Atlanta Thrive and our Black and brown children in Atlanta need our help! I am sharing their open letter below regarding much needed change in our Atlanta Public School System for Black and brown children. Please sign the petition, share like and take action!
Dear Atlanta Parents and Residents,
We must come together to demand more and we must do so now more than ever. Covid 19 has shown us what we already know. Children who live in certain communities in Atlanta Public Schools are getting denied a high-quality education.
Sign the petition today and support equality for Black and Brown children! http://chng.it/2Bv8N4qWzH
As Atlanta Thrive has learned from conducting hundreds of parent surveys, parents have never been more aware of the education realities that have affected students in black and brown communities for decades.
Data suggests that low-income children of color have lost more ground as a result of the COVID shut down of their schools than more affluent children. In some cases, these missing months of school will leave our children a full school year behind where they were. If we are serious about ending the systemic oppression that has kept our children from receiving their fair shot. APS children CANNOT go back to business as usual in our schools this fall.
Demanding Equity Isn’t An Option, It’s A Right Our Children Deserve!
We know our school leaders join parents in wanting what is best for kids so we are respectfully and strongly requesting that school leaders adopt the following recommendations as they create their plans for what school will look like this fall.
- Every student receives a personalized plan for academic recovery by November 1.
- Each student has access to a connected device loaded with the district’s learning programs.
- Parents who are not comfortable sending their children into school buildings are given the choice to continue with a district-provided at-home learning program for part or all of 2020-21, without being asked to provide any justification.
- Parents who are dissatisfied with their district’s home learning program can choose a different home learning program with our funding following the child.
Atlanta has come together before to fight the inequities for the black and brown communities and we must come together again to change education for black and brown children in APS!
We hope you will join Atlanta Thrive by electronically signing this statement of support. In doing so, you give permission to Atlanta Thrive to use your name and the name of other supporters in the media and press to show widespread support for these recommendations. Finally, as a supporter of these recommendations, we promise to keep you updated on our progress and to let you know other ways you can be involved to make sure these recommendations are adopted.
If you want to make sure our kids get what they need to succeed, please sign the petition, in solidarity!
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.