Protect HISD students on Election Day.
Protect HISD students on Election Day.
The Issue
The current political climate is reason enough for the district to reconsider their decision for this year’s election. Unfortunately, on top of that, there has been an unprecedented rise in threats/lockdowns at HISD schools this year. It is absurd to keep our schools open on Election Day — a sentiment that every other district in the Houston metro area + every other major school district across the state agrees with. In 2020, HISD chose to close schools for the presidential election. The district’s willful ignorance to refuse a seemingly obvious decision for the 2024 election cycle is reprehensible and irresponsible.
Parents are required to be background checked and VIPS certified to even enter the front door of the school, yet they allow strangers to come and go for voting while students are in class. My daughter‘s class is in the hallway where voting takes place for the second year in a row. Every year that we have been at River Oaks Elementary, there is a conversation amongst ROE parents about this and how many of us will be keeping our kids home on Election Day because we are AFRAID to send them to school. It has been reported that some people who come to vote get lost in the building, and end up roaming the halls.
As a parent to a child who has attended 2 schools in HISD that were chosen as voting locations open to the public, I am sick of the district’s negligence with our children’s safety.
The nearest voting location to the school is approximately one mile away, at the Pumpkin Park / River Oaks Park community center. There are plenty of other convenient locations available to vote. If Houston ISD refuses to designate Election Day a student holiday, we cannot continue to rely on using our schools as this county’s primary polling location.
If our school is going to stay open on Election Day, the district MUST designate that day as a school holiday. Considering how often the district closes schools for “professional development” days, they can certainly find a way to reallocate this ONE day as a student holiday.
Please sign and pass along!
338
The Issue
The current political climate is reason enough for the district to reconsider their decision for this year’s election. Unfortunately, on top of that, there has been an unprecedented rise in threats/lockdowns at HISD schools this year. It is absurd to keep our schools open on Election Day — a sentiment that every other district in the Houston metro area + every other major school district across the state agrees with. In 2020, HISD chose to close schools for the presidential election. The district’s willful ignorance to refuse a seemingly obvious decision for the 2024 election cycle is reprehensible and irresponsible.
Parents are required to be background checked and VIPS certified to even enter the front door of the school, yet they allow strangers to come and go for voting while students are in class. My daughter‘s class is in the hallway where voting takes place for the second year in a row. Every year that we have been at River Oaks Elementary, there is a conversation amongst ROE parents about this and how many of us will be keeping our kids home on Election Day because we are AFRAID to send them to school. It has been reported that some people who come to vote get lost in the building, and end up roaming the halls.
As a parent to a child who has attended 2 schools in HISD that were chosen as voting locations open to the public, I am sick of the district’s negligence with our children’s safety.
The nearest voting location to the school is approximately one mile away, at the Pumpkin Park / River Oaks Park community center. There are plenty of other convenient locations available to vote. If Houston ISD refuses to designate Election Day a student holiday, we cannot continue to rely on using our schools as this county’s primary polling location.
If our school is going to stay open on Election Day, the district MUST designate that day as a school holiday. Considering how often the district closes schools for “professional development” days, they can certainly find a way to reallocate this ONE day as a student holiday.
Please sign and pass along!
338
Supporter Voices
Petition created on September 25, 2024