CHOICE.

Fulton County decided to begin school with only online instruction. With this petition, we are fighting for our students to have the option of choosing to go back to in-person schooling, if that's their family choice. If we are to continue to disadvantage children by keeping schools closed, there must be highly compelling scientific evidence that this is of significant national benefit. There is no such evidence. In fact, current scientific evidence suggests the opposite.
- The American Pediatric Association has advised that schools should reopen in the fall

- 07/23 the CDC has updated its guidelines strongly in favor of reopening of schools

- A dozen other countries have reopened schools and cases have not risen

- We still have daycare facilities open and there is no evidence of those daycares accelerating the spread of the virus; we did not have one single healthy child dying and we didn't see lots of cases of teachers infected at those places

- Studies, including one by the Pediatrics journal, have shown kids rarely transmit the disease

We are debating if it's safe to reopen schools, when we should be debating how safe it is to keep schools closed. Keeping schools closed will:

- Exacerbate existing achievement gaps between different demographics. 20%+ of children in Fulton County live IN POVERTY

- Lead to more kids dropping out of school

- Harm students with special needs and learning disabilities that need face to face interaction w/ a professional

- Harm Elementary aged students that are non-English speakers

- Harm the social and emotional well-being of students, specially teenagers

- Deprive students of the ability to play sports and engage in extracurricular activities

- Place a tremendous burden on working parents that need to provide for their families. Again, 20%+ of families live in poverty and have no means to afford private childcare.

Online learning was an option when there was still uncertainty regarding the role of children in transmitting the disease. THAT IS NOT THE CASE ANYMORE.
Fulton County should empower parents to make the decision that it's best for them. We know there are immuno-compromised children and family members, or even families that are afraid of sending their kids back, so they would have the option of signing up for online learning. Same would go for faculty members that are at a higher risk. Safety measures and precautions have been taken to all essential workers to keep working, and we are sure the same can be done for educators to go back to work, as they are essential to this nation.

Give us a CHOICE.