Danbury Mayor Has Concerns: ‘I Would Not Send My Kids to School in the Fall’

Connecticut plans to open schools in the fall and has presented parents throughout the Nutmeg State with a total of three education options. Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton joined the Ethan & Lou Show Thursday morning (7/23/20) to help explain the choices and share his concerns.

When we asked Mayor Mark about the possibilities, he explained that we can choose one of the following for our kids:

• Send our kids back to school like we would any year, but with a COVID-19 safety infrastructure.
• Officially withdraw our kids from school and home school them.
• Participate in online distance learning with assistance from the school.

From there, we asked which option he would choose and he said, "Well I know what I want to see our schools do. Look, I would not send my kids to school in the fall. Now I don't know how you work that out financially, I understand what a hardship that is," said Boughton. "I understand what a nightmare that could be logistically for a family, but I just wouldn't do it. I would not be comfortable."

As a CT resident and a parent of school aged children, I don't think any of these options are ideal. That being said, I also believe we have been presented with one option too many. This seems less like a plan and more like a diner menu. As I look at the three options, I don't know how you eliminate one and make people feel good about it, but I do know humans don't do well with too many choices.

I personally have a panic attack any time a server at a restaurant tells me "tonight's specials." Was I listening closely enough to understand what these dishes actually are? Why do they say the specials so fast? Are they trying to unload food that is about to spoil? These are the questions that run through my head at that moment, and that is how I feel right now.

Fall is lining up to be an exciting time. We have medical professionals predicting another spike in the coronavirus, an unrecognizable school reality and the possibility that Halloween will be shelved. This is all too much to handle and it's because we have to make extremely consequential decisions every single day with no end in sight.

Take a listen to the full interview with Mayor Mark Boughton here: