Your signature, support, and respect of the Law and CA Ed Code will allow k-8 and 9-12 students who are ready to return to schools to receive in-person education, care (working families rely on schools’ care for their children), free and paid meals, mental health services, social/emotional support, and peer interaction that children rely on and benefit from greatly. 

Per Ed. Code 43504 "public schools must offer in person instruction to the greatest extent possible”. By signing this petition you will kindly support educators, teachers, staff, children/families, who have been ready and willing to come back to schools in full capacity and with ready precautions in place, as permitted by the State of California, CDC, and Department of Public Health since Sept 23rd 2020. 

Families wishing to keep their children at home in distance learning have been permitted to do so, and we do not wish to change that. We just ask for equitable treatment for those of us choosing in-person instruction but still finding schools’ doors closed. In many schools, teachers and staff too have been permitted to stay in distance teaching depending on their preference, while in-person learning is being supervised in classroom pods by alternate district employees willing to return to schools. So much is possible when we work together.

Most k-8 and many 9-12 private schools across the country and a number of California public schools have successfully and safely reopened for in-person instruction, as have public schools in many US states and schools in countries around the world. California daycares and preschools have been open for a long time already. However, many of California’s public k-8 schools, and most in Santa Clara county, remain closed and PLAN to remain effectively closed for in-person general ed instruction until further notice.

We also need to lessen the growing educational divide between children able to attend private schools in person and children not-permitted to return to public schools despite their readiness. There is also an ever increasing educational divide between US children and children in the rest of the world. 

Most importantly, besides being mindful of current laws, please be mindful of the downfall in children's mental health, decline in general wellbeing, and grave learning loss that is currently rampant as schools continue to be closed for in-person instruction for general ed students across the state. Your support is greatly appreciated.

Headlines: 

The Pod Squad: ’Kids being normal again’ Children revel in activities, but many still left without (San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 22nd 2020)
Keeping schools closed poses greater health threat to children than reopening (Jul 2020, CDC)
The risks of keeping schools closed far outweigh the benefits (Jul 2020, Economist)
The Results Are In for Remote Learning: It Didn’t Work. The pandemic forced schools into a crash course in online education. Problems piled up quickly. (Jun 2020, WSJ)
California Sees No Link From School Openings to Virus Spread (Oct 2020, NBC Bay Area) 
New US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on education and child care come down hard in favor of opening schools, saying children don't suffer much from coronavirus, are less likely than adults to spread it and suffer from being out of school. (Jul 2020, CNN) 
Child care has been safe during the pandemic. That could be a good sign for schools. (Aug 2020, LA Times)

References:

Schools are and have been ready to reopen per: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/Documents/Reopening-of-Santa-Clara-County-K-12-Schools.pdf
CDC director: Keeping schools closed poses greater health threat to children than reopening (Jul 2020) https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/506640-cdc-director-keeping-schools-closed-poses-greater-health-threat-to-children
The risks of keeping schools closed far outweigh the benefits (Jul 2020) https://www.economist.com/leaders/2020/07/18/the-risks-of-keeping-schools-closed-far-outweigh-the-benefits
The Results Are In for Remote Learning: It Didn’t Work. The pandemic forced schools into a crash course in online education. Problems piled up quickly. (WSJ, Jun 2020) https://archive.fo/cm9I5
Reopening schools in Denmark did not worsen outbreak https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-denmark-reopening-idUSKBN2341N7
California Sees No Link From School Openings to Virus Spread (Oct 2020) https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/california/no-link-seen-between-california-school-openings-virus-cases/2376111/
New US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on education and child care come down hard in favor of opening schools, saying children don't suffer much from coronavirus, are less likely than adults to spread it and suffer from being out of school. (Jul 2020) https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/23/health/cdc-coronavirus-school-guidelines-new/index.html
Schoolchildren Seem Unlikely to Fuel Coronavirus Surges, Scientists Say (Oct 2020) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/health/coronavirus-schools-children.html
Aug 4th 2020 LA Times, ”Child care has been safe during the pandemic. That could be a good sign for schools" https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-08-04/child-care-has-been-safe-during-the-pandemic-that-could-be-a-good-sign-for-schools  Excerpt: "Day cares remained open in California even after most schools shut down. As of July 22, about 33,300 facilities had the capacity to care for up to 720,882 children...Children under 5 account for fewer than 1% of all hospitalizations in the county, according to data presented by Barbara Ferrer, director of the county’s public health department... Considering the number of kids at child-care centers in the U.S., the number of coronavirus outbreaks they’ve reported is low. Research to date suggests that children rarely get sick with COVID-19, and those under 10 aren’t very efficient at transmitting the disease to older family members. These dynamics — combined with additional precautions schools are taking regarding masks, classroom adaptations and keeping parents off campus — appear to make school and day care reasonable options for families with healthy younger children, experts say."
Please also view and support https://gbdeclaration.org/