READERS RESPOND

Communities must help mitigate the inequities of online instruction

Liz Bowie’s recent article, “Thousands of Maryland children will fall behind academically without in-person schooling, advocates warn” (July 24), struck a chord with me. I am a teacher of English language learners at Patterson High School, the very school where Liz documented the experiences of unaccompanied minors at a Baltimore high school in her awardwinning series, “Unsettled Journeys,” in 2015. Many of us Patterson teachers have been back every sweltering start of the school year since Liz came and documented the struggles that our students face.

The students who are in danger of “falling behind” are the very students who we struggle for each and every day at Patterson High School. Yes, our students and families are facing significant struggles: lack of laptop devices, lack of experience with laptops, lack of reliable internet, language barriers and increasingly, our families face financial and food insecurity. Many of our families are scrambling to find jobs and income to keep food on the table. Yes, these students rely on their school to be an anchor of stability in their lives. The students and their families want to return to school and we, teachers and staff, want to go back to school, in person. However, the staff at Patterson know that safety comes first. We know that we cannot go back to school (in-person) while we risk the spread of COVID-19.

Unfortunately, COVID transmissions continue to rise across the nation and in Baltimore. We do not have adequate testing or contact tracing. And a crowded school building would be one of the worst places for the spread of COVID. Even with an A/B schedule, a mask policy and social distancing practices, the disease will spread. There are just too many opportunities for transmission each and every day. And as the disease spreads, the students will carry it home to their families, some of whom live with elderly grandparents and rely on them. The risk is too high. Either we teach the students in-person, or we keep our school community safe. We cannot have it both ways. Not with where we are, currently, with containment and management of the virus.

I stand by our district’s decision to open virtually in the fall. Our teachers and staff are going to do everything we can to make the virtual instruction as effective and meaningful as possible. We’ll be better prepared than we were in the spring and like every year, we’ll be energized and ready to go! If advocates are concerned about students falling behind, then we need to clamp down, lock down and get this virus under control. While we’re doing that, our communities need Wi-Fi access and laptops, as well as food and financial resources. We all need to do everything we can to mitigate the inequities that are real and present. But safety comes first.

Vince Tola, Baltimore

In Portland, protesters and city officials must team up to deal with fed invasion

Peaceful protesters and Portland, Oregon’s elected officials could achieve both their separate and common goals by working together (“US Attorney says feds will remain in Portland until ‘attacks’ end — and more officers may be on the way,” July 27). The two entities have a common adversary and they would benefit by both cooperating and focusing on free speech, the mistreatment of minorities and the constitutional protection of cities and states from unsolicited, politically-motivated federal invasions of militarized incognito troops or police.

On one side are the demonstrators and local officials who live there and both share these concerns while President Donald Trump and those few protesters who aren’t peaceful violate the law and harm federal property site share a desire for chaos for different reasons. Negotiations, strategies, compromise and cooperation would all be required and their combined actions and demonstrations could be guided by legal advice that denies their adversaries phony fig leaves and justifications.

Good faith discussions and deliberations could produce legal demonstrations that include the Portland mayor (again), local police side-by-side as protectors, Black Lives Matter demonstrators and concerned local citizens, none of whom wants their fears realized, their friends battered and bloodied, and their right to assemble, protest and govern all shredded. The community, local officials and the vast majority of demonstrators would all win a significant and historic victory.

Roger C. Kostmayer, Baltimore