San Jose Unified school district is the largest school district in Santa Clara County, with the highest rate of COVID-19 across California, with 45 cases and 1 death by March 10th, 2020. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors has already declared COVID-19 a ‘local health emergency,’ with Santa Teresa High School (a mere 11 minutes from Leland High School) having a suspected case and Los Alamitos Elementary school (a five minute drive from Leland) with a confirmed case in extended community. TSA agents at the San Jose International airport tested positive for COVID-19, and California had it's third COVID-19 related death on March 10th. Students and family alike worry for their health in this stressed time, yet are bound by expectations by school and grades to continue risking health for GPA. Students are caught between two opposing forces-- one worried that their education and chance for higher education will suffer, but another worried for the health of themselves, their peers, and their family.

San Jose Unified has yet to take action in such severe circumstances.

District officials will reiterate the same excuses-- high schoolers aren’t high risk. But we all have families, with parents and grandparents and younger siblings. SJUSD encompasses more than just high schoolers, too; elementary schools are at increasingly high risk with each day that they venture into school halls.

Will we wait until a confirmed case of COVID-19 emerges to take action? When hundreds of students who sat in the same seat, ate at the same table, or studied in the same rooms as them would be at risk? There is no reason that SJUSD schools cannot digitalize their classrooms-- the majority of our assignments and grades are only accessible through technology and internet, so digitalizing lessons may not be as high of a hurdle as we may think. When platforms like Zoom exist, it is completely feasible for students to take online classes, for middle and high school classes alike.

To eradicate the health risks plaguing our schools, sign this petition to shut down SJUSD schools.

That said, SJUSD isn't the only school continuing in-person classes. In other public school districts across Santa Clara County, classes are being continued as per usual. Let's work to improve public health standards in all districts in Santa Clara County!

Messages from concerned students:

"I understand that funding within SJUSD is already sparse -- shutting down school will likely exacerbate that problem and I recognize that concern, but a community of unwell students and parents cannot possibly reap the benefits of a mediocrely-funded school district anyway. Public health and safety are always the highest priority, so at the point where the spread of COVID-19 appears inevitable, it's far wiser that we mitigate infection to prevent full-blown pandemic in Santa Clara County.

Children have not proven to be particularly high-risk — that much is true. However, as carriers of the virus, they can definitely affect those who *are* high-risk. SJUSD does not deem student attendance a public health concern, since students themselves can potentially recover from COVID-19 — that’s silly, and very much misinformed. COVID-19 is not dangerous because it is significantly lethal, but rather because it is highly transmittable. Large performing-arts events and school activities are already being cancelled: please do tell me the distinguishing factors that make school so much safer than debate tournaments.

A shift to online-learning/online-lessons would be a reasonable solution, but SJUSD will likely claim that such a transition would marginalize low-income students who might lack easy access to internet or technology.

Here’s the kicker:

SJUSD heavily promotes the use of technology outside of the classroom. Checking Google Classroom, Infinite Campus, Turnitin, AP Classroom, Edmodo, etc. are all *responsibilities* that teachers already place on students; if a student has an unexcused absence, or forgets to turn in an assignment, that’s their fault for not keeping tabs on school-sponsored websites. Maybe it’s true that subsets of students are neglected by heavy tech use, but it’d be grotesque if SJUSD decided to only begin voicing that concern now.

When SJUSD also bans teachers from using Turnitin, Infinite Campus, Google Classroom etc, then I will acknowledge this concern. Otherwise, this is a total double standard."