We, the parents and families, want to request Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) & Fremont Union High School District (FUHSD) to allow kids to attend school online (With full time full day remote learning option) for some time, i.e. at least rest of January 2022 while  COVID Omicron infections are at a peak for the school (multiplied by 20 times since the start of the school year in Fall of 2021). 

Earlier infection rate among the kids was low and returning back to school was an option. Now in Elementary, Middle and High schools the infection rate is exponential and showing a similar pattern as the county, state and country. More children are getting hospitalized with COVID -19 than ever before because of the Omicron and Delta variants. An average of 672 children were admitted to hospitals every day with COVID -19 during the week ending Sunday, the highest such number of the pandemic, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It follows a record-high number of new cases among children, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

We are worried about our School kids, families, staff and faculty and their families (and essentially the whole community) at CUSD, FUSHD and beyond. With all the data and information available, we recommend the school administration that it would be wise to provide the Hybrid option for full time full day Online Learning for at least two to three weeks so that this unprecedented surge will decrease and have more controls in place rather than spreading at this exponential rate. It will also help in reducing load on the health infrastructure as our hospitals and healthcare workers are swamped, burnt out and do not have much more capacity and strength to care for the sick. This will also give peace of mind to the  families of staff and kids instead of being paranoid and face more mental health issues.

Our kids are vulnerable at this point with a lot of unknowns about this virus and the variants. Kids who are sick or quarantining are getting anxious about their study loss impact, grades and social life. That sort of negative impact on health, anxiety, worry and psychological effects can also be tackled if we have an online option available for all the kids. 

Another important point is that many families have older parents (or grandparents) or younger siblings at home, and they are at higher risk even though they may be vaccinated. Most of the local offices are working remote and extending for an indefinite time already, and have no plans to start in-person until the COVID situation is under control. Can we apply the same sort of precaution with our kids and schools? This is for greater good and doesn't start and stop with our kids at the school.

Many of the neighborhood school districts have already taken the decision or are close to opting in for remote learning such as Milpitas Union School District, Hayward School District, West Costa Rica School district. Therefore, we feel it would be wise for our district to take the same decision in time before the virus impacts much more negatively at the rate of this spread at our school.

So, please show your support to sign this petition and ask our dear administrators at CUSD to make remote learning happen, at least for the rest of January  2022 and/or few more weeks until the infection rate lowers. We believe this is the least we can do for everyone's health and safety which is paramount to all other issues. This will not only help the school community but also meaningfully impact Cupertino, parts of Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, community, as kids and families mingle with other friends and families as well. Together we can stop the spread and save lives!

Thank you!

CUSD & FUSHD Parents
1/9/2022

****** References *********

1. CUSD K8 Covid cases: https://www.cusdk8.org/Page/9225

2. FUHSD Covid cases: https://www.fuhsd.org/newsroom/school-closure-resources/covid-19-case-dashboard

3. AAP reports on kids: https://www.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/

4. Milpitas Union School District: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cvBSZ8Rzob23Wcq18b5UkJo6Mc52-bPX/view

5. West Costa Rica Schools: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/coronavirus/two-east-bay-school-districts-dealing-with-covid-19-surge-teacher-sickout/2772448/

6. Hayward School District: https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/hayward-schools-move-to-online-learning-for-1-week-amid-covid-19-spike/