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Letter: How will returning to in-person school help quell the pandemic?

(Francisco Kjolseth  |  The Salt Lake Tribune) A small bus delivers lunches as the Salt Lake City School District sends staff to the Park Place Apartments on Tuesday, August 25, 2020, to help about 60 students who still needed to register for the fall.

(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A small bus delivers lunches as the Salt Lake City School District sends staff to the Park Place Apartments on Tuesday, August 25, 2020, to help about 60 students who still needed to register for the fall.

Throughout this pandemic countless people have made sacrifices: health care workers, grocery store employees and even teachers. The teachers in the Salt Lake City School District had to train and learn about the ways of online learning. They put extra effort in finding a suitable way to safely learn during the pandemic and now the House Speaker, Brad Wilson, wants to punish the school district staff by preventing teachers from receiving a $1,500 bonus that all other educators in the state will receive.

This puts tremendous pressure on the Salt Lake City School District, which has now proposed to return to in-person school on Feb. 8. The number of COVID-19 cases is only increasing. How will returning to in-person school help solve the pandemic? By going to in-person school, are we demonstrating that we are willing to settle with the increasingly worse conditions of this pandemic?

Chiana Rossiter, Salt Lake City

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