Safe Schools for All
MNPS BOE and Dr. Battle
Last week, after 9 days of in-person school with only 33 students, Cora Howe School suffered a COVID outbreak. This proves that there are still major gaps in our ability to keep educators and students safe in school buildings. Many of these gaps are symptoms of chronic underfunding that MNPS educators and families have experienced for years: crowded school buildings, poor ventilation, understaffing, and a lack of essential resources.
These unsafe conditions guarantee that students and staff who return in person will be exposed to COVID. But many educators and families feel they are being asked to make an impossible choice. Due to disproportionate resources or training, virtual school is not working for all of us. Many families still have no access to reliable wifi, and many are struggling to adapt to new digital systems. Likewise, many parents and educators feel forced to return in person in order to pay their bills. In this way, the pandemic intensifies problems that have existed in the system all along. No one should be forced to risk their life in order to pay their bills or receive an education.
We have been given a false choice, and we reject it altogether. We choose neither to accept the current state of virtual learning nor to risk our lives by returning to unsafe school buildings. Instead, we choose to remain virtual and to expand virtual learning into a system that works for everyone. Join us by adding your signature.
Sponsored by
To:
MNPS BOE and Dr. Battle
From:
[Your Name]
In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak at the Cora Howe School, we are
asking for the following three demands be met immediately:
1. MNPS must remain virtual and expand virtual learning into a system that works
for everyone. Accepting that virtual school will leave some students behind or demanding that students and staff risk our lives by returning to unsafe school buildings is a false choice. No one should be forced to risk their life to pay their bills or receive an education. Instead of using up more resources and energy trying to achieve the impossible task of guaranteeing classroom safety in current conditions, MNPS should focus on how to improve online learning, with a particular focus on how to support students whose needs are not currently being met.
2. Until all COVID-related metrics are rated as satisfactory by the Metro Public Health Department, the following conditions must be met to facilitate a safe return to schools:
-Reduce class sizes to allow for proper social distancing
-Ensure all ventilation systems verified fully functional within last 60 days
-Provided extended paid sick leave for school employees impacted by COVID-19 who exceed or who don't qualify for the 12 days of paid sick leave from MNPS, and the 80 additional hours provided by Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), or the 12 weeks provided by FMLA
-All educators are given the option to choose virtual teaching
If these conditions cannot be met, all classes should remain online.
3. Continue to advocate for the funding that will meet both the academic and health and safety needs of our students. We appreciate the work MNPS leadership and many members of the board have done to advocate for fully funding MNPS. Right now, this work is needed more than ever because current funding levels make many of our demands impossible. Crowded classrooms, poor ventilation, understaffing, and a lack of essential resources are symptoms of the chronic underfunding faced by MNPS for years. Therefore, we ask that you continue to join us in demanding full funding for MNPS and greater equity for our students and families from state and local governments.
Members of the Board and Dr. Battle, it’s up to you to do the next right thing. Keep schools virtual until it’s safe.