By Samuel Strait, Reporter at Large- January 10, 2021

It seems after an embarrassing report of substantially more “D’s” and
“F’s” being awarded in the local school district, our dear leader, Jeff
Harris, has agreed to reopen the local public schools.  Granted last
Spring’s debacle should have provided ample food for thought when it did not go as advertised.  Yet, the local school district has wasted a
further half year of schooling in a vain attempt to pay homage to what
did not work in the Spring.  I don’t suppose it ever occurred to the
brain trust housed at the district office that offering on line learning
will only work if a child is engaged in learning.   Gauging by the
results of most year’s evaluations in the Spring testing, one would have
to conclude that many of the district’s students are not likely to be
engaged with academic subjects particularly while “safely” at home.

I mention the Spring test results as generally below the State Mean
Average not with pride, but as a mechanism to encourage better results
from not only our young people, but the teaching staff and
administration as well.  Still when I am greeted by words from the Chief
Administrator, Mr. Harris, where he is more concerned about Covid-19
than the dismal report out of the district regarding grades, I wonder
just exactly where his priorities are.  In a normal school year various
viruses and illnesses are a part of time in school.  As such children
are often kept from school to deal with such issues.  Teachers are not
immune to this phenomena as well.  Ever since I was a child, and I am
sure for centuries before, this was part of the risks of going to
school.  Why now is it any different, when we have been blessed with
very little impact from Covid-19, particularly in those who are school
aged youth.  Unless we have a multitude of 65 year old, or older
teachers, the risk has been clearly shown to be minimal for them as well.

At this point in a normal flu season, there very likely would have been
far more instances of illness.   When adding seasonal colds and other
childhood ailments, Covid-19 issues seem rather insignificant.  Oh,
that’s right, somehow the common flu and common cold have not appeared this season like it has for centuries….

One final thought, as we have never come close to less than 15% of ICU
capacity, why was in person schooling eliminated in the first place?