Dear Mr. Carruth,

I cannot understand why on earth you would choose to force schools to reopen hybrid/in-person instruction during the greatest COVID-19 surge we’ve seen to date in our community. This decision is morally, ethically, and practically wrong and utterly indefensible. Our students and teachers deserve better protection and care from our school district. Below are just a few examples of why schools should not be reopening for any in-person instruction so as to protect our precious children and their amazing teachers:

•Arizona Has the Highest Rate of COVID-19 in the world, data shows:
“Newly confirmed cases is not the only metric that Arizona leads the world in. According to the same dataset, Arizona is also leading the world in new COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 people over the past seven days.”
See https://www.abc15.com for above article.

•Covid “Long Haulers”: some who first saw mild symptoms experiencing debiliatating problems months later:
“Many patients, especially those between 40 and 50 years old, who have suffered milder COVID-19 symptoms, are now showing up at the doctor’s office months later with puzzling and debilitating problems. It’s officially called post-acute COVID syndrome.”
See https://abc7.com for above article.

•Almost a third of recovered Covid patients return to hospital in five months and one in eight die:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/01/17/ for above article.

I implore you to reconsider this decision for the health and safety of our entire community.

With gratitude,
Heidi Martell

Hello Heidi,

Thank you for sharing these articles with us and for taking the time to voice your concerns.

Fortunately, VUSD has three learning options for parents to choose from. Completely remote, Brick to Click, and hybrid. If you children are currently enrolled in hybrid we will be happy to move them to Brick to Click or to the Vail Innovation Center. Just let us know.

Darcy Mentone, Vail Unified School District, Director Of Communications and Public Affairs

Hello Darcy,

Thank you for your response. The challenge is that with the majority of students returning to hybrid classes, teachers focus on the in-person majority. Our sons can’t hear, see the board or participate in educational activities that can only be done in person. They learned so much more when all students were online and teachers did not have to try to split their attention and rather planned all lessons and activities appropriate for online learning.

With Gratitude,
Heidi Martell

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