SCOTTSDALE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT-

This is written by the International Baccalaureate students of Desert Mountain High School. We are asking you please do not force students to choose between their education and the health and safety of their families. ALLOW IB STUDENTS THE CHOICE TO LEARN REMOTELY WITHOUT HAVING TO FORFEIT THEIR ABILITY TO OBTAIN THE IB DIPLOMA.

We believe that with the current situation, every student should get to choose between attending school in person or online, regardless of what programs they may be involved in. As IB students, we should not be forced to come back to school. If we choose to stay home, we should be allowed to learn IB remotely. 

COVID-19 has spiked in Arizona. This is an indisputable fact. It is an unprecedented event and unknown how long it will continue. When you closed schools in March, the situation was significantly safer than it is now. We disagree with the decision that requires IB students to return to school if they want to be able to stay in the IB program. Incoming seniors and juniors in IB have worked extremely hard to get to the point they are at. IB is a large commitment, we often devote much more of our time to school than other students. So we should not be forced to give up all this effort in order to protect ourselves and our families.

Every student's situation is different. Some students are very healthy, while some do have pre-existing conditions that put them at higher risk. Additionally, young healthy people still do die from COVID, no one is immune, and we have a right to be scared and worried. Many of us have parents or grandparents we live with that are at much higher risk than us. We would endanger our loved ones by being forced to come back to school. It is also not fair to our teachers, who must come to school, and many of which may be at high risk.

We should have the right to choose to stay home AND continue our IB diploma education. We did it from March until May. The only students in the IB diploma program are a select group of juniors and seniors at Desert Mountain High School. We are different in this sense from all other students- and should be treated differently as well, yet still maintain the same basic rights. Instead of SOL or Buzz, we can still teach remotely and in class with IB students similar to how we did last spring. 

This is doable. We want to work with the district so that everyone has the right to choose and yet still get a quality education. Talk to us, the students. Let us give our input. Work to find solutions with us. Don't dictate whether we must make the choice between our safety and our education. 

-The SUSD's IB Students