Scarsdale Resident Asks State Officials to Represent Children

This letter was sent to County Executive George Latimer, State Senator Andrea Stewart Cousins, State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin and NYC Health Commissioner Howard Zucker from Scarsdale resident Colby Mulvey.

I am a parent of two children in the Scarsdale School District, one in 6th grade and another in 3rd grade.

I write to you today to plead with you to please use your office and your voice to put pressure on our Superintendent and our Board of Education to open the schools full time for our students, who have suffered enough.

After listening in on the Rotary Club session with County Executive George Latimer, who was kind enough to take questions and listen to concerned parents, my major take-away is there is no one in a position of power who has spoken for our children. Our children, our most vulnerable and precious citizens. They have no union or board seat, and it has become clear that most people in the local and state governmental offices find it much too easy to point to someone else and say, “It’s them that you need to help you. My hands are tied, I can’t make those rules.”

And that may very well be true. Maybe you can’t force Governor Cuomo to amend the guidelines that say children and staff must maintain 6 feet of distance in the schools, which is what our district is holding up as the main barrier to getting our children back in school where they belong. Maybe you have no official authority to tell our Superintendent that he should have spent more time and energy sourcing and procuring the barriers needed to get so many more of our children back in the classroom. You may not be the one who can change the rules and force change, but you hold a position of power, your words have power, your influence has power, so for Godsakes... use that power to help these kids. They need to be in school, full time, as soon as possible.

I won’t link you to every article I’ve read in the last two weeks reporting that officials at the CDC and most studies have come to believe that schools can reopen safely. I won’t make you suffer through the heartbreaking links to articles explaining the horror in Las Vegas, where 18 children have taken their own lives. I’m sure you’ve seen and read many of the same stories that I have. I simply ask that you read the studies and the reports that have shown, over and over again, schools are not a major source of viral spread. School is a safer place to be than almost anywhere else, for both students and staff. . Please think about these scientific facts long and hard, and then speak up and speak out. Let our intractable and stubborn school administrators hear your voice, loud and clear, on the side of the children. Let the many teachers who want to be back in the classroom doing what they love, know you support them.

We are just parents out here, fighting for our children. I’m not an expert on who makes the rules in government. That’s why we hired you. So please, use your knowledge and the power of your office to make an actual difference and take an actual stand for the people in your community who need it the most right this moment, the children.