STATEMENT ON THE REOPENING OF SCHOOLS
GRISELA A. JACKSON
TH
5 DISTRICT ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

As much as I appreciate the great efforts of NOLA Public Schools in devising
The Roadmap to Reopening Schools and the ongoing preparations by each charter
school to get schools ready to reopen, my concerns for the safety of our students,
faculty, staff, auxiliary workers, and administration have not been alleviated.
In a health crisis, the safety of the many is the number one priority.
Every single day, physicians and medical experts are learning more and more
about the impact of this novel corona virus and seeing a higher number of young
children being infected and impacted. This virus, which is unlike any other, causes
us to pose the following questions:
1. If we closed our schools in March, before the number of cases reached a
critical high, why are we reopening them at a time when the numbers
continue to spike?
2. How high do the numbers have to get before we add additional safeguards
to Phase 2, or before we revert to Phase 1?
3. What benchmarks will trigger schools to go to virtual learning?
4. Is it better to err on the side of caution now than to look back with regrets,
weeks or months from now, because we pulled the trigger too soon?
For these reasons, I recommend that the administration implement virtual
learning in all our schools, at least for the first quarter, with continuing
assessments of all the variables that are conducive to a much safer reopening.
As the board representative for the 5th District, I reserve the right to suggest
amendments and modifications to this plan, to make it as safe as possible for all
of the students and adults in and outside of the building, and for their families at
home.