Letter: Special Board of Education meeting a disgrace
We were among the nearly 1,000 members of our community who attended the district’s 8/11/21 special Board of Education meeting, and we are appalled.
Though some of us were among the 80 or so community members who attended in person, most of us were among the 900-plus who joined virtually. Ahead of the meeting, the district communicated that eligible residents wishing to address the board must be present in person to do so. Several of us contacted Superintendent Banzer to request that this rule be changed, as the technology exists for remote public commentary (and it was employed during the 2020-2021 school year). We received no response.
On 8/11/21, the district sent another communication, which stated “Per CDC guidelines, unvaccinated individuals are required to wear masks and follow social distancing guidelines. Additionally, all attendees will be required to complete a COVID-19 questionnaire and have their temperature taken at entry.” This directive contradicted current CDC guidelines, which as of 7/28/21 actually recommend that even fully vaccinated individuals wear masks indoors in public areas of “substantial or high transmission,” as is the case with the high school auditorium.
Those of us who attended in person did not observe temperature checks taking place, and there were no checks for proof of vaccination. The board members and Superintendent Banzer were not wearing masks. Numerous members of our community who publicly tout their unvaccinated status were present at the meeting, unmasked, sharing a microphone, and cheering as they argued against universal masking, while those of us who joined the meeting remotely were silenced. In addition, due to the poor quality of the webinar (which included a range of issues, from barely audible volume, to ear-piercing static, to faulty closed captioning) we struggled to listen to the very skewed narrative taking place.
We have attended many contentious board meetings over the years, but this was a disgrace. This meeting was not an equitable or accurate representation of our district’s families. The loudest voices don’t speak for the whole of this community. How can we trust the district and BOE to make decisions about our children’s health and safety, and the health and safety of district employees, when they prioritized risk and conducted a meeting in this manner?
After the public commentary, BOE President Larry Licipoli even commended the audience members for expressing themselves in a respectful manner. But is it respectful for community members to blatantly ignore basic meeting safety rules and put their neighbors at risk? Are we expected to trust these same parents to not send their children to school if they are infected or exposed to Covid-19?
Many BOE meetings take place without a forum for public commentary. If the BOE is tasked with an important decision regarding public health and safety, it should follow the data and guidance from public health and safety institutions, and have no need to hear parents’ unscientific opinions on the issue. If the district simply wanted to give community members a forum to express their opinions, then it should have been an equitable forum. But opinions don’t matter in a global pandemic. Only facts do.
The unequivocal facts are that our Covid-19 numbers are much higher than they were at this time last year. The Delta variant is two to three times as contagious as the variant we faced last fall, nationwide, pediatric Covid-19 cases have steadily increased since the beginning of July, only about 40% of Suffolk County residents aged 12-15 will be fully vaccinated by the start of school, vaccinations are not yet available for children under the age of 12, and our district’s class sizes for students under age 12 will be larger than they were last year due to the closing of two elementary schools.
At the current state of the pandemic, the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Suffolk County Department of Health all recommend universal masking in schools. If anything, at present the BOE should be discussing the need for more layered, not less stringent protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in our district.
The fact that we are all not coming together as a community to help and protect each other and our children is incredibly disheartening. We are, unfortunately, living in a divisive and politically charged world. It really is quite simple though. There should be no “sides” at all in the public health crisis of our lifetime. We all need our children to be safe and learn in an environment that does not cause harm to students, their families, school staff and the community. A global pandemic is certainly not an individual problem, despite the spin some are loudly touting. One person’s “freedom” impacts the health and safety of all.
We need to trust our school administration and BOE to review scientific data from trusted sources and guidance from public health institutions. We need the district to err on the side of proactive caution to keep the kids and our community safe. We are concerned that important decisions are not being made thoughtfully.
At the conclusion of the 8/11/21 board meeting, BOE members astonishingly commented that the decision before them is a difficult one. We ask you: should it be?
Sincerely,
A large group of concerned parents, grandparents, and caregivers in the Northport/East Northport School District, who work in a wide range of professions, including healthcare, education, science, psychology, and law.
Editor’s note: Though the authors of this letter requested their names not be published, the lead source was verified by the Northport Journal as a Northport-East Northport district parent.
