To the editor,
Getting our children back to school for face-to-face education is ideally the best thing for them. Having that personal contact with their dedicated teachers is a part of the educational experience that cannot be matched by online learning. Also, being in school allows for social interaction among students, but therein lies the problem.
Can we send our children back into an environment that we know is safe during this deadly pandemic? I am dubious that our children can practice proper social distancing, especially between classes. I find it hard to picture them walking and sitting 6 feet apart.
As to a proposal previously discussed by the Naugatuck Board of Education where groups of students attend school on a 14-day rotation, it would be fine as long as the virus cooperates and keeps to a tight schedule of infection. I see that as a gamble at best. A gamble with our children’s safety.
I know boards of education are doing their best in what can only be called a horrific situation. They have our children’s interests at heart, and for that I thank them, but we must look around our country at the examples of states that have moved too soon. This crisis is far from over.
I would rather see our kids home the rest of the year than be exposed to a possibly deadly situation.
Agostino Milano
Prospect
