To the editor:

The number of COVID-19 cases is inching down as well as hospital rates. However, vaccination isn’t enough to make the Lawrence school board and some teachers unions ready to return full-time to classrooms. It seems as though the goal keeps getting moved. Early on, school was delayed to reduce the chances of transmission to teachers by establishing protective measures such as requiring masks, proper ventilation and gathering limits; now it is to protect the teachers altogether with vaccination. All is worth doing and being done. Gov. Laura Kelly was right to give teachers priority.

There is no way to get the risk to zero. In fact, data has shown that transmission is not a problem in schools even without vaccinated teachers. There is more danger of catching COVID-19 in the community than at school. Kids are suffering under hybrid learning academically, physically and emotionally. The school board has not been responsive to parents asking for a comprehensive plan and time line to return to full-time instruction. Since March, parents have been an integral part of our children’s education, but right now we don’t have a seat at the bargaining table. This virus will be with us for a very long time, possibly forever, and it is time to put Lawrence kids first.

Andrea Dawn,

Lawrence