775 Voices on Reopening

Dear President Villescaz and Members of the Board,

Last weekend I was watching a recording of the March 11th LCAP Committee Meeting and I heard a rather shocking statement from Superintendent Kern:

“I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about models at board meetings or this. And I’ve got to tell you, it kind of feels like it’s one sector of our district and community. And it’s a very affluent group that’s coming from certain schools, and we really haven’t heard the voice. And there’s a lot of people that say to me and acknowledge that, who aren’t staff.”

It was amazing, actually, the speed with which he dismissed the concerns of parents like me by deftly painting us as out-of-touch rich kids who do not represent the general consensus throughout the district.

While I will freely admit I have considerable privilege in my life that allows my voice to be heard, I do not believe that my opinion on reopening is an outlier.

However, to date, we don’t have any data to support that assumption. So, a group of parents came together to launch a survey on Sunday night sharing that the CDC and CDPH declared on March 19 & 20, 2021 that it is safe to reopen public schools for full-time in-person instruction. The survey asked one simple question:

Do you support the immediate safe reopening of San Juan Unified School District schools as permitted by the Centers for Disease Control and the California Department of Public Health?

775 parents, teachers, and students responded to the survey within 72 hours with 95% supporting the immediate safe reopening of schools as permitted by the CDC and CDPH.

Respondents represent the geographic breadth of the district including zip codes 95628, 95662, 95608, 95610, 95621, 95864, 95821, 95670, 95630, 95841, 95825, 95826, and more.

Each respondent was offered the opportunity to share why they do or do not support a return to in-person learning. Most people provided a response. Knowing that most of these parents do not have the time or ability to navigate the public comment section of a board meeting, especially when COVID-19 is not on the agenda, their responses are provided below.

Names and other identifying information have been removed due to significant numbers of parents requesting privacy because they are district employees, they fear retaliation, or have other reasons.

Please, listen to their voice and honor their requests. Open schools now.

Sincerely,

Ben Avey

Parent, Earl LeGette Elementary School

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