Keep Kids Healthy and In School

I agree 100% but please also implement the simplest way to stay healthy in class OPEN THE WINDOWS !!!

Forget COVID, our kids don’t get enough fresh air and run around them either way. Let them outside when the weather works and keep this option forever!

We want to keep our teachers, staff, children and families safe.

Unvaccinated kids indoors without masks seems like a recipie for disaster. We should be taking every precaution possible, not taking risks.

A teacher

My daughter Isla was exposed to covid directly twice at Montrose in April to May by a speech therapist. We missed 4 weeks of instruction and as my dad and aunt just died of covid, it was hugely stressful I have lung disease from being a first responder with the Red Cross at the World Trade Center. I have messaged multiple times with no response and so I hope this petition will capture attention. I want my kids in school, as safe as possible. We need to use the outdoors and any layer of protection we can

Common sense plans should be established before our children arrive. Let’s keep everyone as safe as possible this school year!

Parent of two seventh graders at MMS. Masking is not enough when kids are unvaccinated. We need testing.

Please find creative ways to avoid spread without being demanded to by the state.. use the covert capable and willing community as a resource.

I have been screaming into the wilderness about using our outdoor space and testing since this pandemic started.

I wholeheartedly support these two suggestions (outdoor eating and pool testing) and believe they are critical to the health and safety of our district.

Thank you for your attention and your hard work to keep our students, families, and educators safe.

Common sense. Let's make it work.

Mom of 2 fourth grader, 1 fifth grader, 1 seventh grader & 1 tenth grader

Thank you for the petition. We should be utilizing our playgrounds and outdoor community spaces as much as possible to help keep our kids safe. This is not anything new. Outdoor schools were utilized throughout Europe and the US at the beginning of the 20th Century as a way to curb the spread of Tuberculosis. They had school on the docks and on barges in New York City during the Spanish Flu. My son has spent his second summer at the YMCA's SOMAPY camp at Memorial Park under tents. I don't see why our schools can't rent large tents and have lunch outside on most days.

Our middle and elementary schools will be filled with a large population of unvaccinated children for likely the first few months of school. Multiple mitigation strategies, including distancing, are needed to prevent the increased risk and infectiousness of the delta variant. Considering that our schools spaces are over crowded and we will be unable to maintain recommended distancing, we must use every available option to protect our most vulnerable students. Masks and bottles of hand sanitizer will be insufficient to prevent the spread of the new delta variant. Plexiglass dividers will do little to prevent spread in the classrooms. Eating unmasked in packed classrooms or crowded cafeterias will open our unvaccinated students up to dangerous levels of risk. We need a district lead approach tailored for the needs of each school which includes outdoor time, sufficient ventilation, safe lunch options and testing at a minimum. With construction occurring at many of our schools, outdoor space may be limited restricting what is possible, so we need the district administration to lead the way and ensure that our unvaccinated students are safe.

Thank you for your dedication to our children's safety during an extremely fraught and challenging time. I hope you consider these very sensible measures to decrease risk of community spread.

Also, more outside time is better for everyone!

Pool testing makes sense and catches cases early. Mandatory vaccination please for anyone who is eligible or Dr’s note for those unable.

Our district should be making all possible efforts to implement a full layered protection strategy this fall that includes outdoor lunch and snack periods, indoor air safety measures, and testing. We should not be waiting for the state to mandate these measures before we do them. The recommendations from the scientific community are clear. Funding is available. Our students should be able to trust that their community leadership is doing what's within their means to protect the health of students and staff and prevent the continued spread of this virus. Measures that reduce community spread decrease the likelihood that new, more contagious variants will emerge and spread, increasing the duration of the pandemic and its impact on all of us.