This petition is in reference to the Georgia Parent Protection Act introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives. The Parent Protection Act will allow parents to attend their childrens school functions and an employee will be allowed to attend medical appointments for themselves, spouse, child, and their parents.

The employee will allow twenty-four hours of unpaid leave to attend school activities or medical appointments. This bill will also promote parental involvement in schools. Employers will have employees they can depend on, instead of an employee calling into work on a scheduled workday because they want to attend a school function for their child(ren) or a scheduled medical appointment for themselves or a dependent family member.

There are many Georgia families that do not have the privilege through employment to accrue sick and annual leave. This is very disheartening. Why should a parent have to choose between losing their job and being present on the first day of school with their child entering Kindergarten? This is happening too often in our society. We promote No Child Left Behind, but without parental involvement, the child is being left behind. We, as a community, want parents to be involved with their childs education, i.e., attend Individualized Education Programs (IEP), parent-teacher conferences. This is one of many reasons this bill should be passed. Another reason is elderly citizens need their relatives to assist them at medical appointments. There are so many females and males that need to attend annual check-ups, but this appointment is often canceled due to the lack of leave on the job leaving unhealthy constituents.