We are facing a pandemic that is not going away anytime soon, but our children need to go to school. The new normal has to also embrace new ideas for education while safe guarding the next generation, our children. 

I suggest a voluntary School-Home Partnership Program which takes into consideration two of the main arguments: First, some children are high-risked (e.g. asthmatic) and just commuting every day to school is a risk, much less staying in school all day, so parents do not wish to send their children back to school. Second, is parents have to work, and they can't leave children at home alone so open back schools.  

A School-Home Partnership Program, is an alternative learning experience for students and their families via public school. Families work with a certificated teacher and program to implement/develop a learning plan for the school year and students complete the majority of their learning activities at home. This can be done through instruction by the class teacher or parents/guardians (or outsourced teacher). It depends on the model agreed to. The School-Home Partnership Program can be run alone, where all students are at home and teachers instruct online or it can also be run simultaneously with normal school classes. In this instance, teachers are responsible for teaching their physical class only and monitoring the school-home student's progress through scheduled testing while parents take responsibility for home instruction.

The intent of this type of program is to give schools the flexibility to serve their student population in challenging times.  

IMMEDIATE BENEFIT: There is a reduction in class sizes without expanding infrastructure to meet the requirements of social distancing during the pandemic.

LONG TERM BENEFIT: Caters to the needs of a changing education market and students can be reintegrated into the student population easily. 

I will like to show our Government that there is an alternative and wish for your assistance in signing this petition. In doing so you agree that the idea of a School-Home Partnership Program should be considered as a viable option for the new academic school year.