Because I continue to believe in open communication with elected representatives and that sunshine is the best disinfectant, I am sharing here my email to the Rose Tree Media School District school board. I sent this tonight in the wake of our county jumping (both predictably and as predicted) from the “Low” CDC community level to the “High” level today.
Dear Dr. Dimarino-Linnen and members of the Rose Tree Media School District School Board,
I am a parent of a child at [REDACTED], as well as another child too young to be in the district’s schools and thus too young to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, Delaware County is now in the “High” community level, according to the CDC. So are all of the neighboring counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, with the lone exception of Philadelphia County, which is currently at “Medium.”
This comes three days after the Board voted to remove the 2% threshold for mandatory masking in our district’s schools. That change was proposed to the Board and presented to the community as being based in large part on our community’s “Low” community level according to the CDC’s criteria. Obviously (and predictably), we are no longer at that level. And as was the case before the Board’s vote, our district’s schools had transmission rates more than 8 times the rates in Delaware County as a whole, equivalent to 2,196 cases per 100,000 over the course of a week.
Dr. D., I am asking you to reinstate mandatory masking in our district’s schools for the remainder of the school year. We have known since early in the pandemic that two-way masking is far more effective than one-way masking, especially given that individuals may not always know they are contagious. It is simply not enough for those who are concerned to wear masks or asks their kids to do so, not with so much virus in the air. This remains a very serious illness, and a potentially life-threatening one for many parents, staff, and students in the district. Please help us protect our kids, family, and community.
Please also let the community know where parents and community members can find the recording of Monday’s meeting. In your email last Friday, you stated that a livestream link would be sent out before the meeting, as required by Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Law and Board Policy No. 006.1. Neither my wife nor I received that link.
Sincerely,
Ed Cottrell
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