It's mind boggling to me that the Board of Education should be meeting tonight and the reopening of schools is not even on the agenda. There is nothing more vital to the well being of students in this district beyond getting them back into the classroom. I cannot watch as OEA attempts to ignore the science when convenient. Teachers have been moved to the front of the vaccination line with the intention of returning students to the classroom. Directors, your silence on the subject endorses OEA's position. Today is February 24 and the last update was OUSD's release of documents on February 7. Has any progress been made since then? Distance learning does not provide the same level of of education nor social emotional learning that can be gained in the classroom. Is the district truly willing to let the investment in PPE gather dust while families leave OUSD in droves? Two students in my first grader's class have left this month-if OUSD wants to improve enrollment, reopen schools.
The schools that would be the most impacted by the Aspire ERES Charter expansion are the middle schools United For Success Academy, Urban Promise Academy, and Life Academy.
When you consider Jayaramen et all, please consider that the only people who had weapons or caused injury were the police, not the protestors. Attending Board meetings on a regular basis last fall, I heard members of the group that coalesced as Oakland Not for Sale announce their intent of nonviolence, and videos confirm the nonviolent response of those arrested while they were grabbed, clubbed and dragged by police.
For its part, over time, the Board of Education has reduced public comment--often cutting off community members in midsentence-- failed to follow its own procedures and its own data in closing schools, and relentlessly stonewalled providing information to the public. I look forward to the new Board Directors changing this pattern.
Sincerely,
I'm a parent of a current OUSD kindergartner with an incoming K child in the Fall. OUSD must prioritize the safe reopening of schools, particularly elementary students, this spring and commit to 5 days a week in person (full time) in the fall. All teachers and the community at large will have had access to vaccinations months before. There is absolutely no reason for this not to happen. Please stop allowing fear to guide decision-making and instead follow the science. Our students need your leadership.
I am an ER RN in Oakland and a parent of two OUSD students, as well as the spouse of an OUSD teacher. I believe it is a moral imperative to get our students back in in-personschool. We have learned so much over the past year, and we know that schools can be reopened safely, serving our students as they should. I support our teachers and I feel strongly that the data continues to show that with proper ppe it is safe to return. We are all on one team, with the desire to create safe and healthy learning communities for all of our students. It is not safe or healthy on many levels to continue remote learning. We are self creating a learning and mental health catastrophe by not following the science, which demonstrates that we can (and should!) reopen our schools.
I am a mother of a 1st grader at Sequoia. Let me first say that we have an incredible principal (Ada Carter) and an incredible 1st grade teacher ( Karen Loeser). Let me give you some perspective from another essential worker. I am an NP in an ICU and have served our community since day one of this pandemic. We walked into a landmine during covid, for 11 months WITHOUT vaccinations because it is our moral and ethic obligation to care for your families and community. It is a teachers moral obligation to teach these children, and YOUR (OUSD) moral and ethical obligation to keep them safe while doing so. I am appalled by the OAE. I am a WHITE parent with a mixed race child and yes I live in the " HILLS", that does not mean I do not have a voice. Nor does it mean that my child isnt suffering because of the lack of in person education. The next pandemic will be our children: years of suffering because of incompetence and ZERO sense of urgency. PLEASE get them back to school. TRY
To all OUSD Board members, but especially to those directors whose recent campaigns were funded by Bethany Meyer's OEA, please set aside your financial interests and start working for the education and welfare of Oakland's students, who now must be given the option to return to school.
I urge the OUSD School Board to take actions immediately to 1) start phased reopening of schools by March 15, beginning with elementary students and the most vulnerable, AND 2) develop a framework to help secure vaccinations for teachers, but ensure that in person return does not require full vaccination, AND 3) commit to reopening schools in person 5 days a week for families that choose for the 2021-2022 school year. The damage to all children is immense -- academically, socially, and beyond. And the damage to the district and the community will continue to deepen, the longer this delay lasts.
Please re-start the stalled progress and make re-opening a priority, especially for elementary school children, this spring. We are nearing herd immunity (https://www.wsj.com/articles/well-have-herd-immunity-by-april-11613669731?page=1 )and there is no longer any excuse to continue stalling. Please make the dialogue constructive: over the past few weeks, we have only seen divisive OEA and teacher perspectives that are dividing our community by race and class and presume to know what is in the best interests of various geographies within our community. Please work to come together on this and stop the divisiveness. It's harming us all.
Also, please STOP dividing our community by race and class, and assuming you know what is best for the East Oakland community.
Neutral because I'm not sure what the closed session agenda is. Schools must reopen as soon as possible! The safety protocols and PPE that OUSD has published that it has in place render return to school safe for TK-5 NOW! It is a constitutional right for all children to be able to attend school. See CCSF v. SFUSD. I understand that people have fear, but fear is not rational and it is debilitating. We must overcome fear, put the science and PPE to work, and make sure our schools open. Our kids need it. Teachers are essential workers. Schools are an essential function. There is no excuse!
Presuming this is support reopening. Sowing discord about racial and class categories among our students and families is NOT your job. Nor is pandering to political interests. Your duty is to teach our children.
It's mind boggling to me that the Board of Education should be meeting tonight and the reopening of schools is not even on the agenda. There is nothing more vital to the well being of students in this district beyond getting them back into the classroom. I cannot watch as OEA attempts to ignore the science when convenient. Teachers have been moved to the front of the vaccination line with the intention of returning students to the classroom. Directors, your silence on the subject endorses OEA's position. Today is February 24 and the last update was OUSD's release of documents on February 7. Has any progress been made since then? Distance learning does not provide the same level of of education nor social emotional learning that can be gained in the classroom. Is the district truly willing to let the investment in PPE gather dust while families leave OUSD in droves? Two students in my first grader's class have left this month-if OUSD wants to improve enrollment, reopen schools.
The schools that would be the most impacted by the Aspire ERES Charter expansion are the middle schools United For Success Academy, Urban Promise Academy, and Life Academy.
When you consider Jayaramen et all, please consider that the only people who had weapons or caused injury were the police, not the protestors. Attending Board meetings on a regular basis last fall, I heard members of the group that coalesced as Oakland Not for Sale announce their intent of nonviolence, and videos confirm the nonviolent response of those arrested while they were grabbed, clubbed and dragged by police.
For its part, over time, the Board of Education has reduced public comment--often cutting off community members in midsentence-- failed to follow its own procedures and its own data in closing schools, and relentlessly stonewalled providing information to the public. I look forward to the new Board Directors changing this pattern.
Sincerely,
I'm a parent of a current OUSD kindergartner with an incoming K child in the Fall. OUSD must prioritize the safe reopening of schools, particularly elementary students, this spring and commit to 5 days a week in person (full time) in the fall. All teachers and the community at large will have had access to vaccinations months before. There is absolutely no reason for this not to happen. Please stop allowing fear to guide decision-making and instead follow the science. Our students need your leadership.
I am an ER RN in Oakland and a parent of two OUSD students, as well as the spouse of an OUSD teacher. I believe it is a moral imperative to get our students back in in-personschool. We have learned so much over the past year, and we know that schools can be reopened safely, serving our students as they should. I support our teachers and I feel strongly that the data continues to show that with proper ppe it is safe to return. We are all on one team, with the desire to create safe and healthy learning communities for all of our students. It is not safe or healthy on many levels to continue remote learning. We are self creating a learning and mental health catastrophe by not following the science, which demonstrates that we can (and should!) reopen our schools.
I am a mother of a 1st grader at Sequoia. Let me first say that we have an incredible principal (Ada Carter) and an incredible 1st grade teacher ( Karen Loeser). Let me give you some perspective from another essential worker. I am an NP in an ICU and have served our community since day one of this pandemic. We walked into a landmine during covid, for 11 months WITHOUT vaccinations because it is our moral and ethic obligation to care for your families and community. It is a teachers moral obligation to teach these children, and YOUR (OUSD) moral and ethical obligation to keep them safe while doing so. I am appalled by the OAE. I am a WHITE parent with a mixed race child and yes I live in the " HILLS", that does not mean I do not have a voice. Nor does it mean that my child isnt suffering because of the lack of in person education. The next pandemic will be our children: years of suffering because of incompetence and ZERO sense of urgency. PLEASE get them back to school. TRY
To all OUSD Board members, but especially to those directors whose recent campaigns were funded by Bethany Meyer's OEA, please set aside your financial interests and start working for the education and welfare of Oakland's students, who now must be given the option to return to school.
I urge the OUSD School Board to take actions immediately to 1) start phased reopening of schools by March 15, beginning with elementary students and the most vulnerable, AND 2) develop a framework to help secure vaccinations for teachers, but ensure that in person return does not require full vaccination, AND 3) commit to reopening schools in person 5 days a week for families that choose for the 2021-2022 school year. The damage to all children is immense -- academically, socially, and beyond. And the damage to the district and the community will continue to deepen, the longer this delay lasts.
Please re-start the stalled progress and make re-opening a priority, especially for elementary school children, this spring. We are nearing herd immunity (https://www.wsj.com/articles/well-have-herd-immunity-by-april-11613669731?page=1 )and there is no longer any excuse to continue stalling. Please make the dialogue constructive: over the past few weeks, we have only seen divisive OEA and teacher perspectives that are dividing our community by race and class and presume to know what is in the best interests of various geographies within our community. Please work to come together on this and stop the divisiveness. It's harming us all.
Also, please STOP dividing our community by race and class, and assuming you know what is best for the East Oakland community.
Neutral because I'm not sure what the closed session agenda is. Schools must reopen as soon as possible! The safety protocols and PPE that OUSD has published that it has in place render return to school safe for TK-5 NOW! It is a constitutional right for all children to be able to attend school. See CCSF v. SFUSD. I understand that people have fear, but fear is not rational and it is debilitating. We must overcome fear, put the science and PPE to work, and make sure our schools open. Our kids need it. Teachers are essential workers. Schools are an essential function. There is no excuse!
Presuming this is support reopening. Sowing discord about racial and class categories among our students and families is NOT your job. Nor is pandering to political interests. Your duty is to teach our children.
FIRE BETHANY MEYER - I AM A WHITE MOTHER WHO PAYS TAXES FOR KIDS TO BE IN SCHOOL