Every day, immigrant students' safety and quality of education are compromised because of the failings of our public education system. This is why we are urging you to sign our petition to help us raise awareness and bring these issues to the attention of our City Council, our Mayor, and the School District of Philadelphia.

With our team of 27 youth organizers, we interviewed a group of 420 Asian American students (or parents of students) in the city of Philadelphia to learn about the most urgent issues our youth are facing in the public school system.

95.4% of students interviewed had strong opinions to share about the Philadelphia public school system. These issues may not seem to be important, but they affect many students, especially immigrant students and students in public schools that lack resources.

The issues we found are:

 1. Many schools do not have psychological counselors and do not actively promote mental health. Those who have the help of psychological counselors say that counselors can effectively help with the mental health issues students are facing.

 2. Schools don’t have a full-time bilingual counselor. As a result, when students need a bilingual translator, they can't get effective help in time. Furthermore, schools are not able to communicate with parents in a timely and effective manner, so bilingual consultants are needed to help the schools and students communicate with parents.

 3. There are school facilities that are inadequate or in disrepair. The schools have paint falling off, leaking roof when it rains, etc. In the late spring and summer months, schools don’t provide enough air conditioner, which affects students’ ability to learn. The smell caused by sweating can be unbearable and the high temperatures can lead to heatstroke.

 4. Asian/Asian American students are often harassed and bullied because of racial discrimination. Teachers do not know how to properly handle these situations, which leads to repeated bullying.

 5. School lunches are very low in quality. Portions are very small, and often students are served expired or spoiled foods. The quality of school lunches can affect the mental state and physical health of students (especially those with digestive issues).

Therefore, we launched this petition to ask the City Council to put pressure on the School District of Philadelphia. We demand the city provide every public school with counselors and bilingual consultants. Also, schools should regularly check the facilities, provide higher quality food, and have trained staff on how to deal with bullying incidents. All of this can raise the student's spirits and desire to learn. 

In order to find funding to make these changes, we believe we have to end the 10-year tax abatement in Philadelphia, which waives tax payments for property that has been remodeled for a period of ten years. This means that wealthier home-owner are often not paying their fair share of taxes to the city. If we abolish the 10-year tax abatement, our city government can take these taxes to support public education, especially in our public neighborhood schools.

Since immigrant and low-income students are often disadvantaged in the Philadelphia public school system, making these changes will help ensure that every student has a fair educational opportunity. We hope that you can support our cause by signing our petition.

 

由于我们公共教育系统的失败，每天都有移民学生的安全和教育质量受到损害。这就是为什么我们希望你签署我们的请愿书，以帮助我们引起我们的市议会，市长和费城学区的注意。

我们的团队由27名青年组织者组成。我们采访了费城市的四百二十名学生（或学生家长），了解我们的青年在公立学校系统中面临的最紧迫问题。

百分之95.4的学生认为目前费城公立学校存在许多问题。这些问题表面上看起来不是很重要，却影响到很多的学生，特别是移民学生和缺少资源的公立学校的学生。

我们发现的问题包括：    

1.许多学校并没有配备心理辅导员，也没有积极的宣传心理健康的问题。但那些有受到心理辅导员帮助的学生都表示心理辅导员可以有效的解决学生的心理问题。

2.学校没有全职的双语辅导员，因此导致当学生需要双语翻译的时候没能及时得到帮助，同时也会影响到学校没能及时的跟家长沟通。双语顾问可以帮助到学校和家长以及和学生的沟通。所以学校需要全职双语翻译员来更好的和学生和学生家长交流。

3. 学校存在有年久失修的设备，会影响到学校的安全性。比如油漆脱落的现象以及下雨时屋顶会漏水。在夏季的时候学校没有提供足够的空调会影响到学生的学习，比如出汗引起的味道还有温度过高而引起的中暑。

4. 亚裔学生经常会受到骚扰和霸凌的事件是因为种族歧视，而老师没有正确的去处理，而导致学生一次又一次的受到霸凌。

5.学校的午餐存在低质量的问题，比如份量不足和食物过期的问题，而且大部分提供的都是冷食。因此会导致学生上课时的精神状态和身体健康出现问题，特别是那些肠胃不好的学生。

因此我们发动这次的请愿书是要求市议会给教育局施压，让教育局给每个学校都提供心理辅导员和双语的顾问。并且，学校应该定期检查设备的问题是否会排出有毒气体，提供更高质量的食物和培训教职人员该如何正确的去处理霸凌事件。这一切都可以创造一个好的学习环境和帮助学生更有动力学习。

为了有更多的资金来做出这些改变，我们认为必须要结束费城市的新房十年免税政策。政府免除了新房的十年税收，这意味这比较富裕的房主不需要向城市缴纳公平的税收。如果我们取消10年的免税政策，政府可以用这些征收的税来支持公共教育，特别是在我们的公立社区学校！

移民学生和低收入家庭的学生在费城的公立学校系统中经常是属于不利的地位。因此做出这些改变有助于每一个学生都可以有公平的教育机会。我希望你可以通过签署我们的请愿书来支持我们！