.png)
Some answers are below.
1.Why did you take the choice away from parents to send their kids to school in the fall when children under 12 remain the one segment of society that are fully unvaccinated yet you were quick to send home strong reminders that I could not send my entering 6th grader to school if he didn't have the TDAP and Meningococcal vaccines? Worry about what is material.
2. This is America, there should be choices when it comes to something like this! Period!!
3. Different strains will undoubtedly emerge. Is it possible that children were the least susceptible because we closed the schools early on in the pandemic? I still get Covid-19 positive and quarantine notifications of students and staff from the Board of Ed for my children’s schools.
What happens when the schools are again packed with children and the weather changes? Are we going to flip-flop the system and send them home when it’s convenient? And if so will they be then be able to learn virtually from home?
4. We followed your advice for 14 months. We waited as you announced each age group who was eligible to be vaccinated, and we did it. We had a safe and effective option for our youngest and vaccine-ineligible children that would continue working for the few weeks into the 2021 school year, but you removed it. You allow schools with no airflow to stick these kids 3 feet apart and to have their masks optional on hot days. All of the work we parents did, the jobs we had to quit, the stress on the kids, all of it will be for nothing if even one child under 12 gets sick and suffers for something that you can prevent. You said yourself that this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. We don't give a damn about the "statistically low chances of severe illness" in the under 12 kids. It was enough of a concern for the past year to close entire classes and buildings. It is a concern when 14 year olds who socialize are sharing buses and cafeterias in k to 8 schools. The variants are even more contagious to the younger unvaccinated! You need to use common sense and give both public and private school parents back their right to choose to virtually school until every child in school has the right to be vaccinated.
5. Which is it about control or the upcoming election?
6. You often talk about equity yet you will not acknowledge the needs of students who thrived during virtual school. Distance learning made school more accessible for many students with disabilities and medical conditions. Taking away the virtual option and forcing children back into school situations where they do not feel comfortable and their needs are not being met is creating inequity. Meet with us. Let us show you how virtual learning made school more accessible and more equitable for our children. I use a cane to walk. Taking away virtual school from my son is like yanking my cane away from me. You will cause us to fall.
7. Our kids are important people too, they are also residents of New Jersey, they should have the option for parents to choose for them to be safe until the vaccine is readily available for them. Why do you overlook their safety? A virtual option needs and should be given to us. We have sat back and listened and stood by and took care of our kids all of these months, who are you to now try to force us to bring them to in person unvaccinated? you didn't do that to the elderly, why are children any different.