Dear Superintendent Ewert,
Of course, you are aware of the current situation: COVID cases have reached 1.08M (updated January 12) in Colorado, and 123K cases in Arapahoe County. This is the largest number of cases we’ve ever had, and most of these cases are due to Omicron. According to the CDC, Omicron spreads more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 virus. Even though the common knowledge is that Omicron is not as severe (although there is not enough data to officially support this), there can still be breakthrough cases even with a fully vaccinated individual (CDC, 2022). According to the CDC, Omicron has “the ability of the variant to evade immunity conferred by past infection or vaccination” (CDC, 2022). This means that everyone is fair game.
Unfortunately, we cannot fully trust students and other people who enter the building to stay home if they are sick. I have been surrounded by students in my classes who are not feeling well but have not gotten negative COVID test results yet.
This district has even said they are no longer sending out exposure letters because of the sheer volume of exposures. If there are so many exposures, why are we still at school? COVID is still unknown and it could be dangerous to keep us at school. Colleges, such as CU Boulder, are already starting off their semester all remote.
Because of the number of teachers getting sick, we have needed a large volume of substitute teachers. Unfortunately, there are not enough substitutes for all the sick teachers. We have had the director of secondary education come to Littleton because our principal was sick. We’ve had other teachers on their off-hours subbing classes. Another teacher could not get a sub so she logged onto a Google Meet and taught from a TV.
To solve this problem of rapidly spreading cases and understaffing, I propose we go all remote for one week, at least at the high school level. I am aware there is concern about student mental health, but I do not think a week away from school will have too many long-lasting effects. As a student, I also know that synchronous learning was not effective or productive, so that would not be a great use of the week. Teachers can assign work for students to do on their own but still be available if the student has a question. For students who cannot complete school at home, the building could be open for them to use Wi-Fi and get lunch, but they will have to be asymptomatic and be as socially distanced as possible.
I hope you take my concerns into consideration, for they reflect a large portion of the student population.
Sincerely,
A concerned student
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