We, as parents and community members are concerned about the permanent psychological and developmental harm that another year of distance learning would inflict upon many of our most vulnerable students.

None of the options presented by OSPI currently prioritize or even include returning to school in the fall with students in school full-time.

The following scenarios should be considered:

1. Allow families and staff in LOW-RISK categories and those that prefer to be in person to return to full-time in-person learning with IN-CLASS instruction.

2. Allow HIGH-RISK groups or those that are not comfortable with the potential risks, to choose full-time REMOTE learning options with dedicated and trained staff. Distance learning has failed to engage many of our most vulnerable students, and many families do not have access to equitable resources on a daily basis.

Medical doctors are nearly unanimous in the belief that the risk of physical harm from SARS-CoV-2 is lower than the lasting social, emotional, and academic harm that results from keeping our kids away from peers and out of school.

We ask for consideration of a plan for fall that prioritizes the academic, as well as social and emotional needs of our children while balancing the individual risks of staff and families.

Here is a collection of recent data:

• Concerns regarding children's' mental health: https://www.npr.org/2020/05/14/855641420/with-scho...
• Children are rarely affected: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC72201...
• Kawasaki is not directly connected to SARS-CoV-2 in children: https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Kawa...
• Research from Oxford looking at Case Fatality Rate: https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/global-covid-19-case...
• A response to the data by epidemiologist John Ioannidis: https://bostonreview.net/science-nature/john-p-ioa...
• No Evidence of Secondary Transmission of COVID-19 from Children Attending School in Ireland 2020: https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1...
• Face Masks are a serious risk: https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/05/dr-blaylock-face...; https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/25713/202005...
• Minimal spread on surfaces: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-...
• Children are not the main drivers of disease or "super spreaders": https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ap...
• A study showing limited infectivity from asymptomatic carriers of SARS-VoV-2: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32405162/?fbclid=I...