Nampa High School teacher urges ‘necessary precautions’ to keep schools open, in-person
As students prepare to head back to school in a matter of days, a Nampa High School teacher is encouraging others to take precautions so kids can be in school, in person, all year.
During a news conference Thursday, Aundrea McNutt, who teaches Spanish at Nampa High School, talked about how difficult the past year was for students, who had to quickly adjust to new learning models as the coronavirus forced schools to go from remote to hybrid to in-person.
“This coming year, I hope to have my students in class full-time for the entire year. But I know that my hoping will not be enough,” she said. “Please take necessary precautions to ensure that schools can stay open fully all year round.”
Her comments came at a news conference at Nampa High in which Gov. Brad Little urged more people to get vaccinated as coronavirus cases rise steeply in the state and health officials warn about how contagious the delta variant is.
School districts in Idaho aren’t requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for students. A vaccine hasn’t yet been approved for children younger than 12. But vaccines remain a key tool to slowing the spread of the virus and reducing hospitalizations.
“Our main defense in ensuring the new school year is entirely in person, free from outbreaks and quarantines, is the COVID-19 vaccine,” Little said.
Kids who get the virus in school could pass it to others, and outbreaks could force mass quarantines causing widespread disruptions at schools.
Most school districts in the Treasure Valley are also starting off the year without mask mandates. The Boise School District is the exception, after its board last week reversed course and mandated masks for everyone indoors, regardless of whether they were vaccinated.
Over the past year, McNutt said she has watched the impact of online learning on her students and her daughter. She talked about how her daughter cried when she found out she wouldn’t be able to do her end-of-year performance for her music class.
“I watched my students thrive in clas, and disappear when we switched to online,” she said. ”The impact of in-person learning on a student is immeasurable.”
The past year was difficult for everyone, she said. It forced children to deal with the unknown, when for many, school is a “source of stability.”
McNutt told the Idaho Statesman that there is always a concern of having to go back to a remote or hybrid learning model.
“I have fully trusted that the board has made really great decisions of when enough is enough, and we do need to go back to hybrid, or we do need to go back to online,” she said. “But it is a frustration as a teacher, and it’s frustrating for the students. But we do what we need to do to keep everyone safe.“
She said she felt compelled to speak Thursday because she understands there is a middle ground.
“Very often heard is no, we’re not going to be in school. This is awful, or we need to be in school no matter what. And that middle ground voice is rarely heard,” she said. “I definitely want to be in school, but I want it to be in a safe environment.”
Full-time, in-person school for the whole year, she said, is a “dream I would love to see come to fruition.”
This story was originally published August 12, 2021 at 3:51 PM.
