"Educators remain committed to working together to ensure our neighborhood schools are the safest places in the community for every student, educator and family," says AEA President Joe Thomas. "As students and educators continue a third school year during the pandemic, we are focused on keeping students safe, learning, and engaged."
Parents and educators are tired of our state's leaders putting politics over the safety of our students. Instead of providing schools the resources they need against COVID-19, Governor Ducey and GOP legislative leadership have put our children in harm’s way and our communities at risk. Their actions are reckless and abusive.
With the governor's mask ban deadline approaching, AEA has been meeting and surveying members, collecting stories about COVID's impact on students and educators, and listening to their concerns about what is most important in creating district-level plans to ensure safe and healthy schools that continue to provide quality, in-person public education for all students.
"If we have learned anything during #REDforED and the pandemic, when educators and parents work together, we can make change happen," says Thomas. "When our leaders are not doing their jobs, educators and parents have no problem rolling up their sleeves and doing what needs to be done to ensure safe and just schools for our kids."
AEA will work with our members in schools across the state to use every available tool to keep our students and educators safe, as well as our schools and institutions of higher education open for in-person instruction.
