100 signatures reached
To: The State of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Public Schools
Support essential workers by giving them school options
A virtual-only school plan places disproportionate financial and economic burdens on families of essential workers who are not allowed to work from home and cannot supervise their children's virtual learning. The standing of essential workers has great consequences for us all, as their ability to show up to work is fundamental to a functioning economy and a healthy democracy, and affords us all with basic needs such as healthcare services, emergency responses, food, and utilities, and other public services to name a few.
The State of Michigan and the Ann Arbor Public Schools should offer the families with at least one essential worker the option of hybrid (in-person and online) instruction for children under 10 years old and on-school site learning pods for virtual instruction supervised by a teacher for children older than 10. A full letter can be found at http://cli.re/5Adjj2.
Why is this important?
As essential workers are demanded to show up to work and support the society's needs in the midst of a pandemic, they will need to arrange for childcare and tutors to enable their children's education and safety (both of which are legal requirements). For single-parent families of essential workers, many of whom are low income, virtual-only instruction is a sentence to oversized debt (if available), poor financial state, and even bankruptcy. For two-parent households, virtual-only instruction forces essential workers’ spouses to drop out of work, lose half of the household’s income and go into significant debt due to unexpected childcare costs.
A virtual-only school plan is in effect challenging essential workers to choose between being good citizens and essential members of their communities and meeting the basic needs of shelter and food as well as the educational and emotional needs of their children. It asks essential workers to disproportionately bear the burden of the pandemic, and to do so twice: first, at a personal safety level, by being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice as they enter the workplace, risk being potentially infected with the COVID-19 virus and die, at no fault of their own; second, at a financial level, by making financial and career sacrifices to accommodate a virtual-only instruction and afford their children the learning and safety they deserve.
These are unjust, cruel, and un-American options that essential workers, who have carried the society’s healthcare burden on their backs, are presented with to ensure the safety of their children and their educational advancements, as well as provide essential services to their communities.
Through this petition, we urge the State of Michigan, the Ann Arbor Public Schools, and the community to support essential workers beyond lip service and front-yard signs at a time when essential workers need it most and the society needs them most.
How it will be delivered
We will email signatures in support of this petition to representatives of the State of Michigan, Governor Whitmer, the Superintendent, and the Trustees of the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education.