Walk Out For COVID Safety

Join students across Texas in walking out to demand COVID-safe learning spaces on February 9th at 9 AM. Read and sign our Bill of Demands, check out our organizing guide, and sign up to lead a walkout at your school below.

Bill of Demands

Bill of Demands for the 2022 COVID Safety Walkout

We are walking out because we believe in one simple thing: the health and safety of our schools matter. Students, staff, and faculty as well as their families and community have been put at unnecessary risk by a failure of our state’s educational leadership to implement science-based, proactive policies to protect against the spread of the COVID-19 virus. 

Young people are tired of being ignored and endangered by leadership that is making it harder, not easier, for students to cope with the emotional, academic, and social struggles of living through a global pandemic. Politics should not be placed over the lives and well-being of each and every person–whether student, faculty, staff, or parent–that is affected by a failure to prevent the rapid spread of COVID-19 in schools. 

Students should not have to choose between doing well in school and doing their part to protect the health of themselves, their families, and their communities, and members of our Texas school communities should not be put at risk unnecessarily. With this in mind, we demand that the Texas Education Agency act immediately to set the following policies for schools across Texas:

• A requirement that any person who enters a school building wear an appropriate face covering for the entire time that they are in the building, with the exception of staff, faculty, and students who may remove their masks for a short period of time to eat or drink. 
• Require accessible remote learning options be available to students. Many major Texas universities are currently teaching classes virtually, leaving little excuse for school districts to not do the same. Teachers are already familiar with how to conduct class remotely and the infrastructure from last year is still there; having a virtual option will save lives. 
• Mandate that extra masks and hand sanitizer be available in classrooms and administrative offices for students, staff, faculty, and visitors.

We also demand the following of individual schools and school districts:

• Make it easier for students to eat or have classes outside, socially distanced. Students and staff should have ample space to socially distance while eating, drinking, and learning if they so choose. 
• The implementation of more lenient makeup work and absence policies for students that have to miss school due to illness or exposure–students should not have to choose between their academic success and the health of themselves and their communities.

We trust that these demands will be well-received and implemented with a mind to the well-being of our educational communities, and we thank you for your time and consideration.