ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - If you're a parent that wants your child, and all students in St. Louis County, to return to classrooms "immediately," then there's a petition that you can sign to support that cause.
The head of the St. Louis Community Task Force – a group responsible for creating the Rockwood School District petition – says they think this will send a message to local school districts and political leaders that offering only virtual learning is "denying every child’s Missouri State Constitutional right to have a safe appropriate education."
More than 3,900 people have signed the petition on IPetitions.com, as of Thursday afternoon, which has a goal of 5,000.
The St. Louis County Department of Public Health announced in early July that schools will be able to reopen buildings and let students and staff back in the classroom, with CDC guidelines on social distancing, face masks and symptom screenings in place. Later that month, schools announced their specific plans to return to school this fall and many have changed those plans since the first announcement due to a rise or fall in cases and positivity rates in their area or among certain age groups.
Matt Skaggs of Wildwood is the head of St. Louis Community Task Force and a corporate executive director for Briggs Home Care, a company that provides in-home health services across 10 U.S. states.
"(The pandemic) is something that's going to be around for a while so we need to figure out how to deal with it so our kids can get back in school and learn," Skaggs says.
He helped write the petition that states "Online instruction is an inferior method for students to learn. Children’s academic and physical needs to develop appropriately are not being met. Their growing bodies and minds require socialization to form relationships, thrive, and succeed."
Last week, new rules went into effect in the county for schools with face masks being required for everyone inside school buildings grades kindergarten through 12th-grade. There also was a change to the minimum age that wearing a face mask in public would be required – it's now in effect for anyone over the age of 5-years-old.
Earlier this week, St. Louis County Executive Dr. Sam Page announced
there are some encouraging numbers about the spread of COVID-19 among younger students that has the county executive considering changing some restrictions. He could recommend a return to in-person classes for "younger students" first, but there's no timetable for that.