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Tell Grand Rapids Schools: Don't Bar A Parent From The Classroom For Bouncing Checks
  1. Signatures
    265 out of 500
    Petitioning
    1. School Board President, Grand Rapids Public Schools (+ 1 other)
      Petitioning
      close
      • School Board President, Grand Rapids Public Schools (Senita Lenear)
      • Director of Communications & External affairs, Grand Rapids Public Schools (John Helmholdt)
  2. Created By
    Change.org
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Parent involvement in the classroom benefits all students. But when Wendy Cross, a parent in Grand Rapids, Michigan, tried to volunteer in her children's classrooms, she was automatically barred because she wrote several bad checks in 2001.

Grand Rapids has a blanket ban on all parent volunteers who have a felony conviction, with no exceptions. This means that qualified parent volunteers who have made mistakes that resulted in a conviction - no matter how long ago, or what type of crime - cannot help out in their children's classrooms.

Grand Rapids is ignoring the opportunity to teach its students about second chances. It is also dismissing a group of qualified parent volunteers. Leading education reformers say that parent involvement is a vital part of a child's education. Help convince the Grand Rapids School Board to allow qualified parents like Cross to volunteer.

Photo credit: woodley wonderworks

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Stop Barring Qualified Parent Volunteers From The Classroom

Dear Ms. Lenear,

I am writing to you today to urge Grand Rapids Public Schools to revisit their blanket ban on parent volunteers. I am also asking the School Board to re-open the conversation with parent volunteers in a public forum that all interested parties are properly informed about and prepared for.

Parent involvement in the classroom benefits all students. But when Grand Rapids parent Wendy Cross tried to volunteer in her children's classrooms, she was automatically barred because she wrote several bad checks in 2001. Grand Rapids' blanket ban on all parent volunteers who have a felony conviction means that qualified parent volunteers who have made mistakes that resulted in a conviction - no matter how long ago, or what type of crime - cannot help out in their children's classrooms.

This policy means that qualified school volunteers are not being used in the classroom.

The School Board's recent December meeting was not properly publicized, and many of the parents in question did not know about this issue. As a School Board leader, you must publicly commit to:
* re-opening the conversation with parent volunteers in a public forum
* working with the ACLU to create a compromise that keeps students safe and uses the passion and skills of parent volunteers

This is a prime opportunity to teach Grand Rapids students about second chances, and about the dangers of black-and-white thinking.

[Your name]

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