LETTER: Make teachers a priority
Teachers should not return to schools unless they are vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus. Everyone wants our children back in safe schools, but our schools cannot be safe if our teachers are not safe.
For over 20 years as chair of the Education Department at Washington & Jefferson College, I visited most of our schools throughout Washington and Greene counties. Few schools have the adequate circulation and ventilation the CDC recommends, but we can at least vaccinate our teachers before sending them back to their classrooms.
This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to recognize, appreciate, and validate our teachers by vaccinating them. They are our communities’ frontline workers. For once let’s make teachers the priority they deserve to be.
James McMurtry Longo, Ed.D.
Washington