100 signatures reached
To: MHASD Board of Education
MHASD: Remove the On-Site Work Requirement for 100% Virtual Teachers
Dear MHASD Board of Education Members, Dr. Salerno, and Building Principals,
We’re sure you understand how terrible things have gotten in our state. You have heard the urgent pleas from Governor Evers and State Epidemiologist Dr. Ryan Westergaard to do everything we can to help Wisconsinites stay home. Now is not the time to be emphasizing, as we have heard from Dr. Salerno as recently as Monday night's board meeting, that PHMDC approves of Dr. Salerno’s Return to Work plan and its 20-hour on-site requirement. PHMDC approval does not mean a policy is in the best interests of all people involved. They have explicitly invited schools to use more caution than their base thresholds indicate.
That same day, Monday, November 16, 92 Wisconsinites died from COVID and more than 7,000 were diagnosed with it. If we use the “lag-adjusted case fatality rate” of 1.8%, developed by infectious disease researcher Trevor Bedford, we can expect that in 22 days, 126 of those people diagnosed on Monday will die. They will not be surrounded by loved ones. Their loved ones will not be able to gather to grieve their passing. Dealing with their estates will put their loved ones at risk.
Now is the time to be asking yourself, is this on-site work requirement necessary for us to function as a district?
No, it isn’t, and it never has been.
It is already too late to save the almost 250,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States. It is too late for the 126 people for whom the die was already cast by Monday, November 16. It is not too late to do what you can to prevent more deaths.
We, the undersigned, are requesting the school board immediately remove the on-site work requirement for 100% virtual teachers. This action should be taken for the sake of public health in our community regardless of what county or state exemptions allow you to require, and we ask that principals immediately stop enforcing compliance with the on-site hour requirement.
We’re sure you understand how terrible things have gotten in our state. You have heard the urgent pleas from Governor Evers and State Epidemiologist Dr. Ryan Westergaard to do everything we can to help Wisconsinites stay home. Now is not the time to be emphasizing, as we have heard from Dr. Salerno as recently as Monday night's board meeting, that PHMDC approves of Dr. Salerno’s Return to Work plan and its 20-hour on-site requirement. PHMDC approval does not mean a policy is in the best interests of all people involved. They have explicitly invited schools to use more caution than their base thresholds indicate.
That same day, Monday, November 16, 92 Wisconsinites died from COVID and more than 7,000 were diagnosed with it. If we use the “lag-adjusted case fatality rate” of 1.8%, developed by infectious disease researcher Trevor Bedford, we can expect that in 22 days, 126 of those people diagnosed on Monday will die. They will not be surrounded by loved ones. Their loved ones will not be able to gather to grieve their passing. Dealing with their estates will put their loved ones at risk.
Now is the time to be asking yourself, is this on-site work requirement necessary for us to function as a district?
No, it isn’t, and it never has been.
It is already too late to save the almost 250,000 people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States. It is too late for the 126 people for whom the die was already cast by Monday, November 16. It is not too late to do what you can to prevent more deaths.
We, the undersigned, are requesting the school board immediately remove the on-site work requirement for 100% virtual teachers. This action should be taken for the sake of public health in our community regardless of what county or state exemptions allow you to require, and we ask that principals immediately stop enforcing compliance with the on-site hour requirement.
Why is this important?
This is important to all Mount Horeb community members regardless of whether they have children in the district or not. Runaway COVID-19 rates in Wisconsin mean everyone needs to do everything they can to control the spread of this disease. We need to stop looking for loopholes and exemptions and do everything we can to prevent more COVID-19 cases and more COVID-19 deaths. Our teachers are under more scrutiny than ever before, and they are working incredibly hard to meet the demands coming at them from every direction. Dr. Salerno's Return to Work plan, unanimously approved by the board, includes the requirement for every teacher without ADA accommodations to work 20 hours in their empty classrooms. This requirement has been called "petty," "outdated," and "paternalistic," and with the county and state rates we're now seeing, we need to add "dangerous." To protect its teachers and the wider community, MHASD must remove this requirement immediately. Doing so will require board approval, and in the meantime, building principals should be telling staff they will not be enforcing the on-site work hours for 100% virtual teachers.
How it will be delivered
This petition will be emailed to Dr. Salerno, school board members, and building principals on Friday morning (November 20, 2020).