Dear Superintendent Gorrell and Members of the Verona Area School District School Board:

We, the undersigned parents and community members of the Verona Area School District, strongly encourage you to open VASD schools for in-person instruction and resume sports and extracurricular activities.  Parents were offered two options for school this year.  Option 1 was a virtual only start, with a phased-in return to in person instruction.  Option 2 was a virtual only first semester.  We understand that the majority of families and students in VASD selected “Option 1,” a virtual start with a phased-in return to in-person school.  It is time to allow Option 1 families and students in all grades to be in school, in person.

1.      The health risks from COVID-19 must be considered in light of other health risks to our students.

Though virtual learning is a good option for some students and families in our community and should remain an option, in-person learning is a better option for most children, is preferred by the majority of students and families in the VASD, and we believe it can be done safely.  We believe the failure to resume in-person learning and extracurricular clubs and activities may cause more risks to many of our students’ well-being than the risk of COVID-19.

It is now well known that hospitalization, severe illness and death associated with COVID-19 are uncommon in children.   The overwhelming evidence shows that COVID-19 discriminates against the elderly and those that suffer from identifiable underlying conditions such as diabetes, obesity or other causes of respiratory trouble.  Lives lost to this virus are tragic and should not be diminished, nor taken lightly, and public health policies should focus on protecting those most vulnerable populations.  Public Health Madison Dane County (PHMDC) have recently reported increased numbers of COVID-19 cases in our county and across our state.  Assuming the reported case numbers are accurate, even with higher incidents of positive cases, the data confirms that hospitalization, severe illness and death rates from this virus in students remains extremely uncommon.

We cannot continue to make decisions about this virus that negatively impact our children in isolation.   For many students, virtual-only schooling can be more dangerous than the risks of COVID-19.  The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI), the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA), the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) have all recognized the need for students to attend school in person and all have offered guidance on how to do so safely.  The AAP on its website “strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”  This recommendation is due to the harmful impacts that can be associated with a virtual-only school environment including social isolation, an increase in adolescent drug and alcohol use, increased instances of mental health disorders, anxiety, depression and suicide. 

For many, online learning is less effective than in-person learning, contributing to already-existing achievement gaps that may be quite difficult to close.  For many other students, online learning is a very poor substitute for hands-on instruction, including students learning technical skills and preparing for jobs in high demand following high school.  For many, many students, the safest most productive place for them is in school, in person.  Risks of COVID-19 must not be viewed in isolation from the many other risks our students face by not attending school in person.

2.      In person school can be done safely in VASD.

VASD teachers and staff worked tirelessly over the last many months to plan for a safe return to school for our students.  That includes building a virtual-only option for those students and teachers that chose that option, as well as creating a new schedule that can accommodate both virtual and in-person instruction.  We are very grateful for this work.

We are also grateful to the Verona community for making an unprecedented $190 million investment in our school facilities.  The new high school and remodeling work at our other school buildings are completed, yet astonishingly empty.  These facilities were built in anticipation of a growing district population and will be far below capacity when finally opened.  In addition, some students will indeed continue to elect the virtual-only school option.  As a result, these new facilities will have plenty of room.  There is likely no school district in the state better suited and able to offer the physical distancing safety protocols recommended for in-person schooling.  These facilities should be opened for our students to use.

3.      Continued closure of our schools and facilities to Verona students is unfair and unreasonable.

Continued closure of in-person school in Verona is unfair to our students and asks them to bear a greater burden of the pandemic than nearly all other students in the state and even some in Dane County.  Most children throughout Wisconsin have been offered the chance to attend school in person this fall and are doing so.  Most students are even participating in WIAA athletics and other extracurricular clubs and activities, as well.  These opportunities have been taken away from the students in our community.  Our students are at no greater risk to the virus, nor do our students cause a greater risk of the virus, than students elsewhere.  However, the students in Verona have been asked to stay home, to endure an inferior learning experience, to suffer from isolation and an increased risk of negative mental health impacts, and to give up the activities that help keep them healthy.  It is not fair to expect Verona students to stand still while students throughout the state are allowed to move forward.  

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and the WIAA have all supported the re-opening of schools and resumptions of athletic and extracurricular activities and provided guidance on how to do so safely, in person. 

PHMDC's attempts to close Dane County schools have been rejected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.  The decision to re-open is entirely up to you.

Please proceed to re-open our schools to in-person instruction and resume participation in WIAA athletic and other extracurricular clubs and activities.