August 4, 2020

This is a response to some of the comments posted on our new public page so far. Thank you all
for taking the time to engage in discourse about this challenging subject. Unlike the D205 Board
of Education, we will not shut this dialogue down or attack the messengers. We will debate the
message.

One question that comes up is why there is a public disagreement now when there were teachers
on the planning committees. The reason is simply the evolution of the health situation. The
District surveyed parents in mid-June. At that time, many parents were optimistic that
reopening the state was going according to plan, and they expected the health situation to be
under control by mid-August. But the reality of the virus dashed those hopes.

In July, we saw increasing numbers of cases. We saw medical reports that older children can be
as susceptible to the virus as adults. Younger children can have high densities of droplets of the
virus in their respiratory systems. Younger children can spread the virus quickly to their
teachers, assistants, parents and grandparents. The health situation itself made the dreams of
June evaporate. And though teachers were serving on the committees, there is no doubt that the
Open D205 plan was an administrative decision made unilaterally, not as a negotiated
agreement with teachers. The decision reflects wishful thinking and early summer perceptions,
not unpleasant realities.

Many of the questions that are asked and unanswered now were asked and unanswered before
the plan was released. Teachers are looking for direction from the District, just as parents are.
But we are not being given a clear mission. The District promised five days per week in-person
instruction for EC-5 students. Yet too many parents found that option appealing, and now the
projected class sizes are too big to comply with social distancing requirements. So should
teachers prepare for in-person or hybrid instruction at Madison and in our elementary schools?
No answer. Teachers cannot explain what Wednesdays look like for middle school and high
school students. Teachers might have to help students learning in-person and remotely at the
same time, but have not been provided with training on how to do this, if we do this. Teachers
do not know what is expected of them in the classroom in any detail, and students are supposed
to be crowding into those small classrooms in less than three weeks.

There are hard choices to be made. We respect the opinion of those who believe that in-person
schooling is worth the risk, although we disagree strongly with that opinion. Are we risking
ourselves or are we risking the health of others whom we may not know by name? If we open
the schools now, COVID-19 will walk in the door. The virus will spread. The vast majority of
teachers do not believe the safety measures are sufficient. For example, how will contact tracing
be done? Here is what District 205 says: "​The District will work with the DuPage County
Health Department and all school staff members to provide contact tracing​." In other words,
D205 is ​outsourcing​ contact tracing to a different agency that itself will be swamped with
cases to track. There is no plan; only a number for D205 administrators to call. How fast will
this contact tracing happen? If they miss a contact by one day, that is potentially dozens of other
students at risk of infection. It is no wonder the staff has no faith in this plan. The
administration has given no reason for staff to be confident in the success of this plan. The plan
will fail. The only questions are how soon and how many students and staff will get sick first.

In-person instruction will not be what parents want it to be. Nor will it be what teachers want it
to be. What students and teachers love about school - the chance to explore, to learn, to work
together, to play together, to be physically active, to be creative and artistic, to be in a place that
cares - will be unrecognizable behind the masks and distancing efforts, even if the efforts were
sufficient.

We are calling on the Board of Education to come to the same decision which nearly every
comparable school district has made, which several districts adjacent to D205 have made... that
starting the school year with online learning will be safer than an in-person system that will
inevitably collapse as parents pull their students out after the quarantines spread.

We, the teachers, have to speak out because although the masks will cover our noses and
mouths, they will not cover our eyes, and we cannot bear to watch our students and families
suffer needlessly.

Sincerely,
Max Schoenberg
President, Elmhurst Teachers' Council