We appreciate all that PUSD has done so far. We want our kids to stay safe, and thus have an option for school year 2021-2022 that balances safety and education.

The Delta variant is 60% more transmissible, and is being transmitted from asymptomatic vaccinated people to unvaccinated population. All the kids in elementary and lot of the kids in middle school are unvaccinated, and this puts our kids at risk. In Brentwood District, only after 3 days of school opening there are 18 positive cases. Out of these, 17 are students. 

Let's not have parents and kids choose between education and health.

The ask is simple: Have an option to attend online, keep homeschool and class teacher(s). Kids who are vaccinated and/or feel comfortable coming to school can go to in-person school (nothing changes there). 

• The current options offered by PUSD is passively forcing to choose in-person learning where students will return to school full time in person. Only this option allows them to keep their home school and interact with their class and subject teacher(s).
• The virtual option allows online learning but it's a different model with different teachers and kids are not with their designated home school or teachers. Later if kids decide to come back to school, they will have to register again with their home school. If there's space in the home school then they can be accommodated otherwise they'll be put on wait list and they will be given a school that has openings.
• The virtual academy option is self guided and that means you need atleast one dedicated parent to teach kids at home. So if both parents are working, who will be teaching the kids? 

This petition is to allow an additional option that was given in the school year 2020-2021 where students can opt to join from home online if their health is at risk or if they don't feel safe to come to school given the current conditions.  To elaborate further, this means:

• Having option to join live classes virtually for all grade levels Kids who are vaccinated and/or feel comfortable can still go to school .  
• Having some integration or involvement with the same teacher(s) as the in-person option
• Keeping same home school

Please sign this petition to allow for a balance approach where kids' safety, health and education are balanced, and we don't have to pick one over the other.