WHAT: Parents and students of San Diego County are gathering on Saturday to mark the one year anniversary of public school closures in California. While schools in most states have safely opened their doors to all students, California has consistently failed to ensure that 6 million students have access to safe in person instruction and services, in spite of the pandemic. Science, research and experience clearly demonstrate schools in San Diego can be reopened safely and they must if we care at all about the well being and the future of our young people.
WHERE: Waterfront Park at the San Diego County Administration Center
West Plaza
1600 Pacific Coast Highway
San Diego, CA 92101
Area 12
WHEN: Saturday, March 13, 2021
Time: 10:00am
WHO:
• Summer Stephan, San Diego County District Attorney
• Ginny Merrifield, Executive Director, Parent Association
• Veronica Naudin Rejto, MD
• Leslie Hofmeister, Reopen SDUSD
• Nick Ratekin, Teacher and Coach
• Several parent and student stories
WHY: Students are suffering significant negative impacts from long term school closures and the effects of distance learning and social isolation. No matter how hard teachers try to make distance learning work, the fact remains that it is an inferior instructional model for K-12 grade students and was never intended to be long term solution to the risks of a pandemic. Throughout this crisis all the attention has been on meeting an ever higher threshold of safety for adults without consideration of the irreparable harm that school closures would have on children, and especially children in underserved communities. Billions of dollars have been allocated for schools to reopen and yet California is still among the very last states to allow schools to reopen for in person instruction. The state government has created a labyrinthian bureaucracy and arbitrary rules for reopening that effectively doom local school districts to remain closed. After a full year of advocating for students and a return to school, parents are demanding change.
The Parent Association in collaboration with Reopen San Diego Unified School District is rallying to demonstrate parents’ demands that school districts commit to a full reopening of classrooms this school year.
Interviews with all spokespersons are available. www.parentassociation.org
Please contact Laura Johnson at (760) 450-7749 or laurajohnsonpr@yahoo.com.
