Support the science

As we look to the beginning of the academic year, local school boards and administrators are faced with the challenge of how to keep children and adults safe from a global pandemic with limited budgets, scarce protective resources and minimal leadership from national and state leaders. When I learned of the county decision to advise schools to begin with virtual learning, I found it encouraging and refreshing that wisdom and a measured approach exceeded politics and emotions. To their credit, health Commissioner Peter Schade and the Erie County Board of Health provided our schools with thoughtful leadership and support. Yes, we all want to see children go back to school, to participate in extracurricular activities, to see friends and to receive the educational, social, physical, mental and nutritional services that are needed and provided. But the world has changed. Our responsibility as members of the community is to dial back the rhetoric and listen so that we can learn from and understand educational professionals and families. We should hear the concerns of teachers and staff who are asked to be frontline providers in confined spaces without the same protections afforded others in places of work. Let's seek to understand the challenges of teaching online and the support needed to make it effective in every home. And most importantly, we must be empathetic to the challenge parents face in finding adequate childcare, taking on home schooling and creating a normal environment for their families in unusual times. The Covid-19 pandemic has rocked the healthcare community with uncertainty grounded in a virus that to date has defied old rules of the road (immunity through exposure, reliability of testing, means of transmission, herd immunity) and raised many questions that have yet to be answered by thoughtful, controlled research. Layered on top of this is a culture war that has divided our country and caused many to ignore science and lean into resistance. Our objections to wearing masks and practice social distancing has caused us to fall far behind other nations in controlling spread and getting children back into classrooms. What we have learned thus far is that the approach to the pandemic must continue to evolve. Just like the healthcare world has learned to monitor and adjust testing, treatment and prevention, schools will need to do the same in their own professional activities. In order to accomplish this, we must give the school community a reasonable level of support, trust, patience and flexibility. My advanced degrees are in educational leadership and what I have learned in over 40 years of professional experience is that in times of uncertainty, working together produces better results than fostering division. Encouraging protest is not the answer. What we need is support for our schools as they face their most complex challenge to date. It's not time to protest or speak up, but rather to listen up. We can do this. Dr. Timothy BerkeySandusky Editor's Note: Dr. Berkey's advanced degree is not a medical degree. The headline for this letter has been changed and this editor's note has been added.