Letter addressed to SMMUSD school nurse Barrett Gottlieb
Things are getting out of hand. Today I was informed that as a vaccinated parent I would no longer be allowed to volunteer on campus for lunch duty… outside… without a weekly negative PCR test. This will mark the end of my volunteering at this time. I show up to work every week to take care of immunocompromised, sometimes unvaccinated adults (higher risk than our kids) in the hospital, without a test. I will not succumb to nonsense. Who is advising this district on these protocols? This is not science based and I assume you know that.Â
I understand that it is this district’s top priority to make vaccination mandatory for all… I would like to tell you about a suggestion that I made during a site council meeting two years ago when the pandemic was just starting—I had asked if we could poll our student body to see how many kids were planning on getting the flu shot so we could try to discern between COVID and flu. I was immediately shot down and told that would be an invasion of privacy and an inappropriate request to make of people. Fast forward to today, and now we are locking parents out of their kid’s school unless they are vaccinated and can provide a negative PCR test? Mostly, I am sad for you guys. It is beyond obvious how thin the staff is all stretched. I am vaccinated. However, I will not be able to provide a weekly PCR test to continue to help out with yard duty. Not only is it futile, but I have a limit on how many hours per week I am able to dedicate to COVID mitigation since I am a mother of three and I am working in the ICU. Vaccinated people are not asymptomatic transmitters of COVID. Are you aware of this research? SMMUSD is making it impossible to have a productive year. I am frustrated for our teachers, principals and kids.Â
As a whole, we need to start looking at how much energy we are devoting to COVID… and if it’s really necessary.Â
This is an excerpt from a longer letter, which can be read in full at malibutimes.com.
Heather Alfano