program, and lets all make sure we are heard loud and clear at the next board meeting on September 21st. Thank you