Some AISD parents organize "Student Sick Out Day"

Some AISD parents organize “Student Sick Out Day”

Parents hope the district will see this as a clear message that they stand with the teachers and AISD needs to give them options.

AUSTIN, Texas - Some Austin ISD parents will be opting out of school for their child Wednesday as part of a “Student Sick Out Day”.

Parents hope the district will see this as a clear message that they stand with the teachers and AISD needs to give them options.

“Teachers and students are the ones that make the district and if the teachers and the students are no longer there, there is no district so, I mean, it's in everybody's best interest to consider the teachers' well-being,” said parent Emma Mancha-Sumners.

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Austin ISD welcomes students back to campus for in-person learning

For in-person learning, families were given the option to have their students return or stay home and continue with virtual learning.

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Mancha-Sumners says her AISD kindergartner will not be logging into her online classes Wednesday morning as part of the “Student Sick Out Day”.

“What I hope that district gets from this is that they need to listen to the parents, and they need to listen to the teachers,” she said.

So far, over 100 parents have collectively decided that this is needed to get the district to give teachers the choice on whether they want to teach on-campus or remotely.

Students tape signs demanding action to front of Austin ISD HQ

One by one Austin ISD students and parents taped signs to the front of the district's headquarters hoping to get the attention of AISD officials.

“On Wednesday, if students don't log in to Blend, if they don't participate in any of their attendance tickets, if they don't communicate with their teacher by email, then they'll be counted absent for the day. We'll have literature that they can send and it's going to say that students are standing in solidarity with teachers, and we're asking that teachers be given a choice and that their individual needs to be considered,” said co-organizer Leah Kelly.

Kelly hopes this gets the district to consider a voluntary teaching method for teachers which would allow instructors to decide whether or not they want to teach on-campus or remote. She says it's unfair that teachers haven’t been given that option unless they receive special accommodations from AISD.

AISD welcomes students back to campus at limited capacity

It's the first time students in Austin ISD will be allowed inside a school building since the pandemic began. FOX 7 Austin's Tierra Neubaum has details and spoke with AISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde.

To learn more, you can sign the petition.

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