Happy 17th Day of School! (Emailed August 24th, 2021)
Greetings from quarantine ground zero AKA East Cobb! I bet you thought I forgot about you. Well, unfortunately for you, I'm a Taurus and I am nothing if not the most stubborn human on the planet.
New since the last time I emailed into the abyss of the Cobb County School District email server...
Cobb County issued a mask mandate for all government buildings. It's incredibly dire to protect our citizens right now! We must wear masks inside to slow the spread! We must keep our children...oh wait, who cares about them? They don't vote.
The mask rally held on Thursday night, in conjunction with the contentious board meeting, debunked my theory that y'all were on a Caribbean party cruise together and unable to respond to my many emails. I was really hanging my hat on that one. My kids bravely spoke their fears aloud all while old, angry men yelled in their faces about freedom. At least they got their civics lesson in.
Governor Kemp deployed the National Guard to assist the state's drowning hospital systems. Things are so bad here in the Peach State, that even our freedom-lovin', gun-totin', did-he-just-threaten-his-daughter's-boyfriend-with-a-gun-in-his-campaign-ad Governor got nervous. And yet, I sit here and watch my community struggle to absorb the impact of your complete lack of leadership. Today, your inability to stand up to the anti-mask bullies came home to roost at the Feldmans.
My sweet boy, who was just getting his footing during this giant transition from elementary school to middle school, was CC'd (yes, that's the middle school slang for when you get the close contact letter). I was so mad, I cried tears of frustration. We made it through all of last year with just one close contact for both of my children. We are now 17 days in. My son was excited about broadcast club and stock market club and doing in-person science experiments. {CUE RECORD SCRATCH} He will now be sitting at home the remainder of the week, clicking refresh on CTLS, waiting for assignments to be posted. Unfortunately, he doesn't receive any teacher support during this time. Of course, I am worried that he will get sick, but I'm equally as worried about him losing his momentum. I'd hate for him to become disenfranchised with school because he is unable to get into a routine. This will be his third, fourth, and fifth day out of school this school year-all due to exposures and COVID testing. In a normal year, I don't sweat a sore throat, but now it's off to Viral Solutions just to be sure. And this takes a day or two. I do this because I am not a monster and care about my community.
I'd like you to pause, stand up, and go take another look at yourself in the mirror. What is your purpose? Why are you putting your community through this trauma? We all want to know. If you are going to die on this mask hill, which is possible, just ask the 630,000 families left to pick up the pieces, you must provide the school children with an outlet to keep up in their studies. It's not fair to expect them to excel at school, while only attending 75% of the classes. I tried that in college, and trust me, it didn't work and I almost lost my scholarship at UF. But, I pivoted, changed my behavior, and finished the next semester with a 4.0. It's called agility.
Look, there were Civil War level battles happening in my home last year over virtual learning, but they still learned. You've got to crank up CTLS. Make it a one-way street. Let my kids at least watch their teachers. Maybe they have a chance of learning geometry, because lord knows I won't be able to teach it to them.
This is a runaway train. People are jumping off left and right. The families with the means are pulling their kids out for private school or learning pods. You are losing the talent pool that makes Cobb County Schools such a desired brand. I didn't pay triple for what my house is worth to deal with the disastrous state of the public schools here. Fix it. Fix it now. Call up Dr. Memark and tell her you were just kidding and that you WILL start to follow CDPH guidelines. This was all a very unfunny, extremely early April Fools' joke.
If you are not interested in protecting the children, teachers, bus drivers, and staff, at least think of the medical doctors who are struggling to treat all of the COVID patients flooding our hospitals. In a pandemic, every behavior creates a ripple throughout the community. And unfortunately, certain members of the Cobb County School Board by enabling the Superintendent, are throwing massive boulders into the water and walking away.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Mrs. Yoy
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