NewCanaanite.com recently received the following letter(s) to the editor. Please send letters to editor@newcanaanite.com for publication here.
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Dear Mike,
Recent events have me thinking of the phenomenal motto East School has: Work Hard & Be Kind. For our family, this has been the perfect foundation as to what we value. We have taught our children that in life we all have choices in any given situation. We can complain, we can create an impact for change or we can learn to live with it and move on. In light of the January 24th BOE meeting, I am choosing to work hard to make a positive impact so I spent the morning filling in my substitute teacher application.
I love this community. It’s strong, it’s supportive and we (usually) know how to play in a sandbox together. Raised voices and name-calling will not protect our children nor model how to implement positive change. New Canaan, please be kind.
For nearly two years we have had varying degrees of what we each define as ‘normal’ lives. Every single one of us has been touched or affected in some way due to the pandemic – even if it doesn’t look like it – we ALL have been affected. Let’s support each other by supporting and respecting those who give their time volunteering on our BOE and to those leading the way in keeping our children in school; Dr. Luizzi, the administration, and all the fantastic teachers/staff, and especially by taking the lead from the school nurses, HHS and experts in the Department of Public Health.
Masks are temporary. The light is at the end of the tunnel – springtime, when windows can be open and more time can be spent outdoors, when the flu and colds have also ebbed and when, hopefully, so has COVID and its’ variants. Let’s all take some time to trust that the masks will come off as and when it is deemed safest for our children, teachers, healthcare providers, etc. The experts are thinking of the bigger picture, the entire community.
Thank you to everyone who has led the way, helped keep our children in school and safe – we are eternally grateful to you.
Sincerely,
Sara Schubert
I second all of this! Thank you Sara!
Thank you for writing this Sara. I would never fault anyone for writing to the BOE or speaking their mind at a meeting. But civility and kindness matter. Lately, many people, some of whom don’t have kids in school yet, seem to have the impression that the people who lead our district are not to be trusted or don’t represent our interests. This creates a toxic environment that can ruin what makes our schools great. The people who work in our schools have done so much and it must be hurtful to be berated and besieged with angry letters. I think most families are eager to see masks come off and life return to normal. But they also know that our schools’ staff are part of our community too and are doing much the same as we would, given the state’s constraints and the latest surge. I’m also looking forward to spring. In the meantime, I’m going to send thank you notes to the teachers and staff who make West as happy and normal as possible. Maybe we can start that kind of letter writing campaign.
Thank you, Sara. I echo and appreciate your thoughts. East school’s motto is a touchstone we return to again and again in our family as well.
It’s heartening to read the recent letters to the editor written in the wake of two recent BOE meetings. They express sentiments shared, I hope, by the majority of New Canaan’s residents. Whether parents or grandparents, we all have an investment in New Canaan’s public school system. New Canaan High School has consistently ranked in the top five of Connecticut’s public high schools. The public school system here has served as a magnate, drawing families to New Canaan for decades.
Suddenly the tone and nature of discourse at BOE meetings have dramatically altered. The lack of civility and respect for board members and school administrators comes as no doubt a shock to many. The emergence of unruly school board meetings is now occurring across the country. This trend suggests a growing absence of consensus and shared purpose in educating our children, and could lead to devastating consequences.
This deteriorating situation will require more than goodwill. It will require a strong bipartisan effort by elected officials to restate their support for the New Canaan school system, its administrators, teachers and staff. New Canaan’s residents as well must work to counter this dangerous trend.
Those who create this negative environment must be shown they’re in the minority, at least in New Canaan.
36 states in this great Union do not have school mask mandates. Those states are experiencing no worse or better trends compared to Connecticut. Masks, it is proven again and again, do major harm to our children’s cognitive and social development. England, Sweden, Denmark and other countries have completely removed any and all mandates.
Remove the mandates so our children can enjoy school just as all of the children in 36 states are enjoying. If your child wants to wear a mask, so be it.