Richmond For All’s Public Education Campaign Committee stands in solidarity with RPS workers, students, families, and communities in stating unequivocally that Richmond Public Schools cannot return to in-person instruction by March 15th. Decades of profound disinvestment have left our city’s schools without the essential resources necessary for a safe return: working sinks, sufficient nursing staff, sufficient janitorial staff, adequate ventilation, working windows, even simple needs like soap in every bathroom. Because federal and state leadership have promoted under-resourced and too-small public health responses, COVID continues to spread. While the state of our schools has been a public health crisis for some time, there is no reason to add to the suffering by forcing a return too early. Schools cannot solve public health problems on their own, and in the context of an ongoing pandemic, decaying facilities and understaffing are a threat to the lives of our workers and students and their families.