The current Covid-19 pandemic's effect on Howard County Public School System Board of Education students is insurmountable; Being cut off from their friends, a lack of structure, a lack of motivation, as well as a lack in mental health support from the schools, just to name a few. But the transition back into a new "normal" has been difficult at the very least. Students bodies adjusting the classroom environment, turning work in on-time with a different workload, dealing with social pressures after being away from other students for a year, trying to turn on the sociable part of themselves and the list goes on and on.

All the while, the question of if there should or should not be midterms and finals is in the air. Students across the board adamantly reject the idea of having these unnecessary tests, added onto their all ready full plates. 

The board of education in Howard County should prioritize the mental health of their students. Most students in Howard County are very involved and appear to have a lot on their plates, between a job, sports, clubs, and the arts such as choir or theater which can be tough to manage for the average teenager. Many students will have to spend long hours and stay up long nights to study for these tests, and the mental health of the student body will diminish drastically. Additionally, midterms and final exams are not an accurate measure of a students knowledge acquisition or learning capacity as a student;s potential cannot simply be defined as a number. Every child is unique with special strengths and weaknesses that will never all be properly assessed through a midterm or final exam.

If any of this speaks to you, sounds like you, or you value the mental health of Howard County Public School System Board of Education students, Please sign this petition. The Howard County Public School System Board of Education needs to vote based on the will of the students, not the will of a group who are objectively the minority.