Our high school's auditorium is acoustically flawed and it takes away from the performances of hard working students. Our high school band has taken first place in multiple national competitions including the Disney festival of bands. With recent budget cuts, we are in jeopardy of teachers being cut and music programs being taken away entirely.

• If it is your goal to see our teachers stressed out to the max: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to take the heart and passion out of teaching: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to turn our kids into machines with no possibility to be inspired: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to tear apart families with the stress of homework and extra tutoring that take away from family time all in the name of preparing for these tests: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to prove to yourselves that our students are the best with ridiculous testing that has no validity or true measure of anything...you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to torture everyone in the system with teacher pay directly linked with student test results: you are succeeding! • If it is your goal to keep our teachers on edge by changing their goals and schedules and forcing them to change their lesson plans throughout the year to meet these demands: you are succeeding! Is the message we are trying to send clear enough? You are destroying everything good about teaching and learning! The heart of education is dying. The best teachers are hanging on for dear life and many are choosing to leave because they are just fed up with the system. Parents and children are unable to have quality home life because they are in a mad race to complete all of the homework tasks assigned and completely terrified all year of the inevitable testing which is consuming months of teaching the tests and taking up precious learning time! After school activities should be enhancing the children's lives, not enslaving them to their education. The school system has already practically eliminated all of the arts, recess, music, and other enrichments due to "lack of funding.". They should be enjoying sports, friendships, hobbies and family life, not doing more school work! • We parents serve on PTAs and volunteer during and after school. • We donate money and time to help our teachers improve their learning environments. • We raise money in addition to the taxes we already pay because our school doesn't have enough to purchase basic supplies and equipment and make improvements to the school. • We work side by side with the administration and other parents trying to raise money for our school in an effort to make it the best it can possibly be. • We believe our system is completely out of control and that whoever is making the decisions is either not well informed or knowledgeable about the education system or simply does not care! • We believe that the powers that be are completely out of touch with the reality of schools and their barriers, processes and challenges as well as the financial burdens and lack of time to complete all requirements. We need the madness to stop. Our teachers, parents, students, and administration need a break! We encourage each of you to visit at least two schools for a minimum of 45 minutes and meet with teachers, administrations, parents, and students to understand the issues better, to begin to have an open dialog with the people directly impacted, so that you can get a real life perspective and start to understand our plight. • How is it that students and parents were told they would be taking an online writing exam (typed) this year, yet there were no plans, money or time to teach them how to type properly? How is it that a timed writing test can be given to students that have rudimentary typing skills (more likely thumb only texting skills)? • How is it that our schools with their minimal funding and overcrowding can be expected to prepare and test all of their students with insufficient computer labs? • How is it that you expect to inspire brilliance and forward thinking and innovation when you are twisting the learning to the point of absurd stupidity. The amount of time it is taking to teach our children the ridicuous processes/requirements of the lessons could be better spent giving the extra time towards creativity in the classroom which is what really engages the students. If you treat them like robots, they will become robots. • The people across the nation are standing up and demanding a change! What are you planning to do yourself to serve the people that have put you in your positions? Do you care? We want to know what you are prepared to do to find new answers that make sense. We need change!

I believe Lake Shore High School had better productivity when we had eighty minutes with our teachers. It gave them more time to elaborate and teach instead of rushing us out of the door in forty minutes, and giving the rest of the lesson for homework and learning the topics unable to be covered by ourselves.

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting recently reported that employees and volunteers at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have been directed not to use the words "climate change," "global warming," or “sea level rise.” This news has drawn public outrage across the country. Instead of denying the urgency of climate change, Governor Scott should be leading the charge in renewable energy sources like solar. Please ask the Governor to acknowledge human-caused climate change and work to stop it!

As a female student at Lake Shore high school, I have many friends that have no knowledge of self defense and may get very hurt if they were attacked. Self defense is an important lesson that would make students much less vulnerable. Especially in today's society, college can be dangerous for some young adults with no street knowledge.

The Florida Center for Investigative Reporting recently reported that employees and volunteers at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection have been directed not to use the words "climate change," "global warming," or “sea level rise.” This news has drawn public outrage across the country. Instead of denying the urgency of climate change, Governor Scott should be leading the charge in renewable energy sources like solar. Please ask the Governor to acknowledge human-caused climate change and work to stop it!

We urge you to do more to prevent "Religious Freedom" legislation from passing in Georgia. These harmful bills open the door to discrimination against Georgians, making Georgia unsafe for LGBTQ residents, as well as religious minorities and people of color. Last year, under your lead, Delta Airlines was instrumental in stopping these bills from becoming the law of the land in Georgia. As the state's largest private employer, Delta Airlines has a responsibility to it's employees, customers, and the residents of Georgia to do everything in their power to object to these bills. In the past, your company has shown a commitment to civil rights in the South, by investing over $1 million in the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, and sponsoring the 50th anniversary of the March on Selma taking place this weekend. While we value this commitment, we must do more to ensure that the civil rights of ALL Georgians remain intact. Please take a stand against these bills, and use your influence to urge other business leaders to do the same.

I am starting this petition because I believe that if you are old enough to join the military, and old enough to be considered a legal adult then you should be able to drink legally.

I believe if you are working hard in a school sport everyday then there's no reason to have to be involved in gym class. The exercise during the practice or game of the sport should count towards the physical activity of the required amount of gym class.

A select faction of the Student Senate thinks Desmond's leadership style violates his oath of office. This petition tells the Senate not only that You believe Desmond works for you, as your elected President, but that calling for effectiveness of the Student Senate isn't cause for impeachment. Desmond wrote this in his open opt-ed piece to the Eastern Echo: On January 27th, 2015 I addressed the Student Senate during Presidential Forum. In the forum, I requested that the Student Senate focus more on student body issues. I stated that the Senate needed to stop focusing on internal conflict, and focus on improving the student experience for the student body. This is reflected in the Senate-approved minutes from this meeting, which can be found online at emich.edu/studentgov.

Koch fiend Cory sleazed his way into office and he has started a rampage of bowing down to the Kochs, the NRA, Netanyahu and everything else that is disgusting and rightwing and wrong. Every moment he is in office is a moment when America IS IN DANGER.

Nottoway County BOS has refused to put a resolution in support of Industrial Hemp on its agenda. America is the only industrialized nation on Earth that does not produce Industrial Hemp. This is NOT what our Founding Fathers intended in 1619.