COVID19 and being a Governing Board Member

These were my words tonight spoken from my heart:

I will be entering my 50^th year of education in August and in May I made a statement that a decision to vote about graduation was the hardest decision I ever had to make.   I never realized then that I might have to make a decision that could possibly be a matter of life or death. 

I spent 38 years of my life in a school setting—17 years as a teacher and 21 years as an elementary principal.  I love working with children, educators, and parents.  I loved getting hugs and interacting with people.  To this day, I. am still in contact with many former students, parents, and educators and I value that connection so very much. It means more to me than words can express.   Nothing can replace the community that is built in individual classrooms and in schools.   I will always believe that is the best education that a child can get.   They need to learn much more than just our curriculum.  They need to be able to find out how to solve problems with others, how to play, how to face failure and how much our educators care about them.  They (and I) need hugs.  And I know that not being at school can hurt our children’s mental health.  I totally understand that.  But I would rather deal with those issues down the road than deal with death. 

When I ran for the Board, I knew that there would be times that I would have to make a decision that I may not totally believe in but that I knew that it was most important to this community that I love. I have chosen to live and work in Gilbert and sometimes a decision is made because that is what the people want. This is very different because this could be a life or death decision. I am saddened that this has become political.  There is absolutely nothing political in what I am saying right now. It is about the value of the lives of our children, families, parents and community that I care deeply about.

I have many memories of growing up in Douglas.  Most of them are extremely positive. But there are two that have always stood out to me, now more than ever.  I remember when polio was rampant and we couldn’t go to the public pool in the summer. I remember a very prominent doctor whose daughter had polio and was in an iron lung. They would bring her to Sunday Mass and I can still hear the iron lung breathing for her. She later died. I remember when a vaccine came out and how happy everyone was. I also remember when I was in third grade. My grandmother died in November.  Shortly after, my teacher, Sister Beatrice Ann died suddenly. She had been my first grade teacher and then was my third grade teacher. It was devastating as a child to lose my teacher.   I don’t want to ever put a child through this. 

With that being said, I know that I can’t and won’t make a decision that could cause even one person to die. I truly understand that going back to our schools is what is needed but that was before this horrible virus exploded in our world.    Throughout my career and life, I have felt the loss of students, parents, and co-workers. I have done more than my share of eulogies for people who I have cared deeply about.    It was devastating to say the least.  But a decision I made did not cause any death.  I have been told that children can de in a bus accident or on a field trip that we have approved.  I understand that, but that is an accident.  This, to me, is completely different.  We are in uncharted waters dealing with a health risk that we have never seen in our lifetime.

I know that tonight’s vote is only to approve the possibility of three ways in which we can go back in August.  As we all know,  there are many variables that can happen between now and August 5^th through the 17^th with the Governor’s Executive Order. I also feel strongly that things have changed drastically since we did the first surveys.   I absolutely believe that we need to follow science and metrics.  I can only hope and pray that the trend we are seeing now, doesn’t continue.  And I respect the varying opinions of the different scientists and professional organizations.  And that is just it, there are so many varying opinions on what is safe and not safe.   

Please know that these words come from my heart and my heart has always been with our children, our families, and our educators. It has been my life and that is why I continue to do what I do when I could just be retired!  I love GPS and I love being a GPS Board Member. I have been so blessed in my life to be able to serve this wonderful community at so many different levels.