Maureen McPeek (3min) — A second-grade teacher of 25 years argued that the current safety plan is inadequate, that behavior management would dominate in-person instruction, and asked the board to wait until January 2021 to reopen.
Jackie Moore (3min) — A special day class teacher described positive outcomes in distance learning for her students, warned that reopening could cause preventable COVID deaths, and urged the board to continue distance learning until a vaccine is available.
Nusheen Kavyani (1min) — A community member argued that the reopening plans presented show all the risks of COVID with no benefit of in-person learning, and requested the public chat be kept open to simulate a true public meeting.
Mercedes Kwiatkowski (6min) — A child psychiatrist described alarming mental health trends she is observing clinically—depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation—and proposed launching a voluntary pilot in-person cohort using the district's four pillars framework.
Sarah Henderson Martinez (0min) — A preschool teacher expressed concern about inadequate contact tracing in the district, the risk of bringing COVID home to elderly parents, and cautioned against attributing reduced learning outcomes solely to distance learning rather than the broader pandemic trauma.
Kathryn Stewart (-2min) — A parent argued that teachers should not have to choose between risking death from COVID and losing their income, and asked parents to be patient and support teachers by waiting for a vaccine before returning in person.
Eric Sutton (3min) — A parent from Orion reported that 65% of first-grade families preferred distance learning and 100% wanted to keep their current teachers, praised the school's two-teacher distance model, and argued that mental illness should be attributed to COVID and poor air quality rather than distance learning.
Christy Herrera (2min) — A kindergarten teacher of 20 years said true kindergarten teaching is impossible with COVID distancing protocols, argued five-year-olds cannot developmentally comply with masking and distancing requirements, and noted the stress of the past week had sent at least one teacher to the ER.
Indra Hernandez (2min) — A preschool teacher expressed gratitude for the data collection, noted her students are engaging well in distance learning, and asked that preschool safety protocols be equivalent to those at the elementary level rather than treated separately.
Ramin Kaivan (3min) — The husband of a preschool teacher and longtime Redwood City business owner said he has watched students flourish in distance learning in his own home and argued that sending young children who cannot comply with PPE back to school would be dangerous and irresponsible.
Laura Atherton (4min) — A special day class preschool teacher explained that her students wear diapers, require hand-over-hand feeding and support, cannot wear masks due to sensory needs, and warned the board that physical distancing is impossible with her population, describing a recent COVID exposure involving a child under five.
Mohammad Tabrizi (3min) — A parent argued it would be malpractice not to compare the district's reopening plan with neighboring districts like Menlo Park, which involved teachers and parents extensively, and said the district's lack of preparedness shakes trust in any eventual reopening.
Christina Kim (2min) — A parent of a Mandarin immersion student at Orion reported that an independent parent survey showed high flexibility about reopening but strong desire to keep the Mandarin program intact, and asked the board to allow site-specific collaborative solutions.
Christina Hsu (2min) — A Mandarin immersion parent said the district survey caused confusion and anxiety in her community, and asked the board to allow each site and program to work individually with administrators and teachers to create models that fit their specific community.
Devin/Michelle Mullaney (0min) — The speaker yielded their time without making substantive remarks.
Cameron Hoffman (3min) — A parent called for respectful, fact-based dialogue, noting the district must speak up for the most vulnerable students not attending remotely, shared that learning pods are working safely in their experience, and urged everyone to approach reopening as a dial rather than a switch.
Linda Elkins (2min) — A parent of three district students offered feedback that the survey conflated multiple variables making it hard to parse preferences, expressed support for a return to in-person learning in either AM/PM or hybrid format, and suggested leveraging parent expertise more meaningfully.
Melanie Haskell (2min) — A first-grade parent asked the board to preserve independent study as an ongoing option regardless of the in-person decision, and recommended the district engage parents as active contributors rather than just survey respondents, citing Menlo Park's model.
Kerry Schmidt (3min) — A bilingual kindergarten teacher of 25 years said she longs to be in the classroom but argued that without proper safety measures, returning does not provide a safe learning environment, and that constant safety monitoring would severely detract from instruction.
Kamli Nannini (3min) — A kindergarten parent who is also a physician with an epidemiology background argued that teachers are essential workers, that actual transmission risk from masked asymptomatic children is negligible, and urged the board to bring in medical experts to brief teachers before decisions are made.
Megan O'Reilly Green (2min) — An Orion parent participation program parent expressed that public comments about their program being at risk caused instability and hurt recruitment, asked the board to stop characterizing Orion families as well-resourced, and called for a genuine partnership and plan for program stability.
Michelle Smith (3min) — An Adelante Selby parent expressed disappointment at any threat to choice program continuity, supported teachers, and raised concerns about parents lying to contact tracers and about the district's buildings lacking adequate air filtration even for smoke, let alone COVID.
Michelle Butler (3min) — A bilingual teacher who uses a wheelchair explained that in-person she would be in constant safety-policing mode rather than teaching, described starting the interactive process with apprehension, and emphasized that teachers working hard in distance learning truly love their students.
Jeanette Serrano (3min) — A 37-year kindergarten teacher said classroom reconfiguration would restart the exhausting relationship-building process mid-year, that she cannot ensure her primarily Latinx families adhere to the four pillars outside school, and that she has photographic evidence of students in pods not wearing masks.
Maria Stockton (3min) — A speaker suggested that if mental health concerns warrant in-person learning, older grades (2–5) who can better comply with masking and distancing should return first rather than the youngest children, and asked the board to wait at least through the end of the first trimester.
Keely Vega (1min) — A kindergarten parent asked the board to respond to the suggestion of a voluntary pilot cohort for willing teachers and families, and asked how the district is leveraging the experiences of already-opened neighboring districts like Menlo Park.