Should schools reopen? Our readers sound off

I found last Sunday's State Journal editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools," disingenuous and dangerous.

Schools should have opened in September.

Why were they closed? Dr. Anthony Fauci and the experts should have known back in July that schools should be open. Several studies this summer and before showed that children under the age or 18 rarely get a severe case of COVID-19. Very few under the age of 18 have died have from the disease unless they have underlying health issues.

The State Journal editorial board are a bunch of ghouls.

Using Dr. Anthony Fauci's position as a justification to open schools right after the Madison School District lost a healthy young man to a COVID-related illness (a young man I had the honor of teaching) to push their agenda is really low -- even for them.

I take issue with last Sunday's State Journal editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools," on children returning to schools.

I live in El Paso, Texas, a hotspot for COVID-19. I am also a public school speech pathologist. More than 10,000 children in our city have COVID-19. At the school that I work at, lots of children are sick with COVID-19. Does the editorial board honestly believe that using plexiglass shields and masks will keep everyone safe? Do they think the virus will only stay in the shielded area? It’s airborne.

Schools need to remain virtual. It does not add up that in-person school is OK.

We are warned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about not gathering with people outside our households for the holidays to stop the spread. And we are told that gathering indoors, even with masks on, greatly increases the potential for COVID-19 transmission. It seems preposterous to then believe that it is safe to go back to school.

Instead of making teachers the scapegoats of all the world's ills once again, maybe we should simply be honest: The federal government's egregious failure in this pandemic has left working parents with no healthy options other than forcing teachers to go back into the classroom to resume their babysitting duties.

I am appalled at the State Journal editorial board’s twisting of Dr. Anthony Fauci’s statements on ABC’s “This Week” and its call to open Madison’s schools by January in Sunday's editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools."

I am grandmother to a third-grade student who is in the Sun Prairie School District.

I have him for online learning twice a week, and the other days get split up between his mom and dad. That's a total of three different households. He is a bright student, but I have witnessed a lack of motivation, restlessness, boredom and some struggles with math. He is missing the socialization school provides since online learning started for him last March.

We should wait until fall of 2021 to resume school.

The amount of cases is still on the rise now, and the future is unpredictable. Sure, the vaccines are beginning to arrive. But for all we know, the virus could mutate and suddenly invalidate all attempts at a vaccine. And if that happened while we were at school, it could be a mega-spreader.

Teachers want to be back in school, but we know teachers are not protected like they need to be. "Good enough" is not acceptable. Teachers have died.

I am in total agreement with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s message and the Wisconsin State Journal's editorial in last Sunday's newspaper, "Fauci sends a message to schools," about reopening schools.

A year of education is being lost at a great cost to the generation losing it.

I strongly believe parents should have the option to be homeschooled, no matter what the conditions for their kids. 

I read with great disappointment last Sunday's State Journal editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools," suggesting schools in Dane County open for in-person learning, which cited comments Dr. Anthony Fauci recently made.

Last Sunday's State Journal editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools," took Dr. Anthony Fauci's comments out of context.

I read with consternation last Sunday's State Journal editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools."

I find it pretty remarkable that the editorial board was able to gloss over the facts and act as a puppet, echoing statements made by the Legislature, in last Sunday's editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools." 

Last Sunday's State Journal editorial, "Fauci sends a message to schools," took Dr. Anthony Fauci’s comments wildly out of context.

We all can agree schools being opened is the main goal and top priority. But what Dr. Fauci also has said is rates of infection must come down in communities to do this safety. Dane County's rates are extremely high.