After 10 months of no COVID-19 exposures, and not getting sick, I was required to attend an in-person safety training on school pandemic safety. The next day, I received a call from the district contact tracing team that I needed to quarantine for 14 days due to an exposure.

I understand that families and students are struggling. The past year has been hard on everyone in different ways. Please know that teachers are busting their butts to make something meaningful out of distance learning. I’ve made hundreds of phone calls this year, far more than a usual school year, trying to connect with families and get students engaged.

I know for many, distance learning has posed major challenges to learning and well-being. Some I’ve made really meaningful connections with. In fact, some are thriving now that they don’t have to deal with the anxieties involved with in-person learning and get to wake up at a decent time for the teenage body.

The governor’s decision to do away with metric requirements and push all students into school at this time is sure to be catastrophic. I know it’s hard to be patient, but we have waited 10 months for a vaccine that was supposed to put an end to all this.

It is around the corner, yet we are being asked to put our lives on the line because students can’t learn from home any more after 10 months of doing so? How about supporting the families who are hurt most by their kids not going to school, rather than putting entire communities at risk?

I have been intensely careful since the COVID pandemic began. I followed health guidelines, did not gather with anyone indoors, masked, sanitized, stayed home. When I was told I was required to come to work, I came prepared. I wore double masks, carried my hand sanitizer and used it frequently. Still, that was potentially not enough to protect me.

I’m asking you to please stop this experiment with our lives. Through the ages, kids have missed school in times of crisis. Most of them have turned out all right. Is the risk of killing school staff really worth this to you? The chances that we have to close school again due to lack of personnel is so high that it will be more disruptive to families when it happens. It isn’t fair to the students who are making progress to repeatedly disrupt the way they are receiving instruction.

By going to school, we are also putting students and their families at higher risk. The students who choose to stay home and not take that risk are basically being left without any of the personal support they have right now.

Please delay the start of in-person school until all staff are able to receive both doses of the vaccine and have ample time to build immunity to the virus.

Do you have a point you’d like to make or an issue you feel strongly about? Submit a letter to the editor or a guest column.