I’m appalled at the Messalonskee school district’s plan to have all students return to school five days a week. Other than a 100% remote option, which most parents can’t provide because of work schedules, this is the choice they are dealt. This plan appears to have been implemented way before parents were brought on board, with little communication and transparency to keep them informed along the way.

I find it hard to believe that the health and safety of children, much less staff, is of the highest priority in this decision making. What kind of arrogant adults believe this is the safest way to start a school year during a pandemic? It feels more like a science experiment with kids as guinea pigs.

You can be certain that they had not heard from all concerned parents, outside of last-minute surveys, since many were not even aware of a limited Zoom meeting or Facebook Live forum recently. They were deaf to feedback. When the school board met, two days later, no public notification was sent to parents. This was just a formality to approve a starting date.

With this lack of timely information, questions unanswered and concerns not addressed, how can we trust that they have kids’ safety as their priority? How can anyone be willing to offer this plan and gamble with kids’ lives? I am well aware that the ideal would be to have kids in school five days a week, but an ideal is not good enough to push this through. We all know that if an outbreak occurs, it could easily spread within school walls. This is an irresponsible, arrogant decision that is putting students and staff in an unsafe, risky position — and two of those kids involved are our grandchildren.

Louise Neault

Augusta