A LETTER TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS---AND OTHER THOUGHTS

Dear Ms. Smith: First, let me say how wonderful it is that my boy Tommy has a male teacher in elementary school. It is so rare. I also want to acknwoledge that this has been a difficult year for you and your staff. On the other hand, let me share a few parental thoughts. In general, if you believe my son has been educated over the last year, you are mistaken. Remote education is a contradiction in terms. We were lucky to have a computer--otherwise, it could have been called no education. It has been a little over a year since the virus impacted the town, the state, the country, and even the world. I could not expect that the local school system would have prepared for this disaster.So,my child was remotely educated for the last 3 months of the 2019/2020 school year. That deprived him of all sorts of peer interaction and, as a single parent, it created a major crisis in our home life. I did expect that by September of 2020, your system would have made adjustments and minimally would have offered multiple days of weekly instruction--even if remote. But nope, Tommy continued to be fully educated remotely throughout the fall--for half days. Since January, he has gone into the school building one full day a week. Recently, we were told tht all K-8 students would return to buildings completely by May 1st. But our local teachers union has sued the state saying they have not been prepared adequately. If my math is accurate, 13 months have passed since the beginning of the crisis. What have you been doing if not preparing for the reopening of schools? Preparing lawsuits? Hiring lawyers? Plese explain why the CDC says teachers are safe to teach in person. Please explain how teachers can be prioritized for vaccinations yet still not be prepared. I have already lost my job and have to hope that the recently passed federal bail out will reach us soon. I assume you and all the teachers have continued to get paid. TOMMY'S MOTHER Moving on: --Am wondering if Cuomo will survive. Kind of believe he has done all these awful things. Also wonder why it took so long for Senator Gillenbrand to say he should step down--after all, it took all of 5 minutes for her to ask Al Franken to resign. --Speaking of Senators, can someone explain to me how the state of Wisconsin can elect a progressive out gay woman (Tammy Baldwin) to one Senate seat and elect a moron like Ron Johnson to the other? He is too stupid for words. --I'm waiting for Ozzie and Harriet to show up at one of those CPAC conferences maybe with Robert Young along for the ride. Bring back small town values and all the good stuff from the 50's. Sky King is at the airport ready to pilot your 737. --I did not watch the Oprah interview with the royals and have no time for their shit. I got enough of my own, thanks. --The Globe gave us this past week the 25 most frequently used names of dogs. The vaccinations are all screwed up here and we continue to get pet stories. --Kids are streaming across our southern border and being detained for, on average, 107 hours. That is better than the Trumpster but detaining young children is not a good idea and kind of still smells like an unplanned big time first problem for Joe. --One can only hope that the stimulus money does in fact impact low income people and enhance their lives. ONE SPORTS NOTE: I worry that both the Bruins and Celtics have the same issues--no depth and lots of inconsistency. SHALOM.