Commentary
by David Miller
Tumultuous speculation is spreading as fast as a delta variant through our school district about whether masking and face protection will be required when the school year begins – and we hear nary a peep from school leadership.
School begins in 17 days, and even if one wants to know what the current policy is for protection against catching or spreading COVID 19 and the Delta Variant, one would have to be a genius web-searching sleuth to find it. It’s not to be found on the new and “improved” school website or their social media pages.
It can be discovered, but not easily. And, certainly not through any help provided by District leadership.
So why does the public hear wildly speculative and false information about the current school policy on outside social pages such as Nextdoor or individual Facebook pages, knowing the school leadership also reads the false information, yet lets it stand?
A nervous public, read especially parents, should be shown more respect than the masked self-gagging school leadership is providing. Parents are trying to make plans. Do you have one?
Perhaps the self-censorship is so they can measure public opinion first, with a moistened finger pointed to the wind before re-proclaiming what the current policy is. And, if that is the case they are making decisions not based on science or medical advice but on what way they perceive the political winds are gusting.
That kind of decision-making process is as dangerous to our children as debating your policy standing downwind un-masked from your un-masked vaccine denying uncle inside a school locker.
The public needs a statement from the District immediately of the current policy which should include a narrative of their intentions to stick with it or not.
Currently, there is a Board “Work Session” scheduled for August 10, the week before classes begin, yet no agenda is available for the public to see if the masking policy will even be discussed. If a new policy is announced that night, it’s awfully late.
Seventeen days before mostly unvaccinated children board school buses – the very least a nervous, mostly un-informed, un-masked, and un-vaccinated, public deserves is something, just something.
