Debra Robinson, M.D., Fears COVID Spread To Teachers, Students, Families Once Schools Open Monday
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — It’s not too late for parents to change their minds about sending kids to school on Monday — something they may want to consider after reading what Palm Beach County School Board member Debra Robinson MD wrote on social media tonight. Note: the capitalization is hers — she wrote this in a very conversational style. Dr. Robinson has been a staunch advocate for approaching COVID-19 school reopening from a medical perspective.
“I am heartsick. This is reopening plan is just wrong. First we are pushed to open virtually in August. Then our phased in reopening plan was rejected in Tally so we said what they wanted-parents who want to send children to school can and those that dont stay in distance learning.
We made decisions to keep the governor from cutting the budget by 20% (6-1 vote by the way) to tie ourselves to a date on the calendar instead of going back into school buildings when non-politicized public health physicians/officials said that the risk was low enough.
Just to make it worse, our plan calls for teachers to teach in person and remotely at the same time. Now who looses in that situation? The kids on the computer. and who are they? we will see. My bet is they represent the communities that see their neighbors dying of COVID. So the covid-summer-covid slide will worsen and the what? Oh Tally will cut the budget so how will we catch up the kids that stayed home to stay alive and to keep their family members and neighbors from getting sick? I digress.
So wait, where did this simultaneous mess come from? I can speculate but I wont write it. Certainly the plan that I am fighting for, the one that many of us thought would be put in place, the one that Miami-Dade is apparently doing has some consequences. But if we figure out how to match the teachers that want to teach remotely to the students that want to learn remotely, we can KEEP EVERYBODY AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE. And think about it…who is more likely to have qualifying conditions/underlying disease? older person=experienced people who better to teach the students in the most disenfranchised communities!!!!!!!!
AND EVERYBODY STAYS AS SAFE AS POSSIBLE. I think I just needed to get this out.
I read all these emails from teachers and other staff members about their medical conditions or that of a loved one and as a physician I know what it means and I know whats happening and IT IS NOT THE BEST THAT WE CAN DO!!!!!!!WE CAN DO BETTER. WE MUST DO BETTER!!!!I am still fighting to straighten this out…prayerfully late is better than neverbut it seems like I am the only one (or one of a very few) that see and know that HEALTH AND SAFETY MUST COME FIRST EVEN IF IT IS HARD!
I am praying for our staff, our students, our families, our communities. Please pray for our leadership to see the light.
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