Letters to the editor: Reopening schools, mayor recall, masks
Reopening schools
Odd that we close bars, social distance, cancel outdoor events, etc., and yet press to open schools. We will be asking teachers to deal with hundreds of exuberant schoolchildren, train and enforce masking and teach class, all while in buildings with inadequate ventilation systems for a pandemic. Teachers and children will die unnecessarily if we open schools too early because we are chasing normalcy in abnormal times.
COVID-19 does not care about our politics, budgets, federal funding or employment problems. COVID-19 doesn’t care if you are a child or teacher. Regardless, it is our civic and elected officials’ duty to fulfill their moral responsibility for protecting these people.
It is time for the governor, the board of education, legislature and everyone downstream to evolve a plan which begins with postponing opening schools until statewide transmission rates are 5% and downward. Fund “nurse assistants” to deal with masks, sanitation and help identify sick children. Fund ventilation improvements. Be imaginative, be caring and spend the money.
That school opening buck that is getting passed around is actually landing right on the teachers and students. This is once Idaho education better not finish in last place. What happens next will be remembered.
Mark Hecker, Boise
Mayor recall
Those wishing to recall Boise Mayor Lauren McLean allege she was not honest during her campaign. She posed “as a moderate” but now governs from “the far left.” Their “proof” is that the mayor allegedly supports free city-paid abortions and reproductive health care. How could they get it so wrong?
When elected, Mayor McLean engaged created committees ... (that) drafted more than 350 suggestions. Heads up here! The mayor has not endorsed the proposals most strongly objected to by the recall petitioners: city-paid free abortions and reproductive health care, with sex education for Boise children from pre-K to 12th grade.
There is no sin in reading reports ... regarding national approaches to mayoral duties. There is no sin in receiving (and rejecting) a ... recommendation that does not square with Boise values. So can we all agree to tear up the 20,000 recall petitions, apologize to Mayor McLean for baseless accusations, and get back to dealing with COVID-19?
Jack McMahon, Boise
Masks and the economy
As a perfectly healthy senior, I am aware of the risks I face if infected with this wholly unpredictable virus. Aside from polarized opinions about whether masks need be worn, there is now a clear economic win/lose choice to be made. If businesses cannot or will not enforce well-established protective measures, they will lose the patronage of those who expect these measures. Local businesses will lose local shoppers to online shopping and hands-free delivery services. Online ordering virtually eliminates impulsive point-of-sale purchases and reduces revenue. My recent cash balance makes this clear. Those who, for whatever valid or dubious reasons, choose to refuse masks will simply intensify these forces. Those who make rude comments to those who wear masks will simply drive us away from local shopping and they, along with all of us, will bear whatever economic impacts result. Merchants who cater to them will find out which way the customer numbers work out. You cannot rest self-righteously in the back of the boat just because it is the front of the boat taking on water. These “rights-fixated” mask choices will absolutely impact the economy and its recovery.
Norma D. Jaeger, Meridian
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 10:48 AM.