Our children deserve better

To the Editor:

As a Riverhead Central School District parent, I am concerned about the needs of my daughter. I am concerned about the necessary attention and supplies the students need but are not getting.

Since school opened a week ago, my child still has not received the device necessary to attend her hybrid model classes. My wife and I still have not been communicated which apps, the passwords, and student ID numbers so we could keep up with “online” learning.

The ideal response would be to get answers and solutions to my questions and concerns when we call on the phone. Frankly, when the tech person on the phone says “I think” at the end of the sentence, it doesn’t provide me with the confidence this will be resolved in a timely manner. During the era of COVID-19, it seems communication is a thing of the past. Right now, I would appreciate more communication and a timeline of when I can expect these basic requirements from the school. These are difficult time for all of us, but the children should be our first priority.

I feel since the budget did not pass twice, it did not send an appropriate message to the members of the board of education as certain members are still calling for varsity sports be reinstated but only for upper classmen. How is it that my child in kindergarten must stay six feet away from her classmates and is unable to attend school five days a week, hindering her educational and social development, yet, the board is using their efforts toward reinstating sports — contact sports, at that. The priorities of the board need to be directed to the students of all community members of the Town of Riverhead, not just the needs directly related to those board members.

Unlike Mr. Dorr, I am proud to be a graduate of Riverhead schools, a dedicated member of the Riverhead community, a homeowner, parent of a child in Riverhead CSD and I’m also a human being simply asking, what do I need to do to have the board and administration hear me? Don’t the community, taxpayers and our children deserve better?

John Grodski
Wading River