This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated May 28, 2021
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday, May 24 that all city schools will return to in-person learning five days a week next school year, with no remote learning option. Most people welcomed the news, but some questioned the decision to have no remote option.
The pandemic has been improving. With more New Yorkers getting vaccinated, the statistics bear out that the spread of COVID is decreasing. We have all known that schools would go back to fully in-person learning and that is what everyone has wanted. The question has been when the right time would be. For that, there are different opinions.
Just as there have been myriad opinions related to COVID itself. Some have been overly careful, while others have refused to wear a mask indoors or socially distance. Two very different points of view, but even if they are the extremes, only one had the potential to harm other people.
The nation’s second largest school system behind New York City, Los Angeles, also announced that in-person learning would return five days a week for their next academic year. However, L.A. students choosing to stay home will receive remote instruction. UFT President Michael Mulgrew responded to de Blasio’s announcement raising “concerns about the safety of a small number of students with extreme medical challenges… [for whom] a remote option may still be necessary.”
The idea of maintaining a small percentage of remote students has been discussed for months, with the Department of Education contemplating whether such classes might be put together at district, borough or even citywide levels. My two sons have been remote learning since March 2020 and we have known they will be returning to the school building in September, but for some families, there are still risks.
“Anybody advocating for a remote option for a small number of students is not trying to deprive the vast majority of students from in-person learning. They simply want their concerns to be taken into consideration, as well.”
Students under 12 still cannot be vaccinated and there are some who have high-risk conditions. Some parents have conditions where they cannot be vaccinated and their unvaccinated children attending in-person school could pose a risk to them. Currently, even after the recent opt-in period to return to in-person learning, more than 60 percent of city students are remote.
A friend of mine who works in education responded to the news on social media about the next school year by saying, “This is so great for everyone it’s great for – and so needlessly disrespectful and dismissive to those families who have very specific, valid reasons why it’s not great for them.” Anybody advocating for a remote option for a small number of students is not trying to deprive the vast majority of students from in-person learning. They simply want their concerns to be taken into consideration, as well.
After this difficult time, we need to be mindful of everyone’s feelings, meaning we can help most people to move back to normal, while helping the few who have valid concerns, ease back into their new normal at a slightly slower pace. Nobody should insist that their view should be everyone’s.
I am a runner and have logged many miles throughout the pandemic. For the first time last week, someone yelled at me, “TAKE THAT STUPID MASK OFF!” Reports of this happening have been increasing lately. Two months ago, Tucker Carlson told his viewers to confront anyone they see outside wearing a mask and to tell them to take it off.
I know the guidelines have changed and I know there is nothing wrong with people being outside maskless. I have contemplated when I will stop, but I still run with a mask down, covering my mouth and nose whenever I am close to others. In part because I am so used to it. In part to be considerate of others.
New guidelines do not say everyone must remove their masks, just that people are not required to wear one. If those who have complained about mask requirements the past year-plus had been strictly concerned about the right to make one’s own personal choices, they would not tell strangers on the street to take their mask off, because that is also one’s own personal choice. We need to accept some people are in different places and respect everyone’s own personal choices as we transition back to normal.
