Parents Respond

Parents speak out for reopening on WCAX

More on WCAX: OpenBHS opposes closure

Even more on WCAX: OpenBHS points out dangers of closure to teenagers

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"In order to avert the potential of a miniscule future risk we are inflicting actual, present harm to our children and our community through the 'abundance of caution' that is rolled out any time decision makers are afraid to take risks. In my opinion the emotional, intellectual and physical harm we are visiting upon our high schoolers will almost certainly exceed any possible harm from chemicals that have existed unnoticed for decades in this school building, along with many, many other commercial and residential buildings in Burlington and across the country and the world."

~ Matt Harris, BHS Parent

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What will be the long-term damage to our children who have now endured 7 months of sub-par online education, no teacher/counselor support and no social engagement? What will happen to those kids who are in unsupportive or even unsafe environments and a school building is their only refuge along with a good meal? How many kids will just drop out or leave our school altogether? What will happen to our businesses, our home values as the State's largest city has no high school for the next year or two?

The State has looked at one metric of student health and neglected the child as a whole for some draconian standard that not even the EPA supports. We need to bring all parties to the table and reconsider the total impact to our students.

~ Suzy Garrity, BHS Parent

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After carefully reading the results of the PCB testing, and studying PCB regulations in other states and countries, I feel totally comfortable having my kids return to school in the main buildings of the BHS campus. All of the tests from the main part of the campus (outside the tech center) are well below EPA limits (and the limits set by other governing bodies such as the European Union and the World Health Organization). The costs of keeping our kids out of school need to be weighed against the (very small) risks of PCB exposure in the main buildings of BHS. The social isolation they are all suffering seems likely to have substantial consequences for mental health. How many kids are going to drop out of school because of this situation? How many kids will forego higher education because of the inadequacy of the online learning?

~ Caroline Beer, BHS Parent

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I wholeheartedly endorse OpenBHS’s efforts to push back on the State Department of Health’s recommendation that BHS be immediately closed due PCB levels that surpassed the state's seemingly arbitrary levels. I think it is important to hear from other respected scientists in this field about what a “reasonable” threshold is and what the real-life health risks are. There are many buildings across the state of Vermont that were constructed in the same era using the same building materials that we can assume are emitting the same levels of PCBs. The state is not calling for these buildings to be suddenly shut down. This leads me to wonder how great the health risks actually are. Lots of data suggest that the health risks are minimal; that people face a greater risk getting into their cars and driving to school than being in the BHS complex.

Meanwhile students across the district are dealing each day with the very real issues that have arisen because they have been cut off from their school community. Right now we have kids who struggle to get out of bed in the morning. We have kids who log on to their classes, and turn over and go right back to sleep. We have once active kids who no longer exercise. We have kids who were college-bound no longer engaging in school and jeopardizing their futures. We have kids who aren’t getting the benefit of a “hello” in the hallway from a school counselor, letting them know caring adults “see” them. In short, the repercussions of this year will be huge. There will be kids who do not graduate. There will be kids who drop out of school altogether. There will be kids who will not go on to college. There will be kids who do not connect with a critical support that could lift them out of a difficult personal situation. There may be kids who go down a rabbit hole of depression because they feel so disconnected, isolated and cut off from a community of caring peers and adults.

I understand that students all over the country are having to cope with online learning because of Covid, and that they are facing the same potential negative outcomes as our students. But here in Vermont we earned the right to have our kids attend in-person school. We followed the guidelines, we wore masks, we opened slowly and our numbers bore that out. Kids all over the state are enjoying the result of these efforts, but not the poor kids at BHS. How unfair.

So if there is a chance, however slight, that independent research can help to get the school open, I am all in. I want the chance to follow the science. If a complete body of science shows that the state was correct in its recommendation, then the school should remain closed. But if there is solid data that shows that the state pushed too hard and the district acted too fast, then I think we should know that, too.

If there’s a responsible way to get the kids back to in-person learning immediately, I’m all in.

~ Maggie Pace, BHS Parent

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Dear Superintendent Flanagan, School Board Members and Student Representatives:

Thank you for your time and service to our community.

I was present on last night's zoom meeting and listened to the community and school board members who took positions for and against the school closure as the issue of PCB's remains unmitigated. I took particular interest in a board member's statement, comparing a decision to open the school as somehow the equivalent of behaving like the "science deniers" of our time - presumably he was referring to those who doubt the reality of climate change and believe COVID 19 is a hoax or something that can managed through herd immunity. This made me pause because I believe in science and not just when it suits my needs. But as I thought more about it, I realized that this reference is a false equivalent that is the opposite of deference to science.

I work for First Call, Chittenden County's crisis mental health agency. My job is to assess people of all ages who are experiencing mental health crisis. The numbers of students that are being seen by our agency were already increasing because of COVID. Now, I am hearing from clients, parents and clinicians that students are suffering profoundly. But you don't need to work for First Call to know this is true. You have been hearing about this suffering for weeks, and you heard about it again at last night's meeting. Many, including board members, spoke about their own children's suffering. And if yours or those you know are lucky enough to be managing well under these circumstances, consider yourselves and those children to be among the fortunate few.

How can it be ok with us that so many students are at risk and suffering due to the closure of BHS? How can it be ok that every day that goes by our kids are harmed? If it is because we have comforted ourselves with the "kids are resilient" mantra, we are kidding ourselves. Ongoing social isolation, lack of consistent extra-familial adults, disengagement, depression and social and academic regression are real and present dangers that our high schoolers are being harmed by every day. And this harm does not just disappear when the school finally opens. Already, there are repercussions that our community will be dealing with for some time. And with each day that goes by, the harm and the risk of harm increases. The only basis upon which we can justify exposing our children to this harm -- the only basis -- would be because to do otherwise would pose even greater damage to their well-being.

In the absence of clear, applicable science that in earnest seeks to calculate the hypothetical risks of PCB's to our students, teachers and staff, and weigh them against the known, consistent, troubling harm that our students are in fact experiencing, there can be no excuse for BHS to remain closed.

Every day, prior to the closure of BHS, students got in cars and buses and came to school. The risk of harm -- death -- in simply getting in a vehicle and driving to school, exponentially exceeds the hypothetical risk due to PCB's. Yet I have not ever heard it suggested that because getting to school presents a risk, we should keep kids safe and sound at home to learn remotely. Yet to do so would unequivocally reduce the risk of harm and death to our BHS community.

I implore you to make a decision based on what is best for the BHS community - not one that looks or feels right, but the one that is the most right under the current very difficult circumstances.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

~ Rebecca Raskin, Parent

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Dr. Vose,

I too am concerned about the health risks of toxic substances in our schools as well as our homes. Please note that in Burlington 80% of the homes in which our students are spending all of their days were built prior to 1980 and may well contain at least four of the chemicals EPA has taken action on in TSCA – lead, asbestos, formaldehyde and PCBs. I have removed a half dozen PCB-containing light ballasts from my basement and garage over the years. How many of these are still in homes in the city with their 10g of PCB fluid and nearing the end of their lifespans?

And what other air quality issues exist in homes that are not covered under TSCA? Allergens, mold, radon? Our homes largely are not monitored, are not tested, are not professionally cleaned. Especially with winter approaching, can you say with any certainty that the air quality in the homes of our students and staff will be better than in the school building?

My point is simply that toxicological risk does not go to zero because students and staff are at home. Is there a marginal increase in risk from being in school versus being at home? And is the avoidance of this presumed increase worth the loss of the very real benefits in-person schooling brings to health and well-being?

There is an activity deficit to not being from school. According to my daughter’s watch, she walks 12-15,000 steps every day she is in school. When schools closed last spring that number fell to around 2,000. Can you evaluate the non-cancer effects of a single year of this loss of activity? My own daughter thankfully has sports to keep her moving, but what about the hundreds of students whose activity is now confined to shuffling from bedroom to couch to kitchen all day?

Add to this the loss of the nutritional benefits the school food program brings and I am skeptical that the overall risk to the health of our students is lower from being at home.

Thanks again for your work on this difficult issue.

~ Matt Harris, Parent