Editor’s note: This is a slightly edited version of the statement Bend-La Pine School Board Chair Carrie Douglass made at Tuesday’s board meeting.

We all understand schools are critical for the academic and mental development of our children, but the pandemic has laid bare that schools also serve an essential role in the engine of our economy and community. Unfortunately, the federal and state support for schools during the pandemic has been inadequate, and our district has been left to figure out how to navigate this impossible situation with limited resources.

I want to thank all of the community members and staff who wrote emails and letters to the school board over the past few days regarding the reopening of schools during the pandemic. The school board and district leadership reads every email, and we take your input seriously. Every one of us on this board has school-aged children or grandchildren, and we are all experiencing this alongside you. We know this is not easy for anyone. For every email we receive asking to open schools sooner, we receive another asking to be more cautious. This is not a topic on which everyone agrees, and there are many different needs and perspectives to consider. It is inconceivable to satisfy everyone with any plan.

Our Board asked Interim Superintendent Lora Nordquist to work with her team, with input from a variety of stakeholders, to create a plan to return students to school for in-person learning as soon as it is safe and effective to do so. I want every community member, and all of our staff and teachers, to understand we have spent hundreds of hours creating the most effective and safest learning environment for our students and staff given the situation. There is not one person involved in this decision making process who doesn’t want our students back in school as soon as it is safe for our community. We ache for our students who are experiencing anxiety and difficulty learning; we are in anguish for our most vulnerable students, for whom being in person is their only chance at equitable learning; we empathize with our fellow parents who are in financial distress and for business owners who rely on employees able to come to work to keep our local economy working for all; we feel for the teachers who are working overtime to provide the best distance learning experience possible, while simultaneously planning to return to teaching in-person and mentally preparing for the health risk of working closely in groups during a pandemic.

All of this keeps us awake at night and reconfirms our commitment to getting kids back into school — but only as soon as we can safely and effectively do so.

It’s unfortunately not as easy as simply saying, “reopen schools now.” We wish it was that easy. In addition to serving 18,000 of our precious children in Central Oregon, we are also the second largest employer in Bend. As with all local employers, we are responsible for ensuring the mental and physical health and safety of our employees during this pandemic. In addition, we are required to abide by the requirements of the State Department of Education, which have changed dramatically at least three times over the summer, and currently include 85 new health and safety guidelines, each of which must be implemented at every school and differ depending on the design of the school, age of the children, size of classrooms, etc.

Local COVID cases are currently low, but COVID-19 remains a risk to the health of our community, and I cannot support in-person learning until I am confident we have done everything in our power to ensure their safety. We cannot prioritize expediency and convenience for a rushed reopening transition plan that might place students, staff members, or family members at risk.

When the School Board made the decision in late July to open schools for distance learning and to reassess every six weeks, the situation was far different than our experience today. Cases were rising and there was no indication these numbers would improve quickly. This has been a very dynamic, complex, and constantly changing environment. Our goal in late July was to make a decision as early as possible to provide an opportunity for families and teachers to properly prepare. All stakeholders, including the administration, teachers, families, students, employers and partners need time to prepare. That being said, our community rose to the task and reduced COVID cases; therefore our District will pivot as so many other local organizations have during this crisis.

We can get through these challenges as a community, but only if we all acknowledge there is no right answer, only the best answer for today based on the knowledge we have in this moment. Thank you to everyone who is working to support our community’s children. They are our most precious resource and we must do everything we can to protect their future — academically as well as mentally and physically.

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