Support offering an online option at Saint John’s Prep

In the past months and weeks, the Omicron variant has hit hard in Minnesota, and across the country. This surge in infections has had a visible impact on the Prep community. Despite the growing cases in the school and the local community (even among vaccinated+boosted students), the school has been insistent that full in-person classes be maintained "as long as possible", until there is no choice but to go online entirely. Many students and parents have expressed their concerns to the administrators of Prep, and they have been given excuses and empty words in response. This petition has been created to measure and demonstrate the opposition to the current stance of the school, and convince those with the power to do so to change Prep's policies.

We, the signees of this petition, want Saint John's Prep to:

1. Give an option for students stuck at home due to illness or COVID exposure to join their classes via Zoom, or another similar method
2. Allow those concerned with case numbers at Prep or in the broader community to join their classes via zoom, especially if they have people especially vulnerable to COVID-19 in their household

These proposed changes are popular among the student body, and would be fairly easy for teachers and faculty to enact.

Benefits of these changes:

• allow students recovering/quarantining at home to adequately participate in their academics
• further encourage staying home at sign of illness by lessening the drawbacks of staying home
• give peace of mind to those who may feel unsafe on campus during this surge
• these changes can be easily reverse when the situation changes
• prevent a permanent move to 100% online learning, allowing students to participate in school activities/events
• Reduce case numbers at Prep overall, lowering the risk of a student or family of a student from becoming seriously ill
• etc.

If you are concerned by the COVID situation at Prep, you should sign this petition. Calls to action by individuals in the Prep community have thus far proven ineffective. Share the link to this petition so more students and parents can see it. The more eyes on this in our community, the stronger our message to the school administration becomes.

Students and Parents of SJP    Contact the author of the petition