Since I started school at Academy of American Studies in 2018, it has been repeatedly announced that the Academy of American Studies is opening a brand new building in September of 2021. As a result of the pandemic, the building was pushed to September 2022. Both students, parents, and teachers have fought to open the school by February of 2022. Due to construction delays, as a result of the pandemic, the new school building was only delayed 6 months and not a year. After attending multiple meetings with the School Construction Authority and the Department of Education, we managed to finalize a final date of opening on February 2nd, 2022.

Recently, there have been multiple meetings with the teachers and administration to discuss the protocols of moving from our current building to the new building. As a result of this meeting, some teachers and administration have agreed to delay the opening of the building to March 1st, 2022. Even with the agreement to delay the opening of the new building by one month, there are discussions on potentially pushing the opening of the new building to September of 2022. Some teachers are speaking for all staff when there has not been a schoolwide vote on whether or not to delay the opening of the building. These teachers are not considering the health and safety of all students and teachers. The Department of Education has identified Academy of American Studies as 1 of 73 schools that are overcrowded and cannot safely socially distance in our current building. With COVID-19 cases rising and schools being short-staffed, we are in desperate need of moving into our new building that can protect the safety and health of all students and staff.

Please sign this petition if you believe that the building should be opened by February 2nd as originally promised. Students, parents and staff deserve a voice in the choices made for the school.