Let Governor Sununu Hear Your Voice!
Students and educators have been left to deal with Governor Sununu’s failed leadership on safely reopening our schools. We have continuously maintained that schools should open, but only if they can open safely.
Here are the ways you can let hime know how you feel:
Here are the ways you can let hime know how you feel:
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By Mail
Sometimes old school is the best way. Flood his office with actual cards and letters. Send them to: Office of the Governor State House 107 North Main Street Concord, NH 03301 Social Media
Post messages to the Governor on Twitter using @NHgov. Be sure to include the following hashtags:#nhgov and #nhpolitics |
By Phone or Fax
603-271-2121 (Phone) 603-271-7680 (fax) Direct Electronic Links to the Governor's office: Share My Opinion - A webform to send messages to the Governor Invite the Governor to an Event - A webform to invite the Governor to the first day of school (be sure to tell him to wear a mask), or your substitute teacher training sessions (we're going to need plenty), or any other event will help him understand the situation better - because we all know the value of experiential learning. |
What to say
Adding your voice to the conversation is vital to making our schools safe. Here are some pointers and talking points to help you frame your message
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Other Points:
Let me be very clear - We refuse to participate in that experiment.
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- Make it personal. How does the rush to unsafe classrooms and schools impact you, your family and your students. Too many people have no idea or respect for the important work you do. Be sure to include how this impacts you directly.
- Remind the Governor you vote and so does your family. When he doesn't take your health and safety seriously, he is not being the kind of leader you can support in November.
- Is you community ready for hybrid models? Do you have the necessary PPE, transportation, cleaning supplies, HVAC safety and certifications verified, and has your staff been given enough time to prepare? If not, be sure to make these points.
- Why are we even considering school restart models that are not 100% remote until October when we can revisit the situation? Why not adopt the model that minimizes student learning disruption and maximizes student and staff safety?
- Dr. Fauci said that students and teachers back in school would be part of an experiment to see how fast and far the virus can spread. As schools across the country reopen, the virus spreads. State after state is reporting COVID-19 in students or teachers. How many NH students and teacher are going to have to get sick before you close schools again?
- No one wants to be back in schools and on campuses with our students more than educators. All educators –teachers, faculty, bus drivers, cafeteria staff, custodians, school nurses, school psychologists, and more – love our students, our schools, and our communities, and that is why we need to do this right. As educators we are responsible for safeguarding the health and safety of our students and school communities.
- Leading public health experts agree that reopening school and campus buildings for in-person learning must wait until transmission rates in the community are both low AND declining over at least the past two weeks. Otherwise, reopening school and campus buildings may spur a resurgence of the virus in the community.
- Recent studies are showing that closing schools early in the pandemic, as we did here in New Hampshire, helped keep transmission rates under control. But, as we have seen, whenever people have gotten back together to socialize, shop, worship, or even play baseball, they get infected. What looked like a good plan on paper dissolves as soon as people get close enough to interact and spread the virus.
- Reopening schools will, in all likelihood, prove to be the event that restarts higher transmission and infection rates in New Hampshire
- While we do not doubt that everyone involved in the effort is sincere in their efforts to plan for a safe reopening, we believe virus transmission will not be slowed or stopped by bringing large groups of people together in buses, hallways and classrooms lacking proper ventilation.
- The risk and uncertainties are far too high right to safely reopen now. While some schools may reopen for a while, we believe they will soon be closed again and sadly, the reason they will close is because a person got sick.
- Not every community has a WalMart or grocery store or restaurant. But every community has a school and in many cases these are the largest gathering spots in that community. Filling them with children and adults at the height of the pandemic is irresponsible.
Other Points:
- School buildings cannot be considered safe until they have their HVAC systems, cleaned, upgraded if necessary, and adequate procedures to regularly maintain them are put in place.
- No student or educator should be brought back into any school building if districts have not yet designed or implemented classroom, bus, and hallway layouts that accommodate six feet of distancing. Hand washing and sanitizing stations must also be made available throughout the school.
- We know that many of our members fall into high-risk categories. They literally fear their life will be at risk if they are forced to return under the guidelines released by the Governor.
- Students and staff spend hours together inside is poorly ventilated rooms. Our schools were overcrowded before the pandemic. Our schools lacked adequate HVAC before the pandemic. Our schools did not have enough nurses on staff before the pandemic. Our schools were underfunded and under-resourced before the pandemic. When they reopen these same conditions will still exist, only now they will be open in the middle of a pandemic.
Let me be very clear - We refuse to participate in that experiment.