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California needs updated guidelines to safely reopen schools
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California needs updated guidelines to safely reopen schools
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By Debora Rinehart, Oakland
Debora Rinehart is a teacher in Oakland.
Re “School reopening battle hits a fever pitch”; WhatMatters, Feb. 4, 2021
Our students from transitional kindergarten through fifth grade are back at school with a plan for middle school students in grade six through eighth to return next month.
The state of California says they want students back; we want students back. We have protocols in place to keep our students, teachers and staff members safe and healthy.
This is difficult when the California guidelines are outdated. Most of the data is from March 2020. For example, students are not allowed to share books from one day to the next. Yet, we know the virus does not live on surfaces overnight. I have personally emailed and wrote letters. Yet, our governor chooses to ignore the published science.
If you want schools to open, share the data and update guidelines; we become more knowledgeable. Knowledge is power, that is why our students are back.