In response to the op-ed by Lisa Ann Thomson, “Salt Lake City School Board gets an F in pandemic planning,” I would argue that Ms. Thomson should take her own advice and show up to the table having done her homework.
Like the author, I was shocked at the display by our elected officials. I agree that they should have come to such a crucial meeting prepared having done the proper research. I also think that Ms. Thomson could do the same in writing about such meetings. Her article is full of questions that she didn’t attempt to get answered before she published her rant.
She didn’t acknowledge that the district was thrown a curveball by a governor who decided his plan for school operations was a bluff. She didn’t discover that the superintendent was prepared with a plan for both distance and a hybrid model to start the year based on the county threat level. Nor did she acknowledge that no matter how much the district plans, there isn’t enough funding to get a laptop into every student’s hands, or internet into every student’s living room.
In all her preparedness, she didn’t discover that teachers are working tirelessly through the summer (with no pay) to figure out how “to ensure that 50 percent of our students don’t ghost you.”
The one decision that was made by our struggling school board was to delay the start date. This didn’t impress Ms. Thomson, but she’s not the one that needs to distribute laptops, check on internet status, ask that teachers completely reframe their profession on non-contract time, train staff to operate safely in person and effectively online, and she probably doesn’t have to answer to ill-informed opinion articles in The Tribune.
Chase Nye, Salt Lake City
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/3avBpgh
August 17, 2020 at 07:00AM
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