Celebrate Earth Day

Weak and Harmful Decision

by Margie Lopez Read, 40-year resident of El Dorado County 

Dear Board of Trustees

I am compelled to write this letter to the EDUHSD because of the weak and harmful decision to ignore state health laws to pacify those that were loud, vitriolic, and even violent. The Board has made the choice to allow the State mandates to be broken, although they were elected and sworn in to uphold the law. That is a fact that is undeniable.

Yet the fact that the EDUHSD Board is responsible for the education and guidance of our students, and by their actions, they are instead teaching our children that breaking the law is a good thing to do. Our young peoples’ mental health is being affected with these tough times and they are learning that disruptive and even violent behavior has rewards and that there are no boundaries they need to respect. The outcome of these illegal and misguided lessons will haunt us for decades.

I can see that the madness of using hatred and violence as a tool to ‘win’ questionable goals was set for us at the US Capitol on January 6. It is frightening that those actions – mobs, breaking windows and doors, beating police officers, spreading feces on the walls and defacing and stealing is now being described by those that wanted it to happen as “normal political discourse”.

Thankfully, the extent of what happened at Oak Ridge High School on February 15 did not quite reach that level, but was it really that far from it?

One teacher was trying to enforce State requirements and at a minimum separate those without masks. She was sent home without due process and a substitute was brought in who would not enforce those requirements.

In a separate classroom a student video recorded a teacher asking students without mask to sit on a separate side of the room in order to create some social distancing for those that wanted to abide by health suggestions. That video was shared with his parents, who treated the video as if the teacher’s actions were wrong. In a frenzy of social media doxing, adults (not all of them were parents) distributed it widely on Facebook. They also included the teacher’s name, address, and workplace.

For her ‘crime’ of following state law, that teacher has since received hate messages and death threats.

Students who refused to wear masks engaged in banging on the walls, shouting and intentionally disrupting instruction. When the teacher asked to step outside because of their disruptive behavior, adults arrived to join them. They hung a political banner (Trump) over the sign with the name of the school and pizza was brought in along with poster boards and felt pens for sign making.

All this while teachers inside the classrooms were trying to provide education to the students and to follow State health requirements.

So, again. How far removed is this from what occurred at our US Capitol on 6 January?

There had been another instance in this county of the ‘mob’ type action which intimidated an elected board to do the wrong thing. Please read my attached letter which was sent to our County Board of Supervisors after a November Board meeting. What I predicted in that letter is beginning to take place.

My hope is that with this communication, the EDUHSD Board Members will consider stepping up to the plate and do what is necessary to comply with the law, follow State mandates, protect their teachers, and protect the public health of those that need it the most. Finally, the concept of peaceful and respectful dialogue needs to be taught by example instead of the rowdy and rude actions that our students now are learning. The EDUHSD Board needs to make that happen.

Regards,
Margie Lopez Read
40-year resident of El Dorado County