Thread by @Rouhanifard

For >1 year, I've advocated for the bare minimum for kids in MA schools as a member of the state board of education. Specifically, I've asked for what the ultimate goal or off-ramp is to remove restrictions. Not a single public official has provided an answer. Think about that.

Our decision-making in MA and other blue states has been arbitrary and continues to ignore the fact that the vaccine has been available for nearly a year. We had a chance to build off-ramps from restrictions & we simply chose not to.

With the onset of Omicron, we are headed for another round of deeply disruptive restrictions that we know will come at a very steep cost to students and working parents with little to any public health benefits.

I routinely hear from educators that this is the hardest year they've *ever* faced. And it's because of the mental & behavioral health deterioration of students after consecutive school years of virtual school and other pandemic disruptions.

Our kids are not well. And teachers are quitting in record numbers because they feel unequipped to support their students' needs. It's tragic. And it was all self-inflicted, driven by knee-jerk, political decision-making.

The evidence has always been clear that we didn't need to shut down schools for as long as we did. That we don't need to prolong feelings of anxiety and isolation through mask-wearing and other restrictive measures.

And yet we're about to put our kids through it again. The vaccine has been available for almost a year. Bars are open, Celtics and Bruins games packed (as they should be).

If and when we get out of this bat shit crazy spiral, it will as arbitrary as the restrictive rules we first imposed. We long missed the window to behave rationally and make evidence-informed decisions for our kids. They deserved so much more from us.

I will not soon forget or forgive those in authority who did this. And often, if not invariably, without any sense of self-reflection and humility. It's deeply troubling.

Our country is not well, and I can only hope that there are reasonable minds amongst us who see this similarly and will work together to build a better path forward for kids, whenever that might be.