Today is the first day of the 2021-22 academic year at Abrome.
Due to uncontrolled community spread of Covid-19 in Central Texas, we will start our year fully remote. Given the elevated number of cases at this time, bringing people together in-person poses too great a risk of exposing Learners and Facilitators to the disease, which they could then take home and into the broader community. By refusing to 'return to normal’ we inconvenience ourselves to protect each other, particularly those who are most vulnerable to the disease.
At Abrome we will continue to center the needs of those most impacted by the pandemic in our approach to the year, and we call on all education communities to do the same. If we as a society rallied in support of one another and engaged in reasonable safety practices, cases would plummet and we could enjoy being together while also having the peace of mind that comes with knowing that we are not needlessly endangering the welfare of others.
It is not too late for education communities to choose an approach that prioritizes public health. We encourage all communities to adapt, copy, or steal our pandemic plan.