This petition is to support of Georgia House Bill 843 sponsored by Representative Demetrius Douglas outlining a plan to provide 30 minutes of recess to Georgia elementary school children. Currently Georgia does not have a formal requirement to provide recess to grades K-5. In March 2019 during the Georgia legislative session, a similar House Bill (#83) was approved by both the Senate and House (237 in "yay", only 15 "nay", so 96% in favor). In May 2019, Governor Kemp vetoed the bill preferring local control of recess policies. Representative Douglas is rightly passionate about this issue and is bringing recess back for consideration in 2020. Given the overwhelmingly positive response of both the House and Senate in 2019, we want to show our support as a community through this petition. Currently Georgia ranks #8 in childhood obesity. More and more children are being diagnosed with health related illnesses. Children need unstructured play time, fresh air and sunlight incorporated into their school day. House Bill 843 provides for 30 minutes of recess for all Georgia children consistently. It gives children the right to play, supporting healthy development -- physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and academically. Thank you for your support!

The current pay schedule is not competitive with the current job market in and outside of the education field. Furthermore, it does not account for the cost of living in the metropolitan Nashville area. As a result, our children are losing talented teachers to other counties and other industries. Also, without enough substitute teachers and support staff, educators bear an unfair and heavy workload that ultimately creates an unhealthy education experience for both children and teachers alike. The injustice our children experience when high-quality teachers are lost due to a system that underpays and undervalues them is unconscionable.

In October and November of 2019, Maine’s first and fourth largest cities made history. Portland and South Portland became the first places in Maine to declare a climate emergency. Brunswick and Bar Harbor declared an emergency shortly after, with more on the way or in the process. A similar resolution has now been presented to the Lewiston School Committee. It is only fitting that a school, a place where children learn about the world, listen to the youth activists. Climate change is often seen as a scary and abstract concept. How would understanding around the crisis change if students’ schools recognized it for the emergency it is? How many more environmental leaders would we have growing up today? This is why we urge Lewiston Public Schools to declare climate emergency.

Southern state Democrats have been consistently left out of the Presidential campaign trail despite of these being some of the most diverse states in the country. Stacey Abrams is the most prominent national voice fighting voter suppression and advocates for our concerns, particularly affecting people in the South.

New York University has a serious problem with civic engagement and voter turnout. If the University is truly committed to student enfranchisement, NYU must designate Election Day a University Holiday. Currently, the NYU Law School, Columbia University, Fordham University, and Barnard College all designate Election Day as a holiday. Students should not be forced to balance school, work, and family in order to exercise their right to vote. This policy would help to address many of the issues in voter turnout which the University currently faces. According to a 2016 Tufts University report, New York University's voter turnout rate lags behind the institutional average by 2.6% and behind all private research institutions by 5.3%. Election Day off would have an immediate impact on accessibility, and it would meaningfully prioritize voting and civic engagement on-campus. NYU is among the largest private universities in the country. According to the 2018 student fact sheet, 12,022 undergraduate students are permanent residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. This means that 45% of the undergraduate student body lives in proximity to their voting districts and would be immediately impacted by the passage of this resolution. Even more students from elsewhere in the United States choose to register in New York during their undergraduate career. We must come together as a community and urge President Andrew Hamilton to publicly support the University Senate Resolution to Designate Election Day as a University Holiday.

The issue with Gun Violence has gotten out of control and we believe this program will help reduce the numbers drastically. The need for the Prevention of these crimes has become undeniable and we have conducted our own research to get us to the point we could design a program able to make a change. The commitment to change has to come from the individuals in the program and then we can proceed with the transformation. Our research leads us to believe that we must guide each person through the process and take the responsibility to make sure each one makes it through successfully. Obstacles in life always jump up and distract those in the process of changing so it's imperative that we anticipate these things and be there with the necessary adjustments needed to complete their change. Graduating them to a good paying job, life skills and a stable place for them to live and grow will show them they have already made the change from the type of people who would throw it all away to the ones that think things through and value what they have to lose. This is how we create better members of society is from making them proud to be a part of this society. This is how we will Save Our Streets, we must challenge everyone to do their part in making this work. Therefore we are initiating this challenge to everyone in the community from business owners and our corporate community to the volunteers and mentors who plan to be more hands on with the members of our program. We believe it will take a village to solve this matter and we must be committed to our community to change it. Written by: Steven Lamar

If you have kids in high school, they’ve probably read Orwell’s 1984. But now, they’ll get the chance to live in a real-world tech dystopia. Tech startups are quietly selling facial recognition services to high schools across the country. And the potential danger for students, especially students of color, is too troubling to just sit idly by. Facial recognition in schools also gives administrators the unprecedented ability to track and monitor students in real time, during some of the most formative years of their lives. What’s worse: as minors, students may not have any legal recourse to protect themselves from the racial flaws within facial recognition systems.

The Gateway doesn’t prepare students for the real world or post secondary education.

If he is allowed to be honored at the State of the Union as he walks in and is announced, and then gives the speech, as President, as if he has not been impeached by the House of Representatives, or as if nothing has happened, it would make a mockery of the event! He and the Senate have already made a mockery of our Constitution and our Democracy! Call The Speaker, Nancy Pelosi to say No State of the Union! 206-508-4051

Taxpayer money is being wasted. The homeless black and white man are forgotten, forced into deplorable situations, and told by the shelter board we are screwed and not a priority. The taxpayer is paying for a system that can change and we can be in jobs, out of the shelter system faster, and not even in subsidized housing, not in section 8, not in assisted living, but in our own homes. We do not have to stand by, wasting hard earned taxpayer dollars, and just accept the norm and say things cant change, we are screwed. Things can change. Perceptions of those forgotten and left behind can be challenged. Help can be obtained. We will not be silent any longer.

Trump's "Deal of the Century" is a direct attack on the rights of the Palestinian people, one that would not be possible without Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest Israel lobby in the US. CUFI has spent over a decade laying the groundwork for these policies. With unyielding support for U.S. military funding to Israel, anti-BDS legislation, and settlement expansion, CUFI has been moving towards this moment since its inception. It is no surprise that CUFI's founder, John Hagee, a frequent guest to the White House over the past 4 years, attended Trump's announcement. With over 8 million members and consistent presence on Capital Hill, CUFI is intimately involved in strengthening conservative backing for Israel. Trump’s shameful attempts at suppressing Palestinian freedom would not be possible without them. We cannot allow CUFI’s influence to go unchallenged! Join me now in taking back our Christian Voice!

The CDC reported in 2014 that people of color are more likely than whites to accidentally drown. In fact African Americans are likely to drown at a rate of 10X more frequently than whites. This is a shocking statistic and the reason for this I believe is lack of access to municipal pools. The 911 students at Encina are 81% minority and 93% are economically disadvantaged. They must endure the hot summers of Sacramento and there are few public pools in the vicinity. I presented this information to the Encina School Site Council in November, 2016. I thought that they would see how important a school site pool would be. I was so happy when Measure P passed. I assumed the district would provide a necessary provision. Then I saw that a track and field turf with stadium bleachers had been prioritized and was surprised that this superseded the need for a pool. The average temperature in Sacramento in July is 94 degrees and the nearby rivers are enticing. The American and Sacramento Rivers are dangerous, but attractive to swim in on hot days. On June 24 2018, an Encina Student, Mohammed Mounir Kamal, aged 17, accidentally drowned in the Sacramento River when he was on a picnic with his family. This sad tragedy should be our wake up call. Studies have shown the risk of drowning can be ameliorated by providing safe swimming sites, according to the author of “Contested Waters-A Social History of Swimming Pools in America” Prof. Jeff Wiltse, 2007. Moreover, swimming is a California State Teaching Standard. Having a pool on a school site underscores the importance of knowing this skill. A pool on campus supports four sports; Competitive Swimming, Diving, Synchronized Swimming and Water Polo. The Mission Oaks Park and Recreation District which serves the area has no pool either. Dan Barton, the Director has said he is open to operating the Encina pool over the summer. There are many models for this. For example in West Sacramento, The Parks and Recreation District has a contract with the Washington Unified School District to operate the pool during summertime at River City High School. It is called a Mixed Use pool. The approximate cost for a pool is $7 million. Encina had a winning swim team in 1991 and the SJUSD filled in the pool with dirt and asked the students to practice at Sac State. This proved to be too much of an inconvenience and the team disbanded soon after. Seven other SJUSD high school sites have pools so please consider giving these needy students a pool. A pool on campus supports four sports: Competitive Swimming, Synchronized Swimming, Water Polo and Diving. Swimming is unlike any other sport; it is a life saving skill.