The following is a digest of some of the comments read Tuesday night to the Warwick School Committee: Dear Members of the Warwick School Committee and Administration,

The decisions that have been made by this committee regarding the opening of schools and the lack of work to provide a safe environment for our students when buildings have been without students since March, is embarrassing to our community.

You have neglected the social and emotional needs of our children and you are doing a disservice to them. While many of you do not have children of your own, I do not understand how it makes you knowledgeable enough to make these decisions. Have you watched your child cry in frustration about distance learning or want to give up because they struggle with online learning? Have you given up a job you love, because you put your child’s education above your needs? Do you know what the loss of income does to a family, because one parent needs to be home to support their child? Do you understand the sacrifices that both parents and teachers are making, to provide the students of Warwick a solid education? Our children will be behind others in the state and the nation, due to your decisions.

There is absolutely no excuse for the buildings being closed since March and not one person making an educated decision, to begin a discussion about what would be needed if we were in this situation come the next school year. Here we are in September, and you just figure it out and now realize you need more time, to make it happen, because for 6 months, you did nothing. It is more important that you stick it to the Governor, and puff your chests, rather than do what is best for the Warwick children. I truly hope for the sake of my children and other students, parents and teachers in this community, that you are putting them first and if you can’t, step down. Please do better.

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Hi everyone,

I am a parent of 2 high school students, one sophomore and one senior. I also work full time for the state of RI.

After spending the last quarter of last year remote learning  with little to no teacher involvement, I expected more efforts would have been made to return our kids to school this year.

All of RI schools are showing some efforts of hybrid schedule, giving parents options but Warwick school system did not provide any options to our students and parents.

My children are both in honors classes, want to learn, want to see their teachers and friends. I understand everyone is afraid of Covid, no one wants to get it, but with the proper PPE and precautions taken, rotating these kids in school, it can be done safely.

My son, for example, has wood shop class, well guess what, how is this class going to happen. Not fair to the teacher, who obviously will not be able to teach the class from a Google meet, so the class has literally been 5-10 minutes.

I have had to change my work schedule, make sure I am home to assist them with this chaotic or lack of schedule for high school students. My kids were done this morning by 10:30. Seriously…what are they learning?

Watching other schools making efforts, teachers and administration trying, including Providence, shows me the lack of commitment to our children from our school committee. I am sure every school in RI has similar ventilation concerns, but to throw the towel in and actually not try, shows the lack of respect to our students and parents. To admit, that it will take 2-3 months, which we all know it will be longer, before these kids are back, shows the lack of effort from our school committee. Windows, doors could have been opened for the first 2 months, classes could have been held outside…just no effort at all. As a parent, a tax payer, we should be heard. These kids want to go back.

 ******

The only part of the back to school equation that the Warwick School Committee has given any thought to is the singular concern of this virus. Based on the latest data, the transmission rate for Covid in RI is 0.0004%. Which means you have a 0.0004% chance of contracting Covid, but the chances of permanent, irreparable damage to our children and families is practically guaranteed. A fellow parent, who is also a mental health counselor, sent the following statistics tome.

57% of children receive their mental health services in school. Distant learning provides zero in school mental health support.

Before distant learning, 8% of teens attempted suicide. After distant learning, 13% of teens attempted suicide.

Since distant learning, suicide hotline calls are up 800%.

Since distant learning, substance abuse in teens has increased 5%.

80% of teens entering college in 2020 report an increase in mental health issues, up from 40% pre-Covid. *****

Members of the school committee, you claim to be saving lives by keeping children out of their classrooms. Well, I’m sorry, but you are failing miserably.

I urge you to please at minimum get the elementary aged students back in school. The elementary population needs in person schooling. Virtual learning does not work for them. Parents should have the choice to either send kids to school or keep them home. Bussing should not even be an issue in the table. I am confident that most parents that are begging for school to be reopen will have no issue finding transportation. If half of the population wishes to remain home then let them have that choice as well. This will allow the district more space to spread out the students who wish to be in school. Other school districts with much older buildings are making it work. The Bristol Warren teachers union just tried to file a law suit that was dismissed by the judge. This should give you the confidence that the teachers union does not have a winning case if they oppose going back to school. We owe it to these kids to put them back in school.