BOE COMMUNICATION 10132020

To the Colchester Board of Education,
I am the father of a student enrolled at JJIS. I have concerns for how the Superintendent and
Board of Education are operating during the COVID-19 Pandemic. There was a time when very
little was known about this virus and distance learning was an appropriate action- we are long
past that time.

In an October 9th, 2020 article in The Atlantic, titled “Schools Aren’t Super-Spreaders”, Emily
Oster writes:
“It’s now October. We are starting to get an evidence-based picture of how school reopenings
and remote learning are going, and the evidence is pointing in one direction. Schools do not, in
fact, appear to be major spreaders of COVID-19.”

On October 4th, 2020 a group of doctors and scientists from prestigious universities authored
the “Great Barrington Declaration.” In their declaration they proclaimed:
 - "Keeping students out of school is a grave injustice."
 - "Keeping these [lockdown] measures in place until a vaccine is available will cause irreparable
damage"
 - "Fortunately, our understanding of the virus is growing. We know that vulnerability to death
from COVID-19 is more than a thousand-fold higher in the old and infirm than the young.
Indeed, for children, COVID-19 is less dangerous than many other harms, including influenza."

In September I joined a Zoom call headed by the Superintendent where he informed parents
Colchester would not be returning to full-time, in-person learning. I asked during that meeting if
there were any metrics for returning to school full-time. The superintendent explained there
were not any metrics or criteria for returning to full-time, in-person learning. I repeat for
emphasis, the Superintendent has no plan for returning our children to full-time in person
learning.

At today’s Board of Education meeting the agenda indicates there will be discussion of a plan
for the “long-range recovery from the loss of learning during the pandemic” How could one even
begin to plan for the recovery of learning when one can’t scope the amount of damage the
Superintendent is doing- and will continue to do, to our children’s education?

It is irresponsible that the Board of Education is preparing a recovery plan, when there is no
return to full-time in-person learning plan. It is time for the Board to hold the Superintendent
accountable; parents demand a plan from the Superintendent, with detailed criteria, for a return
to full-time in-person learning.

The science is clear; the data has been collected. We are less than 60 days into a 180 day
school year- we can solve this issue now. The Board of Education needs to act to restore our
children’s education.

Thank you,
Michael Dubreuil
180 Woodbine Road

Sources:
Schools Aren’s Super-Spreaders; Emily Oster, The Atlantic
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/schools-arent-superspreaders/616669/

The Great Barrington Declaration:
https://gbdeclaration.org/