Public comments on CCSD plan for reopening schools run gamut

The Clark County School District posted 787 pages worth of public comments online Thursday in advance of a school board meeting to consider transitioning to a hybrid learning model in January and having employees return to work sites Dec. 1.

Comments, which came from school district employees, parents, students and community members, were received prior to the 5 p.m. meeting. Here are excerpts from a handful of them:

Eric Eierdam: “The kids can and need to go back to school FULL TIME. Stop living in fear and put the children first.”

Caroline Pankonen: “I am writing to you today about the horribly written hybrid plan model that was released which will be voted on this week. I am deeply disappointed that my employer does not care about the welfare of its employees and feel it is perfectly acceptable to force employees into situations where they will easily contract the COVID-19 virus. Nevada’s numbers are spiking daily and the current positivity rate is far higher than it was in the spring and yet CCSD wants to open the schools crying mental health.”

Casey Palermo: “I love my career but I’m not sure it’s worth losing my life over, having potentially life-long health issues, or having one of my students or their family members die due to a disease spread in my classroom.”

Laura Bell: “As a 16 year teacher, this year I have never worked as hard in my life to make distance learning work and make connections with my students. To see that there may be a proposal to send teachers back into buildings before students return, IN THE MIDST OF A PANDEMIC, is completely unacceptable.”

Cassie Simons: “I am writing to you to ask you to support the reopening plan that will be presented on Thursday. I know there will be opposition, but I wanted you to know that there are teachers that support reopening. I believe we need to get our students back into the classroom. I am excited about the plan and would like it to be supported to get our students back into the building.”

Student (name not included): “I am a sophomore at Clark High School, I am opposed to the plan of returning to school. I am concerned that going into a hybrid method will be very unorganized and will create confusion between students and teacher’s.”

Contact Julie Wootton-Greener at jgreener@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2921. Follow @julieswootton on Twitter.