To Whom It May Concern,
And let me start by saying it does concern you.
I write to you today as a parent who yes, is frustrated. Who yes, is angry. Who yes, constantly questions the decisions coming down from the top with regards to getting our kids back in school. I write to you today with the full intention of admitting that I am not educated in all the ins and the outs; I cannot spew scientific stats; I am not going to yell and call you names.
I write to you today as a parent who feels as though the only choice she has is take pen to paper and hope at the very least your eyes have not glazed over these words. I write to you with sole intention of being heard. It’s the very least I deserve.
I have two middle schoolers; one who began her journey to middle school in distance learning and one who will finish his. One who finds it harder and harder to get out of her bed each morning and one who simply goes through the motions of his “school” day. One who roams the house with her school issued device because to be still for four hours is too much to bear; the other concentrated solely at his desk, his body stiffening each hour that passes as he stares at the blue light radiating always. When this school year began, we all lived with hope that soon….very soon…our kids would be granted the right to go back to the classroom, even if just for a few hours a week. We breathed that hope letting it suffocate us. Parents furiously texted and chatted back and forth, some of us optimistic, others proven rightly to be not as much. We rearranged our lives believing that surely if one could Soul Cycle, kids could go back to school. Believing that surely if one could dine out, kids could back to school. Believing that surely if they can open Disneyland, kids could go back to school. That if schools across the nation can open their campuses back up safely, surely our school would stand up to those who deny us this right. Surely our school would think outside the box; take advantage of large outdoor spaces and year round warm temperatures. Surely there is something…anything…that can be done.
Instead here we are almost a year later feeling as hopeless as ever. I watch as the spirit slips from my daughter, as the motivation falls from my son, and I grieve for them each day. What can heal them is forbidden to them. What can help them is being rejected by those whom it seems self interest forever trumps the greater good.
I watch each day as kids gather together, roaming the streets, unmasked, unprotected. I do not blame them. We have stolen everything from them. Everything. Yet doesn’t it seem so silly that the idea you’re selling us is that they’re safer away from school? Away from regulations and safety precautions? That they’re safer away from the very thing that can save them? There is only so much we can ask these kids to sacrifice yet they keep being asked over and over and over and over and over. We’re losing kids to suicide, to depression. To the confines of isolation. Kids have forgotten the very things they used to love; the activities and hobbies that kept them engaged and boosted their mentality. Not all of our kids have an escape with expensive club sports or second homes in the mountains. Not all of our families can even entertain the option of private school. And they shouldn’t have to. THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE TO.
I know nothing will be done because of the words I write to you today. As I stated, my sole intention is simply to be heard. But as you read this, I want you to understand that the kids are wilting. They are regressing. They’ve lost hope in you. The domino effect this will have on them in years to come is too terrifying to ponder. There are no easy answers. I am assured that you care about these kids and that you are working harder than ever to maintain this unmaintainable learning model. But the fact remains that there are questions as to whether or not our kids will even be back on campus come September 2021 and that is absolutely unacceptable. Yes we must protect our teachers and staff at our schools but why are we all being asked to continue day by day with these unreasonable circumstances for almost a year now while union demands that seem unattainable, unreachable and unrealistic dictate the future of our children? Why are our kids the forced sacrificial lambs? They’re not blind to the world marching on as we trample over their discarded potential. They’re not blind to the gross mismanagement of their education. You owe them, at the very least, an explanation as to why their well being falls below so many others.
So I write to you today because it’s all I have. Just pen to paper. One of a million tired, worn out, deflated voices.
I hope you heard me.
