At the beginning of the COVID-19 health crisis, Advancement Project National Office quickly realized the ways it would upend our country's public school systems.

[[link removed]] We witnessed massive, widespread school closures and in our March letter to Congress [[link removed]] we urged Congress to provide:

*
Funding
for
school
meals
for
all
children
and
families;
*
Internet
connectivity
to
meet
students'
online
learning
needs;
*
To
end
the
use
of
school
police
--
particularly
surveillance
and
monitoring
technologies
on
devices
loaned
to
students;
and
*
Necessary
mental
health
support
to
children
so
that
they
are
equipped
to
handle
these
troubling
times
and
are
able
to
cope
with
the
trauma
that
our
society
faces.

While Congress did allocate some funding for education, most of our demands were not met.

September is here and we are facing the same uncertainty we did earlier this year. But now, there is an increasing pressure to ignore recommendations from scientists and doctors and to instead physically reopen schools.

Advancement Project National Office adamantly opposes the physical reopening of schools while this health crisis continues. Once the pandemic has been controlled and there is agreement that indoor spaces are safe again, we will support the opening of schools, but they will need to meet the following basic needs:

*
Free
school
meals
for
all
students;
*
Guaranteed
basic
income
for
parents
so
they
do
not
have
to
choose
between
working
to
survive,
educating
their
children
who
are
at
home,
and
the
health
of
their
families;
*
Free
high-speed
internet
access
for
all
students
at
home;
*
Prohibition
of
police
working
in
school
buildings,
including
but
not
limited
to
as
"school
resource
officers"
or
"school
safety
agents";
*
Banning
of
all
surveillance
and
monitoring
technology
in
schools,
including
but
not
limited
to
social
media
monitoring
and
facial
recognition
technology;
*
PPE
for
all
staff
and
students
who
must
physically
return
to
schools;
*
Infrastructure
updates
to
school
facilities; *
Including
the
addition
of
air
conditioning
and/or
heating
systems
with
filters
*
Removal
of
mold,
lead
and
asbestos
*
Access
to
clean
drinking
water
in
fountains
*
Clean,
working
bathrooms
equipped
with
toilet
paper,
soap,
sanitizer
*
All
schools
have
nurses,
counselors,
psychologists,
and
social
workers
at
the
ratio
recommended
by
the
respective
professional
organizations


*
Creation
of
on-site
medical
and
mental
health
centers
on
school
campuses.

Many of the issues that our communities face now are problems that have existed before the pandemic, and they will not disappear once this crisis is over. The systemic racial inequalities in public K-12 education in the U.S. are decades-long issues that will require years of progressive commitment. In this time of crisis, we all have the responsibility to care for and support our most vulnerable communities. Young people and their concerns have often been left out of relief efforts, despite their vulnerability to crisis as they are developing and growing into their own.

To read our open letter on the reopening of schools and to demand safe schools, click here [[link removed]] .




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