This Friday, March 27, Alabama Governor Kay Ivy will announce whether Alabama high school students will be returning to campuses to complete the rest of the semester or whether alternative teaching methods will be looked into. If in-person school is canceled, then so will school functions, such as prom, awards ceremonies, banquets, and graduation commencements. This is a terrible inconvenience to high school seniors, who have worked tirelessly to prepare for their academic goals, as well as looked forward to the key senior class experiences that are so memorable to every person who has ever experienced them. Because of COVID-19, these experiences are under threat of cancelation. However, high schools do not pose the same risk as, say, college campuses, as universities consist of students from all across the globe, who all went home for spring break and therefore could not return and congregate on a single campus. High school students are all locals of the same area, therefore the risk for COVID-19 exposure is exponentially lower. Additionally, if high schools were to implement alternative education methods, such as online teaching, many counties in Alabama--such as Jefferson County--have a high number of students living in poverty, and these students would most definitely face additional challenges in attaining the resources they would need to finish their schoolwork online or through other alternative methods. This petition asks that the people in charge of this decision consider the weight of it on current high school seniors, while ultimately making the safest decision possible for the communities and state of Alabama.