(Editor’s note: This letter comes a week after educators expressed concerns at the August 13 School Committee meeting — click here to read the story.)

By the Lincoln Educators Association’s Community Action Team

As you’ve heard at School Committee meetings and parent forums, Lincoln educators are eager for a safe and healthy return to school. However, a majority of the membership has expressed concerns over the number of unresolved details that would make our schools run smoothly and safely. The purpose of this letter is to share our open questions with the community in order to be transparent about the work that is left to be done and to illustrate the level of care that we are putting into ensuring our schools will operate safely for faculty and students. The Lincoln educators feel these concerns must be addressed in order to be confident about going back in-person.

We’ve compiled this list that reflects issues we’ve raised in various settings — publicly and in our working groups. We want to acknowledge that the administration is already working hard to provide answers to many of these concerns. We are deeply appreciative of their work, but we are also concerned that the list is too long and the time is too short for all these areas to be addressed. We want to ensure that everything is in place in order for staff to provide the best climate in which to welcome students and begin the year.

Therefore, the Lincoln educators want to find solutions and work together as a community on the complicated task of returning to school this fall. Following DESE’s recommendation, we already have a phased-in approach that begins with ten days prior to students’ starting school for staff to have time to prepare a robust, structured, consistent, learning plan. It provides time for teachers, special education service providers, and support staff to collaborate and plan for synchronous learning, differentiation, and interventions.

In addition, we are working to create building-based working groups composed of members and building administrators. These groups will work between now and August 31 to clarify additional important details.

Finally, the Lincoln Educators Association voted to propose a “soft opening” plan, and we are now in conversations with the administration to develop this idea. The purpose is to provide teachers the time to orient families to new school procedures, gradually practice and run iterations of these procedures, test out learning model structures, and troubleshoot any challenges that arise. Doing so without everyone in the building would ensure that by the time all students are in the building, families, students, and teachers are confident we can be successful with all routines.

As Lincoln educators, we look forward to returning to school with a transparent, detailed, agreed-upon plan that addresses the health and safety measures, helps to ensure a solid social emotional environment for faculty and students, and promotes an appropriate instructional atmosphere. We know that reopening our schools presents challenges for everyone — families, students, staff, administration, and School Committee members. Together, we can work through these challenges and support one another to create a positive learning experience for our students. We ask that the community support the Lincoln Educators Association in meeting these goals.

”My Turn” is a forum for Lincoln residents to offer their views on any subject of interest to other Lincolnites. Submissions must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Items will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Submissions containing personal attacks, errors of fact, or other inappropriate material will not be published.