Could’ve avoided that

These are frightening times. It’s difficult to know who to trust. Thankfully, with each wave of the virus, the reporters at the Democrat-Gazette have made sure that people know the facts. Masks slow down the spread. Vaccines can lessen the chance of serious cases. Numbers are skyrocketing. People continue to die. People deny such facts at their own peril … or to the peril of others … which is why I write to you.

We have five young children. For the last week, we have openly wondered whether our children would be able to go back to their Little Rock School District (LRSD) schools. As numbers continued to skyrocket, we assumed that virtual learning was a foregone conclusion. Then, we received a message to the contrary late the night of Jan. 4. Without many other options, we were forced to take our kids to school. Only a few short hours later, we were told that LRSD was going virtual.

Honestly, it wasn’t shocking when Superintendent Mike Poore made the announcement. This is what should have been done in the first place. What is shocking is that Superintendent Poore exposed all of our children to this wave of the virus so that he could recheck the numbers in real time.

Well, if he had just read the Democrat-Gazette (and a whole host of other outlets), he would have known that the current spread of the virus was very dangerous and not conducive to large gatherings of people. Now, our family (along with countless others) is left to sit at home (with our LRSD lessons/computers, of course) and wonder whether or not every runny nose, cough or sneeze is a manifestation of a deadly virus … when Superintendent Poore very easily could have made this decision before they were forced to attend school in the first place.

JEFF HOOD Little Rock