Coronavirus has created many hardships for a large majority of the people of the world. We’ve collectively done our best to fight back. However not all our solutions are effective. One of them being our shift to online schooling.

Online school doesn’t work. Students living in lower income houses have an unfair disadvantage, and their grades shouldn’t be punished because of it. School work can also be harder for students with disabilities, those who need more support, and even those with more siblings they have to look after (https://www.pbs.org/newshour/education/the-switch-to-remote-learning-could-leave-students-with-disabilities-behind).

 Many other schools are switching to pass/fail (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/nyregion/special-education-coronavirus-nyc.html), and we should too.

School itself is stressful for many students; being in the midst of a global pandemic adds even more pressure. Right now, SMMUSD students may be facing more stress and collective hardships than ever before. During the 2018 - 2019 school year, 2,502 students in SMMUSD qualified for free or reduced lunch and 69 students were homeless (https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sd/sd/filescupc.asp). This pandemic impairs our lower income students the most. Many parents have lost their jobs and are falling behind on rent. Students facing these circumstances cannot be expected to focus on school as their grades pale in comparison to their fears of not eating or their parents paying rent. To stress them out with a grade would do nothing but add more, unnecessary, stress. A pass/fail system would allow all students to focus more on their families and do their best to sustain a better mental health.

Therefore, we ask you to follow in the steps of school districts like Santa Maria Joint Unified High School District, and go to a pass/fail grade system for this semester (https://www.ksby.com/news/local-news/smjuhsd-releases-grading-and-credit-policy-for-spring-2020-semester).

This petition was created by SAMOHI students.