With the rapid increase in Covid-19 cases in the United States, the newest variant causing breakthrough cases in the vaccinated, and the hospitalizations of nearly 100,000 people per day, we believe Cab Calloway School of the Arts and the whole of Red Clay Consolidated School District should enact a mandatory closure with remote learning from Monday January 10th until (at minimum) Monday March 7th 2022.

We the students are speaking up against the decision to remain open despite the ongoing Covid-19 spike. After speaking to nearly 100 students across every grade, we’ve determined that the majority of students would feel safer being home and restarting online classes as opposed to staying in school and running the risk of contracting Covid-19.

Red Clay Consolidated School District sent out an email on January 1, 2022 stating that they would be continuing In-Person Learning until further notice. At this time (January 3, 2022), we have not been told of any plan regarding school closures, risk reduction strategies, or other precautions revolving around Covid-19. Even with the Covid-19 precautions currently in place, cases are continuing to go up. As hospitals are swamped with patients, testing kits are becoming increasingly difficult to buy, and testing sites are running out of kits before they run out of patients, we decided to go back. This is clearly an incredibly poor decision made by the district that endangers the lives of thousands of students and their families.

What makes this situation even worse is the lack of trust put forth by the district into individual families to accurately administer At Home Rapid Antigen tests to their children in order to send their child back to school if they presented with Covid-19 symptoms. Essentially, you are unable to use At Home testing kits in order to prove you do not have Covid-19 and must go to a testing site. These are the same testing sites that are currently overrun with patients. These are the same Healthcare workers who are working 12 hour shifts in order to test every patient. By denying At Home Rapid Antigen tests as valid Covid tests, Red Clay Consolidated School District is inadvertently burdening healthcare workers with more patients in a time where they are already overrun.

The current rate at which children are contracting Covid-19 has gone up 50% in the past week. There are currently 200,000 children hospitalized for Covid related issues in the United States. School is not the safest place for your children. We the students are speaking out against the decision to remain open not only to protect ourselves, but to protect the thousands of other people put at risk by the poor decision making that RCCSD puts forth.

Cab Must Close.

Thank your consideration and we sincerely hope you decide to sign.