We are committed to building a stronger sense of unity and trust across the MMSD School Community. This can only be achieved through authentic collaboration and partnership.  

𝘛𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘯𝘥, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘔𝘚𝘋 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘌𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘋𝘳. 𝘊𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘑𝘦𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 or by  𝘑𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘺 12, 2022:

𝟭. 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗔𝗗𝗩𝗔𝗡𝗖𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗢𝗙 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 𝗥𝗘𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗗 𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗔𝗬.

MTI has called for MMSD to renew this policy since last summer. All employees should have a restoration of 10 sick days and should recover all lost wages for absences related to COVID-19. This includes failed symptom screeners, quarantine of staff, students and family members, and isolation from having COVID-19; all related to MMSD and public health protocols. This will allow staff to deal with absences during the 2021-22 school year and beyond without additional harm.

𝟮. 𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗖𝗨𝗦 𝗘𝗡𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗥𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗚𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗘𝗥𝗦.

High vaccination rates in our population and the extraordinary commitment to mitigation and school safety led by our Nurses and Nursing Assistants can be effective tools against the spread of COVID-19. To be effective, however, enforcement of basic mitigation strategies, such as proper mask wearing and social distancing, must be addressed to keep students and staff as safe as possible.  

We call for a detailed plan co-created by building leadership, staff, and district health and safety leaders, to ensure that we are consistently supporting protocols needed for community safety. Without consistent support from administrators, the enforcement of mitigation protocols is left to staff, leading to conflict and frustration, and eventually to lax enforcement to avoid the hassle.

We must communicate a strong message to everyone in the school building that proper masking has to be reinforced and supported by administrators.

𝟯. 𝗔𝗡 𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗛𝗔𝗦𝗜𝗦 𝗢𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗛𝗢𝗟𝗗𝗘𝗥 𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗔𝗟 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗟𝗧𝗛 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗔 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗘𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥 𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗠𝗬.

All school-based employees working with students must be provided the time and autonomy to process what’s going on with each other, and with our scholars, before overemphasizing arbitrary measurements of academic success.

This can be done in a myriad of ways – allowing working from home during virtual instruction, reducing required lesson plans, adding flexibility to schedules so social-emotional activities are centered, prioritizing teacher preparation time instead of mandated meetings or professional development that is not relevant to current conditions. We call on MMSD Administration to make an explicit commitment to center our future work not on curriculum benchmarks, but the humanity of our students and staff. This would be a promising start to co-creating the change we are seeking together.

𝟰. 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗜𝗧 𝗧𝗢 𝗔 𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗞𝗚𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗣 𝗢𝗙 𝗔𝗗𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗦, 𝗜𝗡-𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗙𝗙, 𝗙𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗟𝗜𝗘𝗦, 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗡 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗜𝗘𝗦 𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗡𝗘𝗫𝗧 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗜𝗗-𝟭𝟵 𝗪𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗢𝗥 𝗩𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗔𝗡𝗧 𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗦 𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗨𝗡𝗜𝗧𝗬.

We need planning and discussion around this and other critical staffing issues to be more transparent and co-created with community stakeholders. We especially want this work to center around the needs of our most marginalized when such decisions are made – students, staff, and families of color, students, staff, and families with disabilities, and students, staff, and families without the proper financial means to make such pivots feasible in comparison to their more privileged community peers.  

𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗠𝗦𝗗 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳, 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀.