Parents, Doctors Concerned About Moorestown Schools Survey

MOORESTOWN, NJ — A group of medical professionals and parents have started a petition following a recent return to school survey sent out by the Moorestown Public School District.

The online petition was launched this week after a survey that was sent out following last week's school board meeting in which plans about a return to school for students in lower grades was discussed. More than 100 people have signed the petition.

Those who launched the petition are particularly concerned about a question from a district survey that stipulated that Moorestown might have to deviate from the 6-foot social distancing guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The district sent the survey to gauge interest among parents of students in kindergarten through third grade about returning to in-person learning five days a week. Read more here: Moorestown Schools Explore Return To 5-Day In-Person Learning For Some

"In order to implement this plan, we will likely have to deviate from our standard 6-foot social distancing," the district said in the survey. "All in-person families will be required to sign a document acknowledging understanding of the changes to social distancing and the potential risks. We will maintain our cleaning protocols, mandatory face coverings, hygienic controls and implement plexiglass dividers as an added precaution in these grades. In limited instances, there might be the possibility for students to be moved into a class with a different teacher."

The letter, which was shared with the district and sent to Patch, can be seen in full below.

Parents of K-3 students in MTPS were recently sent a survey forcing them to choose between “signing a document acknowledging understanding of the changes to social distancing and potential risks” if they wanted their child to participate in the “in-school” option which would be 5 days per week (8:40 a.m. to 1:10 p.m.) versus choosing “full-remote” learning for their child.

As medical professionals and parents of Moorestown students, we are deeply concerned about the
misunderstanding and misinformation circulating in our community on safely re-opening our schools – and on the school district’s apparent capitulation to these misgivings.

The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) recently took a great step forward when they issued evidence-based guidelines to allow US schools to safely re-open.1 While providing a roadmap to safely returning to inperson education, the guidelines unambiguously rely on methods using the best available evidence to do so – including masking, smaller class size/hybrid learning model, and assurance of appropriate social distancing. The state of New Jersey Department of Health also supports this guidance.

Unfortunately, some in the community have either misunderstood, or misrepresented, these guidelines to advocate for an in-person solution that would ignore such methods. For unclear reasons, these advocates have demanded that the school district force parents into a “no-win” choice of either full in-person learning that does not assure adequate protections, or full remote options lacking social interaction.

Ironically, while many of these advocates claim to be proponents of “parental choice” on a number of issues, in forcing these two extreme options they have taken away choice for parents who wish to have their children in a live interactive classroom – but with appropriate safety measures in place.

Even more distressingly, the school district has bought into this false dichotomy, by presenting no option for in person learning that also adheres to CDC guidelines. This decision forces individual families and teachers to make a terrible choice – deny their children much needed social interaction or place themselves and vulnerable family members at higher risk.

Furthermore, the two extreme options amplify the inequity that exists in our community. Well-to-do families who wish to adhere to evidence-based guidelines will have the luxury to place their children into private school (and are likely to do so), while families struggling to balance work and education, for whom full remote is not a realistic option, will essentially be forced to sign a waiver that puts their child into the CDC’s “highest risk” category by not allowing for appropriate social distancing.

Up to this point, the school district has taken admirable measures to listen to all points of view, while making safe choices in the best interest of our children. For the safety of our children, our teachers, our families and our community, it is imperative that the school district continues to adhere to the best science and safety guidelines when preparing in-person learning options.

We have started a petition for other concerned parents, teachers and community members to show their support for following the safety guidance from the CDC and the New Jersey Department of Health with respect to in-person schooling.

The link is included here: https://www.ipetitions.com/pet...

Sincerely,
Brian Lestini, MD, PhD
Melissa Lestini, MD
Persephone Jones, MD, MPH
Marla Deibler, PsyD
Sarvin Ghavam-Rastin MD
Stephanie Almeida DO
Tom Moccia DO

As concerned parents, we support the above letter and also advocate for the safety of our children,
teachers, families and communities in finding a way to responsibly return to in-person schooling.

Melissa Arcaro Burns
Danielle Zukowski
Ryan & Nicole Broadwater
Hope & Joe Horwitz
Kristine & Gene Piccola
Saralee & Dave Michaud
Meredith Butts
Sam Rastin