Do what is safe, not the most convenient

Editor: As a parent and as a teacher in LUSD we need to practice what is safest, not what is easiest when going back to school.

As a teacher it is easiest if we go back full time with all of our students. I have taught for over 20 years and it is what I know and it is what I am comfortable with. But it is not safe at this point. For me to be in a room with 34 students with no guarantee of sanitizer, masks, and social distancing, it is not safe.

As a parent it is easiest for me to have my own kids back in school full time so I do not have to worry about who will pick up my kids when I am teaching but it is not safe. It is not safe for them to be back full time in packed classrooms without safety precautions and it is not safe for their teachers.

It is easiest to believe that our students will not get sick, will not spread the virus unknowingly, that their contact with other students and adults will not add to increasing numbers in our community. But given the nature of humans desire to interact and the nature of this virus I am afraid that what is easiest is not what is safest.

I understand the desire to go back, on an emotional level and an intellectual level but let’s take it slow, put safety precautions in place, model practical behaviors and then only reopen fully when it is safe to do so.

Because our district decided to go back full time I will do everything I can to ensure a safe environment knowing that every time a student or staff member comes on campus that they might unknowingly bring the virus with them and that we are not doing enough to prevent it.

As a teacher it is daunting to think about all of these changes I am responsible for as we return to school but I am prepared to do what is safest for our community, not what is easiest.

BETH OESTERMAN Lodi

No honor in the Confederate flag

Editor: On July 4, Americans proudly display our American flag, a symbol of our heritage and our freedom. The colors of the flag were first determined by the Continental Congress to apply to the United States Seal.

Red signified hardiness and valor, white purity and innocence, and blue signifying vigilance, perseverance and justice. Today this application has come to be associated with our flag which represents the 50 states of the United States of America.

Each year we fly our flag in remembrance and celebration of those founding fathers who fought for freedom of the original 13 colonies, established a republic, and devised the rules for our democracy in the Constitution of the United States.

The Confederate flag, on the other hand, was used by the seceded southern states who called themselves the Confederate States of America who supported a war against those northerners who upheld their allegiance to the American flag. It is difficult to understand why some Americans today would honor monuments to members of the Confederacy who were in fact traitors who took up arms against our national flag.

Supporting monuments and confederate generals is sometimes called being faithful to southern “heritage.” However, that heritage reflects support of slavery and a rejection of the American flag in favor of a flag that truly represents a “lost cause.”

There are those who complain that if we remove these monuments why shouldn’t we remove statues of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson as they were slave owners. I would simply suggest that neither George Washington nor Thomas Jefferson ever took up arms against this country and our flag.

With all of our flaws, our republic is the greatest democracy the world has ever known. However, it is important to remember the quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin when he was asked whether the Constitutional Convention had created a monarchy or a republic. His reply: “A republic, if we can keep it.” CYNTHIA NEELY

Lodi

Can you really distance kids?

Editor: With the big discussion about going back to school and how to distance and clean the schools I have to laugh because when I go down to Lodi Lake I see large groups of what looks to be junior high students all shoulder to shoulder swimming in the river and hanging out.

Why bother with the sterilization and distancing at the schools when this is going on outside? I also asked myself about the safety of the kids and adults at school who are continuing to social distance and wear masks, what happens to them when they are mixed closely with people who are not being careful?

DEBORAH WERTER

Lodi

Do all Black lives matter?

I’m sure everyone saw the outrage and huge protests last month in Stockton when another innocent Black person was murdered, The streets were full of protesters and numerous buildings were looted, vandalized and burned.

Actually, none of that happened. The innocent person killed that I am referring to was a 7-year-old little girl named Billie Williams and her father is charged with her death.

Unlike some of the other Black people killed recently, little Billie didn’t have a police record, she wasn’t killed by the police nor was she resisting arrest. She was just an innocent Black child that never had a chance to grow up. No outrage. No protests.

So, do all Black lives matter or just the ones that are conveniently used to push a political agenda? Mr. Floyd’s death was tragic, unnecessary and avoidable and the police officers involved will be made to answer. But rather than trying to defund and destroy our police departments and make their jobs tougher to do, if citizens would just respect the law most of these tragedies would never happen.

When people resist arrest, for whatever reason, they risk escalating a situation and sometimes the result is a horrible outcome.

Every occupation has bad players. Bad doctors, attorneys, stock brokers, clergy, teachers, contractors, and yes, police departments. All of these occupations should welcome the opportunity to remove people from their ranks that abuse their positions and fail to live up to the basic standards of ethics and morality.

So, again, do all black lives matter? Of course, and without being trite, so do most other lives. I draw the line at terrorists, cop killers, and those that murder little children, whatever color they are.

RICHARD WRIGHT

Lodi