As the parent of two Portland Public Schools students, I believe that the plan for reopening Portland Public Schools is a recipe for disaster.

Sometimes, like with drunken driving, things are either safe or they are not. The indoor hybrid model, which the Portland Board of Public Education just approved, is not.

Outdoor only learning is our answer. Outdoor classrooms are feasible, equitable, desirable and deliverable. Outdoor only means not a few hours here or there for some classes, some of the time, but that almost all children and staff are outdoors all of the time, except for the use of restrooms. It can happen most of the time from September through December and from April through June, with remote learning filling in the gaps.

Parents and students are being offered a false choice between their children’s physical health, and their emotional and mental health. Teachers and staff, whose health is at greatest risk, are being told to swallow a cup of bad educational and health policy.

But at least teachers have health insurance. Many essential staff most at risk, such as bus drivers and cafeteria workers, may not have health coverage, and join the 2,697 children in Cumberland County who the U.S. Census estimated (2018) do not have any health insurance.

How can our schools teach students science, critical thinking skills and creative responses to problems if they do not learn and practice them themselves? The science, and the challenge before us, is clear: outdoor only.

Dan Muller
Portland