Governor Kate Brown, Oregon Department of Education, and Oregon Health Authority,

When you decided to shut down our schools in March, we appreciated the caution on behalf of our students, staff and community. However, 8 months later the phased plan to reopen our classrooms is now providing a MUCH greater risk to our children...TIME'S UP! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! ALL Oregonians deserve the chance to choose for themselves...and WE WANT OPTIONS! 

★ PROVIDE AN IN-CLASSROOM OPTION FOR ALL - TEACHERS AND FAMILIES ★ 

We are advocating for an IN-CLASSROOM LEARNING OPTION for those Educators and Families who are ready, willing and wanting to be in the classroom. We oppose lack of CHOICES given to both Oregon Educators AND Oregon Families/Students on the matter. Allow US (Educators/Parents/Students) to assess our own individual needs, provide options for both Teachers and Parents and LET US CHOOSE for ourselves. 

★ SCHOOLS ARE ESSENTIAL ★ 

Grocery Stores, Medical Offices, Gas Stations all remain open, as they are surely 'essential', yet school doors remain CLOSED! Our schools, our children, their well-being, their right to a Free and Proper Education are absolutely ESSENTIAL, but we are allowing them to be absolutely DISREGARDED. If wearing masks work (as our Governor insists) then let them in...wearing masks!�

★ REMOTE LEARNING IS INSUFFICIENT ★

Constant technical issues, frustrated teachers and sad students of every grade level (All of Oregon’s 400,000+ Public Education Students) sitting alone and staring at a screen that may or may not be working is NOT EDUCATION, but rather DETRIMENTAL in many ways:

1. MENTAL HEALTH (depression, isolation, suicide, managing unmet expectations)

2. LACK OF RESOURCES (disparity in education assistance received at home, lack of adult supervision with majority of parents working outside of the home, lack of tech support for younger learners without adults at home during school hours, lack of mandatory reporters)

3. QUALITY OF EDUCATION (online school, extreme and unhealthy amounts of screen time. In a study by the National Institute of Health, kids who spend more than two hours a day on screens scored lower on thinking and language tests) Screen Time Lowers Test Scores In Kids

4. SCHOOLS PROVIDE A SAFE PLACE (the heartbreaking reality is that numbers continue to rise on children suffering from PHYSICALLY ABUSED, EMOTIONALLY ABUSED, SEXUALLY ABUSED IS SICKENING. THIS STATISTIC ALONE should make our Governor and Superintendent RUN to the schools and SWING THE DOORS WIDE OPEN) Child Abuse Reports Drop 70% First Month Of Oregon School Shutdowns

6. SCHOOL SPORTS, CLUBS, EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES (withholding school sports and other activities from our students is absurd, yet colleges, city leagues, etc. are allowed? Kids NEED sports, kids NEED choir, kids NEED band, kids NEED to be eating together in the cafeteria, kids NEED to be walking the hallways, kids NEED to be playing with other kids on the playground at recess, kids NEED after school clubs, KIDS NEED EACH OTHER and KIDS NEED TEACHERS IN THE SAME ROOM AS THEM!

★ TIME'S UP! LET OUR KIDS BACK INTO THE CLASSROOMS ★

We can no longer sit and wait for things to improve, for certain 'metrics' to be met, or even for every teacher and every parent to agree on when they believe the safest time to return to school is. The cycle will not end. It will continue to be drug out for many more months. More kids will fall behind in school, will go hungry, will commit suicide, will shut down emotionally, and will ultimately slip through our fingers. Our school-aged children will continue to suffer due to our silence, until we are willing to lend our voices!

★ PROVIDE US ALL WITH CHOICES! TEACHERS AND FAMILIES! ★ 

Additional Sources:  The Medical Case For Reopening Schools  Doctors Call For Reopening Schools Despite Coronavirus   Paul Rand vs. DrFauci   Closing Schools was a Grievous Error

Ed300: Join the efforts of parents statewide who have linked arms and are calling for IN-PERSON options for ALL OREGON STUDENTS by January 6, 2021 - which will be DAY 300 of no in-person school for our students.

www.ed300.org