September 29, 2020

LOS ANGELES—Thousands of families throughout L.A. County joined together to urge officials to prioritize students and immediately open up the school waiver application process. 

Citing the need to prioritize student education, parents expressed frustration that L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer is ignoring the advice of the CDC and the State of California and arbitrarily recommending  schools remain closed until after the November Election even though L.A. County continues to see a downward trend with the coronavirus case rate dropping well below the state mandated threshold to allow for the school waivers application process to commence.

“Ferrer is creating confusion among parents who hope decisions are being made in the best interest of children – instead of in the interest of politics,” said a concerned parent who signed the petition at KidsNeedClass.com, a newly launched Website that was created by L.A. County parents to provide the latest news on the school waiver process.

More than 1,250 L.A. County parents joined together to sign petitions urging for the school waiver process to open up through Kidsneedclass.com and Equaleducation4kids.com. Both sites offer resources to caregivers in L.A. County who want to advocate for their kids to safely return to class.

So far, the waiver process has opened up in all neighboring counties including:

• Ventura

• San  Bernardino

• Santa Barbara

• Orange

• San Diego

• Riverside 

However, L.A. County continues to side step California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy and CA’s Department of Public Health’s guidelines for reopening schools.  According to these rules, private and public elementary schools in L.A. County can apply for waivers to reopen, under strict safety and social distancing guidelines, if counties drop to certain transmission rate thresholds. However, Dr. Ferrer of L.A. County Public Health, is playing politics and making arbitrary decisions which prevent over one million students in L.A. County from returning to class.

Parents frustrated with the lack of leadership on returning children to the classroom for in person instruction said, “Dr. Ferrer and the Board of Supervisors should put kids first. We urge local leaders to follow state and federal guidelines and immediately open the school waivers application process for students and families and communities ready and willing to return to school.”

Recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics released its guidelines for school re-entry with a strong recommendation that ALL policy considerations for the school year should start with the goal of having students physically present in school, noting the well-documented evidence of the negative impacts on children due to the school closures earlier this year in the spring of 2020. Research shows that the learning loss from the disruption in the spring can be equivalent to a full school years’ worth of academics for some students.

For more information, log onto: www.Kidsneedclass.com

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