Reopen safely, students priority

To the editor:

Students, teachers, educators and administrators have all been working beyond their means toward a safe and responsible start of the academic year.

For all the work and entreaties that all parties have made, what we have is an imperfect solution.

And to be clear, it is an imperfect solution because we live in an imperfect world where COVID-19 remains a real and serious threat to everyone’s health.

This is not an indictment of any parties involved, only an earnest assessment of the reality that this virus continues to spread and remains an omnipresent risk to individual’s health and safety. It further reiterates the need why we should consider delaying in-person learning until January.

The latest update from the city’s education department is the second time schools have been delayed, and marks the third such delay overall. Students are only set to attend in-person for two or three days a week during a fall term during which the length of a class period may be shortened in order to sanitize and safely transition students and teachers.

With a delayed start to the academic year already delayed until mid- to late September and early October, and the number of scheduled official religious and recognized holidays between now and the end of 2020, the total number of actual days that students will really be present will be roughly two months in total.

No one disagrees that full-time in-person learning is best for students. But given the high rate of COVID-19 transmission and the start of the flu season, we are adding more variables to the equation. This will only further exacerbate the public health concerns that many have, especially when none among us want to expose students, teachers, administrators, public employees and their families to COVID-19.

There is not a simple solution to this issue. But from what we have seen so far, the externalities of COVID-19 and the resulting school building closures, quarantining of students, teachers and administrators, and impacts on households is profound. The reality is that there is too much uncertainty despite all of the extraordinary effort of all parties involved to stand up our public education system for the start of the 2020-21 academic year.

There will be those who will agree, disagree and vehemently disagree with this supposition. But it is a consideration we cannot summarily dismiss as much as we may want to return to a semblance of normal life.

I know that this has been part of conversations in other realms of education here in New York City, and I want to encourage city leaders as they have demonstrated to take all possible options into consideration and ensure safety precautions that meet the standard everyone in public education expect and can be delivered.

Adriano Espaillat

The author is the U.S. Representative for the 13th Congressional District, which includes parts of Kingsbridge Heights. A version of this letter was originally published through Patch.

Have an opinion? Share your thoughts as a letter to the editor. Make your submission to letters@riverdalepress.com. Please include your full name, phone number (for verification purposes only), and home address (which will not be published). The Riverdale Press maintains an open submission policy, and stated opinions do not necessarily represent the publication.