Teachers asking D20 leaders to reconsider reopening classrooms in fall

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- An open letter written by local teachers is asking the largest school district in Colorado Springs to not re-open classrooms for the beginning of the upcoming school year because of the recent increase in COVID-19 cases.

Within one week, the letter has gained nearly 500 signatures from teachers and parents asking that instead of Academy District 20 allowing students to learn inside the classroom, they switch to online learning until El Paso County has no reported Coronavirus cases for 14 days.

Mountain Ridge Middle School teacher Anita Gandhi was one of the writers of the letter and says she and her coworkers want nothing more to be in the classroom with their students, but with the recent surge in cases, it's not safe to do so.

"If all the educators in D20 had our way, we would be in person, with our students high-fiving and loving on our children," Gandhi says, "We don't think that's feasible."

Another teacher at Rampart High School Jennifer Gorbea signed the letter. Saying she doesn't believe all of the safety precautions with COVID-19 can be implemented. She says classes are expected to have between 25 and 30 students. "There is no space in most of our classrooms to have three feet much less, six feet," Gorbea says. "How are we going to have all these kids in the hallway how are we going to have all these kids in the bathroom?"

Gandhi says even if statistics gathered closer to the start date show children have a low chance of getting the virus, it's still not worth putting them and others at risk.

"If that's your child, it's not a .2 percent to you it's your 100 percent," Gandhi says, "So when we talk about statistics they are still somebody's 100 percent."