An Open Letter to the Leaders of Wake County Public Schools

 

I feel defeated. I cannot stay quiet. And I know it's not just me. 

I found myself creating a petition to support your decision to continue mask mandates for WCPSS and then creating a Facebook group as a community for parents to support each other during this time. I tried to remain positive, supportive and confident in the state of our schools. 

Now, I must say what my heart is screaming. Not to be negative or demeaning, but to share what I see. What we've experienced and what we continue to experience. 

Here we are, nearing two years into the COVID-19 pandemic and I'm entering my second year with my three boys (ages 6, 9 and 11) learning virtually at home. Yes, I pulled my children from WCPSS. This year, we tried sending our rising sixth grader to middle school in person. The fear he felt daily, mostly in the cafeteria setting, brought about nightly panic attacks. Nightly. For weeks. 

With no resolution in sight, we pulled him from WCPSS again and I set out to help push for proper, layered safety measures in our schools. Because I want my children back in public schools. That's where they should be and need to be. 

Now, though, after months of advocacy work around safety measures for COVID in our school district, I'm left reeling. We are no where different today than we were when I created that petition.

They say history repeats itself. And for me, this feels true. This entire fight and around-the-clock work to push you all to do the right thing is history repeating itself. For my family, at least. 

You see, one of my boys has life-threatening food allergies. I started a petition when I learned WCPSS only cleaned tables with water. Parents were shocked to hear of this. I presented to the school board. Only two of you even bothered to write me back. Somehow water was enough during a terrible flu season, or when food proteins invisible to the eye could send children into anaphylaxis. 

We had to hire an education attorney two years in a row to have the proper guidance in order for your district to give my son the 504 he is legally entitled to. Three years later, I found that we were one of so many families getting the same run around from the district health services team. All because we wanted our kids with food allergies safe. Do we see a pattern here?

I approached the Disability Rights NC legal team with this situation. And guess what? They took on not just our case, but a handful of cases. Because the WCPSS school district had a systemic problem around food allergy management. Asking for handwashing and table cleaning is, in fact, legit. But after hours upon hours of meetings with your staff and our attorneys, you left me feeling so angry and heartbroken. 

Asking to clean tables, even with simply approved bathroom soap, was 'not possible' and 'can't happen'. (I kid you not.) Asking to have hands washed by classmates after eating was 'violating other children's civil rights.' (Our attorney laughed at this one.) This district granted some students table cleaning and handwashing with no pushback, while some (like us) were met with pushback. There was no transparency around what was doable or not. There was no across-the-board measures for safety. 

Sound familiar? Sound ironic? Now everything we were told was never possible is being done for COVID (and I'm glad), but why not for the 10-14% of students that were already in a dangerous environment? 

The irony doesn't escape me. And I try to not be bitter. But I was belittled and treated like some kind of over-the-top parent asking for clean tables and hands to protect my child's life. Your staff showed no care or concern. None.

That time period was mentally and emotionally exhausting. I watched my son stop eating at school, realizing he was not safe. Just like I sent my middle schooler into that building this year and watched him be afraid because he was not safe. This is not ok. None of this is ok.

I will never stop fighting for what's best for my kids. And when talking about these issues, what's best for my kids will benefit others. Why show no action? Why remain silent? Why not do the right thing? 

I ask you that again tonight. 

Why not do the right thing? You know what these things are. Once again, they are detailed and laid out for you. Guidelines. Recommendations. Toolkits. 

Just tonight during the school board meeting I heard over and over the words 'follow the guidelines'. For the record, I'm immensely grateful, as are the majority of WCPSS teachers and parents, for the continued mask mandate. 

I just cannot grasp why you stop there. 

• Why are you behaving as if the pandemic just landed in your lap yesterday? Or maybe three board meetings ago?
  
  
• Why did we miss the deadline to opt into the free NCDHHS testing program for schools, opt-in late and are not currently testing students like other NC school districts? Why was this not mentioned or updated on during the most recent board meeting? Is there an update?
  
  
• Why are we not, as the largest school district in NC, taking a strong 'test to stay, test to play' approach?
  
  
• Why are our teachers afraid to speak up with their very valid concerns for fear of their jobs, when they are risking their health to teach our children?
  
  
• Why are decisions and recommendations pushed to the school administration level versus coming from the district as a list of mandatory protective measures? 
  
  
• Why are you adding this to their overflowing plates when you can make the important, recommended directive for all schools?
  
  
• Why are you sitting on the vaccine mandate and/or testing situation for teachers and waiting for the Federal program to trickle down? 
  
  
• Why are you allowing some schools to raise money for outdoor seating and proper air filtration units, while others cannot afford these extra safety layers? 
  
  
• Why are you excusing the lack of outdoor space based on supply issues when you knew months ago these should be ordered?
  
  
• Why are you looking the other way when parents and PTAs and Foundations are funding the very layered safety measures you are recommending but not providing?
  
  
• Why is inequity ok here? Why can one child's school have outdoor seating (provided by parents) and air filtration units (provided by PTA) while others cannot? Lower income areas will be hit hardest here. All children should have equitable safety.
  
  
• Why are students sent home to quarantine without any real instruction?
  
  
• Where is the transparency? Why is everything 'discussed' but rarely 'decided'?
  
  
• Where are the ESSR III funds allocated that they cannot be used for relief needs now? 
  
  
• Why are positive cases such a secret? Again, transparency goes a long way. 
  
  
• Why does the dashboard never match up to real-life accounts of positive cases shared among parents?
  
  
• Why are the exposure guidelines still 6 feet for 15 minutes within 24 hours when this is not applicable to the Delta variant?
  
  
• Why are you not considering the long-haul cases of students who have become infected with COVID-19? 
  
  
• Why are you not thinking beyond the walls of that school and considering the impact of a COVID case or exposure on a teacher or student's family?
  
  
• Why is the Virtual Academy program understaffed and not open for those at high risk during the recent surge?
  
  
• Why are you not using the relief funding granted to you that is unspent for just that -- relief?
  
  
• Why did any of you allow this school year to start and students to enter these buildings with only masks in place to protect the kids and staff, especially with no vaccine eligible for those under age 12?
  
  
• Why are vaccine mandates not in the works for those who can be vaccinated?
  
  
• Why do you not understand the critical importance of planning ahead? 

These questions are not just my own. I hear them daily. And I hear the results of your inaction. Almost hourly, for months, from those in our WCPSS: COVID Safety & Support group. Or in my private messages because teachers are too scared to speak out.

This school district, in my experience, is negligent when it comes to health and safety. This school district's leadership lacks actual leadership. Members of the school board, push staff for tighter, stronger guidelines. Also, listen to those on your board who understand the situation, who crunch the data and ask the hard questions. And for those that sit in near silence week after week, speak up! 

Decide what is the next right thing. Decide to do that next right thing. Do it with urgency. And protect our kids to the fullest extent possible. 

While you wait out this surge, with the inaction that I'm all too accustomed to, how many have been sick or will be sick that can be traced back to the schools? While you take your time from one meeting to the next, not acting on any of the guidelines or research you know should be in place, how many students are impacted? How many families? 

We are the largest school district in this state and we are failing our kids. And by we, I really mean you. 

We speak up. We sign petitions. We write. We give public comment. We conduct surveys. We push as hard as we collectively can as parents, and nothing happens. What more do you need us to do? What can we do to make things happen?

So yes, I feel defeated. I feel triggered, emotionally. But more than that, I am worried for the future education of my children and their safety.

If you, one year into a pandemic, could not start this school year with layered protective measures in place for every single school and student, how can we trust what comes next? While you wait for this surge to pass, we wonder what this pandemic will hand us next. Have you considered that? 

Nothing I have seen leads me to feel confident in the WCPSS district collective leaders' ability to properly handle this. Nothing I have experienced in the past adds to that confidence. 

We built our dream home downtown. We moved in earlier this year. And I am already considering getting out of this school district and moving to one of others nearby that are already leaps ahead of WCPSS with COVID policies, and food allergies for that matter. 

I will not risk my kids to the situation that exists right now. One of them is high risk. Thankfully, I'm in a position that I don't have to send them into your school buildings this year. But that is not true for the majority of others. And that's weighing heavy on my heart.

When life hands you a pandemic, you figure it out and do your best. We need you to do your best for our teachers and students. Lead with foresight. Lead with urgency. Lead with best-case and worst-case scenario plans. Lead proactively. 

Please don't continue to let us down. The students, teachers, staff and administrators at our schools deserve so much better.

With respect,

Kira Kroboth

Mom of 3 would-be WCPSS students

* There are leaders at the district level, that I respect and know they see the same issues we see. I appreciate them for that. How to get the rest to take action, see urgency? I'm not sure. But I'm thankful for those that are listening to us and speaking out.

** Teachers, school administrators and staff and bus drivers and substitutes are our heroes here. But many are concerned and afraid. They see what we see. They are underpaid and overworked. They are, in some ways, swamped due to the lack of strong decision-making higher up. This is not ok.

*** I realize our state came into this pandemic with a disgraceful lack of funding for education. This situation is only making the current scenario worse. I encourage you to look into ways to support our public schools and advocate at the state level. If you need to know where to start, reach out.