To: Khurshid Abdul Mutakabbir, Maspeth High School principal 

From: Andrea E. Rivera Razo, student

Date: September 8, 2020

Subject: Back to school during Covid-19

The purpose of this memo is to recommend that our children go back to school in a safe way. The idea is to implement a back-to-school educational program to raise student awareness of the pandemic, since a lack of information and not being aware of how to deal with this virus will lead to an increase in the number of infected people in our community.

Summary

Currently, our city and the entire world are going through a very complicated issue, a pandemic that has affected our most vulnerable population, the elders and people with chronic diseases. If children and young people return to school without being aware of how they can spread this virus, and the risk that it represents for our community, the coronavirus will continue to spread. I propose to implement a class of approximately 45 minutes, in which information would be addressed to children and young people about how to reduce the risk of contracting this virus and therefore keep the infection curve flat. Please, do not hesitate to contact me, we can meet with people specialized in the subject and discuss it further.

Discussion

My mother tested positive for COVID-19 and survived, but now she is suffering the consequences of this disease. She is not the only one who suffers; the whole family suffers when we see that we cannot help her more than we would like to help.

With the beginning of a new school year, it is necessary to take into account several points of view before the children’s and youngsters return to take face-to-face classes and can learn without putting our community at risk. The main objective is that children attend to school safely.  To achieve this goal, we must start by instructing our children and young people on how to deal with this virus daily. The only way to extinguish this virus is to know how it spreads. For this reason, I propose to create a weekly seminar of approximately 45 minutes of duration, in which updated information will be provided to the addressed audience on how to eradicate the spread of this virus.

There is indeed nothing like face-to-face education since the children and young people of our community learn more by attending their classes than in their own home because they put more effort into their studies. With the implementation of this back-to-school plan, children will continue with their daily lives but increasingly assimilate how to fight this pandemic. In the implementation of the course of just 45 minutes per week, they will be provided lots of information about social distancing, the correct way to wash their hands and maintain good hygiene and the correct use of their mask. They will also use outdoor spaces frequently and they will also be provided with information on how to recognize the symptoms of this virus. So if they are experimenting any symptoms there is the flexibility to not attend to classes and thus protect the health of our community.

As New York residents, we must take care of each other. At first, the process of adopting children and young people to this proposal will not be of their liking. It will be tedious to have to attend to another class, however, the more information our children and young communities have, the more aware of it. How deal with this virus is the only way to eradicate it and protect our elders and people with chronic diseases who are the most affected by this virus.

Recommendation

I appreciate your time and thank you for reviewing this proposal. If you agree, we could further discuss this proposal and meet with specialists on the subject to express different points of view. You can email me to [email protected].