Letters: ‘There’s no second chance’ if we reopen schools the wrong way, former teacher says

Teacher perspective

As a former teacher, there’s another point that supports delayed school openings. I’m referring to how some kids deal with things that scare them, especially in a large group or in a setting that is not as private as their home. The scarier something feels to them, the more defiantly and (gallows) humorously they will react to it.

It is the phenomenon we contend with during active shooter drills. The one that sees some students talking or laughing loudly despite repeated warnings that silence equals safety. Before they have real-life experiences to prove a single poor decision can endanger themselves or others, it’s more difficult for students to follow rules that constantly remind them of something scary. It is why we would see kids cough on other students, ignore social distancing, pull off other students’ masks, or even refuse to wear their own. They’re not “bad”; they’re struggling to deal with something that terrifies them.

That’s why we have fire, tornado, and these days, active shooter drills. We repeat these in hopes of training kids to default differently in those specific situations. There’s no such thing as a COVID-19 drill, and for some people, there’s no second chance to get it right.

.Andrea Rapp, Lexington

Health first

In this time of the virus, adults need to be aware of how our language affects our children. I have read articles by several authors who report that being out of school has “traumatized” our youth. In most cases this is not true. I know that children miss their friends, their school, their sports, etc. It puts an additional burden on parents to be responsible for schooling. But public school in America is a marathon, not a sprint. Children have 13 years to learn the skills they’ll need in life. Every school day is not crammed with learning. There are study halls, lunch, and assemblies. Yes, special needs children are especially hard hit, and yes, teachers not being able to report possible neglect and abuse is concerning. But there are lots of ways for parents to help kids maintain their skills — have lots of books around, turn off video games and phones for several hours, make learning fun with board games and family quiz nights. If we have a COVID-19 vaccine by early 2021, children will have missed about eight months of in-school learning. They will pick up where they left off. And they will all be healthy and well.

Cindy Frase, Lexington

Teachers aren’t sitters

I will agree that Gov. Andy Beshear’s decisions are unpopular sometimes and have made life tough on schools and their decisions regarding restarting in person learning, but for Republican legislators to be suddenly passing themselves off as the champions of education is nauseating and hypocritical.

The governor’s statewide mandate to keep schools closed wasn’t an easy decision, but I understand his reasoning. Many parents cannot return to work as long as schools are closed to students. Teachers are not babysitters, but that is what parents want our teachers to be. I understand parents’ anguish concerning their financial situations, but we cannot force teachers to risk their lives because we need a babysitter.

Today we are in the midst of a pandemic, and Americans are suffering more than people in other countries because we elected a child in a man’s body to be our president. People need help financially, and Trump should feel obligated to give it to them because this mess is his baby.

Yolanda Averette, Lexington

Schools letter comic

The open letter to the public and Kentucky schools from the Kentucky Senate GOP leadership is a joke. Their claim that they stand with schools leaders, teachers, parents, and others involved in the education of Kentucky students is laughable.

I wonder where they were when our previous governor, Matt Bevin, regularly attacked teachers, called them names, accused them of things that they could not possibly have been responsible for, and made teachers his scapegoat. They were silent. I am a lifelong Republican voter and a retired Kentucky teacher, but I joined other voters and active and retired teachers to vote Matt Bevin out of office. I will continue to follow this model until some of the still leftover, arrogant, condescending, and unyielding GOP legislators are long gone and voted out of office. From interactions with them in some of our retired teachers’ meetings and on legislative emails, some of these GOP legislators do not like being challenged or questioned about their decisions or support/lack of support of education-related topics. This is especially true of their attitudes toward retired teachers.

Rodney E. Pierce, Edgewood

USPS concerns

Congressman Andy Barr and Sen. Mitch McConnell must seriously look at what is happening to the U.S. Postal Service. If there is any attempted election fraud being perpetrated, it is by the president and his “kill the postal services” appointee. I use the postal system daily. Up to a few days ago, when I dropped off packages, they were processed and would begin their journey to the destination that very same day. The last few packages I have dropped off at the post office have been delayed and have not been checked in, or even acknowledged as having been received, till a day later. This is not acceptable and will force people to use UPS or FedEx. During this time of COVID-19, and while the post office is experiencing staff shortages of exposed workers who have to isolate from others, these changes are creating even more serious problems for not only the postal workers but for all Americans.

I understand Barr and McConnell have to support their party, but I wonder if they also have to support the rampant corruption in this administration.There is a serious lack of concern for the people of this country and they are not helping to make it any better.

Julia Harrison, Lexington

No empathy

Instead of demonstrating a cutesy sense of humor in her op-ed about Gov. Andy Beshear, Laurie Delk Chittenden bared to the world her lack of sympathy and empathy. Apparently she would like to have her “paid off property” sitting empty, tenants evicted and with nowhere to go. Her use of the term “paid off” seems to be a point of pride. I am so happy for her that she is in such an enviable position as to owe nothing. However, there are many people who, through no fault of their own, are not so fortunate. Now is not a time to stand back and bask in one’s own financial glory. Rather, it is a time to step up and help those who are not so fortunate. As our wonderful governor has reminded us, we will get through this together. The key word is “together.”

Carole Boyd, Lexington

Unsupported case

In her recent op-ed in the Herald-Leader, Laurie Delk Chittenden writes over and over that Gov. Andy Beshear is not using the 1787 U.S. Constitution, without mentioning a single case to support her argument.

I would suggest that she write about the issues she has with Beshear and state how his points differ with the U.S. Constitution rather than being redundant at a poor attempt of humor.

I wonder if she is aware that Beshear, as well as his father, is an attorney. I did not see that she graduated from a law school.

So I suggest she write her own “constitution” for humor or feel fortunate her “op-ed” was even printed.

Dena Lentz, Lexington

Missing benefits

Gov. Andy Beshear said the state has hired an outside company to shore up staffing to process the requests for assistance. The goal is to process all unresolved jobless claims pending from March through May by the end of July.

It took me 58 years to attain all that I have. It only took 18 months in Kentucky to wipe all of that away.

I bought a home and transferred my business to Kentucky in January 2019. I work in hospitals every day and they were the first to isolate. My business started to slide in January.

Last day of work – March 4

Applied for unemployment – March 29

Received my first payment – May 13

Benefits cut – June 24

I have received nothing for weeks. There’s no way of contacting anyone at the unemployment insurance office to get this resolved. I would appreciate an explanation, my money, and an apology.

My house will be on the market soon. It’s paid for and I have perfect credit. This is the only thing that I could do to provide enough funds to live on without unemployment.

It‘s moments like these when paying in a lifetime of unemployment insurance is supposed to pay off.

Sarah Johnson, Glasgow

Question everything

A recent Herald-Leader headline screamed: “State’s child care system collapsing due to COVID-19”. That headline should read instead: “State’s child care system collapsing due to the hysterical and fear-mongering approach to COVID-19”. Kentuckians should turn off the 24/7 cycle of Kool-Aid injections and ask themselves why we are allowing the economy to collapse and all of our social structures to be destroyed by a virus that kills only a small percentage of the population.

The most horrifying thing about this so-called pandemic is the ease and rapidity with which Americans are, without challenging, willing to give up their freedoms and rights. If we are forced to take an unproved, rushed, and barely safety-tested vaccine, all hope is lost.

Do the research. Question the “experts.” Our most important right is the right to bodily consent. Please don’t give that away.

Dorothy Kline, Lexington

Baffled by GOP

While I find myself in agreement with my Republican neighbors on many things I just do not understand the national leadership in their party. My neighbors talk about issues that rural Republicans have talked about for decades. When they talk about smaller governments, I think about how I believe that governments should be as efficient as possible so we are not that far apart on that. When they want lower taxes, I agree that there is no place for waste, fraud, and abuse (though I think we would have different specific examples).

This is why I have struggled to wrap my head around the behavior of some of the national leadership and silence of the rest. The obvious corruption goes on day after day without comment. The flouting of constitutional norms is likewise ignored. The continuing abomination that I truly don’t understand is the snatching of children from desperate refugee families for political purposes. My Republican neighbors’ public silence on this shameful episode is no more forgivable than my own.

While the folks around here would help anyone who needs it, the policy of the national Republican leadership seems to be “better that 10 children go hungry than one kid get seconds”.

Scott Land, Perryville