Sky Valley Messenger

People like to talk. It feels good to vent. So often people ask the question, “What can I do?” The reality is, in most cases, their looking for license to continue their lives of inaction while dealing with none of the guilt that is associated with that inaction. This is because they’ve convinced themselves that they’re powerless.

This isn’t going to be a long list of suggestions or some manifesto to take back our country. I believe if people are serious about having a chance at a future and a future for our children, the first step toward that chance is to leave these deep blue states and relocate to a place that more closely adheres to our values. Move to a red state or if we can be bold enough to create a movement, move to a swing state with the goal of turning it red.

The second choice is far more ambitious, so people have to weigh the risk. For me, I have a family, so I went the safer route.

I relocated my family from Washington state to Tennessee in October of 2020. If you’re a single person or a couple without children, it might be worth considering the swing state option.

We must get strategic like the left has been for a long time now or we have no chance. We can look back on our history as a nation with great pride and gratitude to those brave souls who crossed the ocean to escape tyranny or those who settled the west. It’s time to join them in our own way and in our own time. The fight for freedom is never won. Like Ronald Reagan said, 

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

The time for talk is over. It’s time for action. 

By: Nathaniel Williams

So, what has happened with Noah and school sense the last posting? The week after the last posting we were informed that Noah had sneezed and had a brief runny nose that required a few tissues early in the morning. This information was like a warning, like they almost had to send him home.

The following week, that being last week we were informed that Noah would be moved from Monday and Tuesday mornings to Thursday and Friday afternoon because his teachers were being fitted for N-95 face masks. After that he would be moved back to Monday and Tuesday. Rather that put Noah through that change we opted to keep him home. We later discovered that he would have been the only kid in the class because they usually do not have kids in the afternoons.

We found out more information through an employee and friend that we know in the school and is very familiar with Noah but does not work directly with him.  We were informed that the teachers and paras who work with Noah, keep the windows open with fans blowing the cold winter air into the classroom. This is due to their fear of catching the virus from the children, something that the CDC has repeatedly stated is rare and very unlikely. We were informed that the rooms are so cold that the teachers wear layers of clothing in addition to at least two coats in order to stay warm. On the other hand, the children are not allowed to wear their coats and must leave them in the hallway as the teachers are afraid that the childrens coats may contaminate the classroom.

Our informant tells us that there are no instructional games and virtually no social interaction between the three children is allowed. The three children are spaced apart so far as to prevent any communication. The classroom was described as “cold and sterile, both physically and figuratively”. Her recommendation was to keep Noah home.

What our son has been subjected to at the hands of the Mukilteo School district is inhumane and abusive. Their lack of transparency along with the restrictive isolation, and neglect in regards to the exposure to the cold while refusing proper clothing is more than a betrayal to us and our child.

Noah will not be returning!!!

You may be wondering what happened to Noah after Tuesday, last week. Perhaps the emails we sent made a difference, as it turned out Noah had a much better day and came home happy. It wasn’t perfect, but much better. He was allowed to have a coat on the walks, and he did get some teaching.

We sent him to school with a face shield, he came home with the shield on over the top of a face mask. Apparently one devise is not enough protection from children.

It’s noteworthy to say that the “in person, half day’s” are currently only for Monday and Tuesday. We don’t know if that will change at all this year; no one knows.

Today Noah came home OK. It is difficult to really know how his day goes as Noah is not good at communicating things. This is very normal for an autistic child. It is pretty normal for a child who is not special needs.

As I mentioned last week, when Noah arrives to his class, at 9 am, he first gets on the computer for a zoom class with his General Education teacher and all his third-grade classmates. He did that at home, and still does for the remainder of the week. Noah cannot negotiate the internet process to zoom a class on his own. Truth is, neither can I, and his mom, who is a teacher struggles occasionally with the process; it changes often with little notification. Noah’s teachers have problems with it regularly. Today we find out that his teachers want Noah to learn to work through the process on his own.

Noah shares his classroom with two other students, fourth and fifth graders. With the three students are three “teachers”, one to each student. Noah missed his half hour zoom this morning because his instructor wouldn’t help him log on. She insisted that he had to do it on his own. So, he sat there confused and lost for the half hour duration of the class.

Perhaps it is difficult to do hands-on teaching while social distancing from six feet away.

Another email is already on its way.

What happened in Noah’s first day?

Yesterday, as reported in the previous story, was Noah’s first day back to school sense the China virus shut schools down in Washington State. As stated previously, Noah is an eight-year-old autistic third grader.

I gave you some of the procedures that all children face in order to attend school at the Mukilteo School District. These procedures came directly from the mouth of the principal at his school via orientation that I personally attended. What you read were the facts, and nothing but the facts.

What I didn’t give you was Noah’s academic schedule for the day.

This is what we were told would be his day.

First of all Noah would go through all the previously listed protocols. After arriving at the school and eventually introduced to his classroom, at 9:00 am Noah would go on Zoom for one half hour with his primary teacher to begin his day. At about 9:30 am Noah would have a brief break, (don’t know what that means, sense they don’t have recess), then he would have math for about 45 minutes, followed by another break, (???), followed by reading lessons for another 45 minutes, with perhaps another break??

School would end for him at 11 am where he would then go through the reverse protocols to get on the bus and be returned home.

Here is what actually happened.

All the afore mentioned protocols did occur, the masks, temperature checks, and hand washings. At 9 am no zoom with his primary teacher occurred due to the fact that his Para-Educator, (a fancy term for teachers aids), did not know how to properly connect the computer to the zoom class. The breakdown with zoom was not followed by math and math was not followed by reading. We don’t know why, Noah didn’t know why. He said he was bored because nothing was happening, and he was just sitting there. He told us that he told them, “I want to go home.”

At this time, I should also inform you of a couple other things. We were expecting Noah to be in a limited occupancy classroom with his pears, i.e., other third graders. What we found out was that he was in a classroom with fourth and fifth graders, absolutely no other third graders, no one that he knew.

Prior to my agreement to send Noah to school I expressed that under no circumstances did I want Noah to end up with a particular Para-Educator, whom I had witnessed as being harsh and mean to students. This was more an impression, not strong evidentiary.

It turned out that when Noah complained that he was bored and wanted to go home he was handed over to the very individual that I feared. She then took him on walks around the school, outside. Sounds nice until you find out that he was not given his coat and it was 38 degrees outside. When Noah got home one of the first things he said was, “I’m cold.” I didn’t think much of it until later, when I found out what had happened.

Needless to say, we sent an email to the teacher/para, asking for an explanation, and voicing our concerns, (trying, with much difficulty to be polite both in this post and in the email). The email was not addressed by the instructor it was sent to, instead it was responded to by the principal. In short, we were told that there are problems sometimes and that we needed to get on board with partnering up with the school and understanding that we need to continue to trust that the school is doing right by our child. Nothing about his classes and nothing in regard to being escorted outside with no coat on for long and repeated times.

I have been kind in the words I have chosen in this narrative of the events of Noah’s first day. A day that the school had the better part of a year to prepare for.

Noah is back at school as I write this, but without serious changes this will be his last day.

Noah say’s that he is sad, and I feel his sadness, and a few other things that I don’t dare express.