This petition is to call for the District 106 Board of Education to recall the vote they took at the July 22nd meeting regarding the return to school commencing as a 100% e-learning platform.

We respectfully ask that the Board recall the vote, as the vote was not cast after adequate review of appropriate information.  The board did not review recommendations from the American Association of Pediatrics or any respectable agency.  Another key piece of information missing - the qualitative information that the administration gathered from families in a district wide survey.  Families spent time discussing alternatives, potential solutions, all sorts of submissions from this group who are the parents of the children impacted by this decision.  Many parents submitted that information under the assumption that it was a way to make their voices heard.  It was not.  Only the quantitative survey results were made available to the board.  One piece of data that was mentioned was that the current positivity rate for the local areas that make up our school community was more than 4% points below the 10% threshold that is the guideline for when some form of in person learning is appropriate.

The board voted after listening to emotionally charged, subjective testimonies primarily from teachers.  There was no vetting or fact checking, individuals were free to say whatever they wanted.  In fact, the reps from the Teachers Union chose to quote an Opinion piece from the New York Times as if it were a scientific paper that had any validity.  Fear and opinion drove the vote that impacts over 500 families.  It impacts the education of over 900 students.   At one point, the discussion of teachers not returning was brought up.  The superintendent was asked what would happen of more teachers opted to return than we had subs for.  A definitive plan B was not heard.  There had to be a contingency staffing plan for the hybrid model, in case of an exposure, it had to have been accounted for in their planning, so how could she not speak to such a scenario?

The administration expected the board to vote on the spot, yet, it never laid out a model for the elearning format that the board ultimately voted on in a 6-1 vote.  Yes, one board member voted based on the data that was made available, that according to experts, our community is within a range where the hybrid model would be an acceptable way to start out year.  That individual also asked, if we are within acceptable range and vote to elearn, what then becomes our threshold for when we can resume in person learning?  Never was that addressed, yet 6 board members voted to forge ahead without these critical details outlined.

 Our ask is that the board recall the vote, the board uses science and data and input from professionals to drive their decision and then reconvenes. We also ask that they vote on a comprehensive plan, as over 200 of us YouTube viewers still have no idea what the Board actually voted to approve, other than our kids will be sitting at home during a time where the rate is relatively low and there was mention of hoping to bring them in to school around early October (just in time for flu season, when Covid is expected to uptick)

This is an incredibly important decision, it should have been one that the Board was given an appropriate amount of time to review, discuss and question before being expected to vote.