I have been an OUSD parent since 2003, have a rising senior at Tech and a Tech alum. It is essential that Tech opens up in the Fall, if not sooner on a regular 5 day per week schedule. The vaccines are here and available. Covid cases are going down. There is plenty of evidence that schools can be re-opened safely. Why does it take Oakland so long to get on board with the rest of the Sate given our resources here in the Bay Area? The agreement is not sufficient. The risk of our children's mental and emotional health outweighs, the now low risk (with vaccines and other safety precautions) of covid. Take the politics out of OUSD and educate our kids.
I am an OUSD parent and I am strongly in favor of in person school, 5 days per week. Obviously, reasonable measures to prevent spread of covid need to be in place, but students are paying the price academically and emotionally as these discussions stall or goalposts are moved. The current online schedule does not provide enough instructional time; students should be in classes with their teachers and peers.
I strongly oppose any plans that will include mini-mesters/quarters or some such subdivision of the school year. The result of the mini-mesters is that students get only half of each class and therefore cover only half the material. The retention deficit is enormous and the loss of the material learned is predicated on a wing and a prayer. Absolutely opposed to quarter do NOT bring this back!
I'm strongly in favor of full time in person school in the fall, and even more important, and end to the mini-mesters if the result of the mini-mesters is that students get only half of each class and therefore cover only half the material. Come on, half a year of spanish, half a year of math? They won't be where then need to be.
I am an OUSD parent of a rising senior and I need my child to be back in School 5 days a week for the 2021-2022 school year. Another year in distance learning will be detrimental to my student's mental health and learning. A block schedule would be ideal to bringing students back to OTHS. We have to put our kids first.
I see no reason why we should even consider a hybrid schedule in the fall. There are absolutely no positives to that equation, for the teachers, students or parents.
Our family will make the move to leave OUSD before fall arrives if that is on the table.
Why would a hybrid schedule be considered when the teachers will all be vaccinated long before then? There are many reasons other than just the pure educational piece that’s children go to school for, social/emotional learning, gaining independence, building friendships.
It’s time to step up Oakland, before any further damage is done to our kids mental, physical and emotional well being.
I want to support the need for a 5 day a week return to school for high school students in the fall. By then all teachers that want to be vaccinated will have done so, as well as any family members that are high risk. Students have suffered greatly this year, emotionally as well as academically. The current online schedule does not provide enough instructional time, and so many students are not engaging or getting lost. We need students in classes with their teachers onsite.
Schools need to open full time in fall. Teachers will be vaccinated by then and there is NO reason we will accept for making kids do a hybrid schedule.
If "negotiations" are the reason then Oakland parents will vote with their feet. We've come to the end of our tether. This cannot go on.
Hello, I would like to see work happening to guarantee opening upper grades in the fall. I’m hearing about hybrid learning and minimesters continuing, which is absolutely ridiculous. By the fall half of the kids in high school and all the teachers will be vaccinated if they choose to. Possibly even 13 and up by then. They are already changing some recommendations about social distant requirements to as little as 3 feet between students. If people want to remain in distance learning at that point please use a third party to provide that like other districts have done and let our teachers teach in the classrooms live. Also, there should be ZERO reduction in instructional minutes! The amount of minutes of live instruction our kids got this year was criminal and the lowest out of ALL neighboring districts. Please stop giving Oakland kids the short end of the stick!!
We need to prioritize opening the schools 5 days a week starting in the 2021/2022 school year for our children's mental, physical, emotional and social health, as well as their academic well being. As a community, there is nothing more important than this. Over the last year, I have seen my children and their friends do their best to persevere. However, the isolation has taken a major toll on their welfare and should not continue. This is not sustainable for them. We must open the schools 5 days as soon as possible. The harm that it is doing to our children far outweighs any other considerations.
5 FULL DAYS! It is crucial to open 5 full in person days of learning. I am a mental health professional and have gotten more inquiries for 6-11 year olds in the past several months than the entire time of my 20 year practice. Things are getting worse for them and partial days is not enough to remediate the disservice we've done to Oakland kids who have been out of school longer than any children on the planet.
5 FULL DAYS also happens to go with science and has been shown in multiple places to have extremely low case rates even among rising community spread. We must learn to live and function with this virus.
Re-opening schools 5 days a week should be done as soon as possible. Students and parents have suffered long enough. New York City's enormous district can do it, along with many other schools in the Bay Area and around the nation. So can Oakland. The OEA has stalled long enough. Health authorities nationwide assure that kids and teachers are safe when following health guidelines. No more excuses. Open the schools 5 days a week.
As a parent of 10th grader at Oakland Technical HS. There should be no debate: kids need to be in school, full time. This is detrimental to the students of Oakland and putting them at a further disadvantage when compared to other areas of the country- and even other areas of the Bay Area. There seems to be a lot of lip service about helping kids, especially those most vulnerable, yet keeping them out of school is making things HARDER on the students. They are falling behind academically, socially, physically. It feels very political instead of really taking a look at what is really is safe and what is in the best interest of the students of OUSD. Schools, ALL schools need to open.
5 days/week of full instruction is needed and imperative for 2021-2022 Academic school year...NO Mini-mester for Tech. Students must receive the pre-planned Block schedule for 2021-2022. Mini-mester has resulted in only 18 weeks vs 36 weeks of English, Math, Science. Not too mention, the students are basically teaching themselves via remote learning.
It seems almost impossible to me (an OUSD parent) that we are debating going back to school full-time NEXT year, while most others have either gone back or are debating how to go back to the classroom THIS year. Especially with a new priority placed on teacher vaccinations, we need to get past the rancor, resist the urge to treat this as a platform to address other issues, and get our kids back into the classroom. It's been hard on everyone, certainly including teachers, but seriously, let's show our kids how to be visionary.
Please provide Oakland students with full school days, five days a week, for the entire 2021-2022 school year, including high school students. They've been terribly underserved, and there is ample time to plan.
Thank you for providing a plan for the spring. I urge you to reopen schools for full time, in-person, learning for all grades asap! By the start of the next school year at the latest.
I am so opposed to this failed Hybrid approach to teaching with these "minimesters" . The past yr has been a complete waste for my two HS children 10 and 12th grade. In reality, they have approximately 1-2 hrs of actual learning per day, the rest of the short time is filled with "reflection and tutorial" time. We have given up on this academic yr and hope to maintain our family's mental health but we cannot persist with this failed experiment next academic year, we just cannot, it doesn't serve any child. The fact that the district is OK to teach 50% of the AP class curriculum is outrageous, how do we expect our kids to be successful? and how as educators do you think this acceptable? this is insanity.
Please follow through on your past commitment and implement 5 days a week with in-person block scheduling, please give our kids a chance to receive an education and not continue to fail them.
Please solidify a plan for getting all grades back to school 5 days a week, full days, full curriculum. The distance learning/mini-mester situation is not working for our kids. They need to be in person. Its happening in many other areas, indoor dining is coming back. Please make it happen.
I have been an OUSD parent since 2003, have a rising senior at Tech and a Tech alum. It is essential that Tech opens up in the Fall, if not sooner on a regular 5 day per week schedule. The vaccines are here and available. Covid cases are going down. There is plenty of evidence that schools can be re-opened safely. Why does it take Oakland so long to get on board with the rest of the Sate given our resources here in the Bay Area? The agreement is not sufficient. The risk of our children's mental and emotional health outweighs, the now low risk (with vaccines and other safety precautions) of covid. Take the politics out of OUSD and educate our kids.
I am an OUSD parent and I am strongly in favor of in person school, 5 days per week. Obviously, reasonable measures to prevent spread of covid need to be in place, but students are paying the price academically and emotionally as these discussions stall or goalposts are moved. The current online schedule does not provide enough instructional time; students should be in classes with their teachers and peers.
I strongly oppose any plans that will include mini-mesters/quarters or some such subdivision of the school year. The result of the mini-mesters is that students get only half of each class and therefore cover only half the material. The retention deficit is enormous and the loss of the material learned is predicated on a wing and a prayer. Absolutely opposed to quarter do NOT bring this back!
I'm strongly in favor of full time in person school in the fall, and even more important, and end to the mini-mesters if the result of the mini-mesters is that students get only half of each class and therefore cover only half the material. Come on, half a year of spanish, half a year of math? They won't be where then need to be.
I am an OUSD parent of a rising senior and I need my child to be back in School 5 days a week for the 2021-2022 school year. Another year in distance learning will be detrimental to my student's mental health and learning. A block schedule would be ideal to bringing students back to OTHS. We have to put our kids first.
I see no reason why we should even consider a hybrid schedule in the fall. There are absolutely no positives to that equation, for the teachers, students or parents.
Our family will make the move to leave OUSD before fall arrives if that is on the table.
Why would a hybrid schedule be considered when the teachers will all be vaccinated long before then? There are many reasons other than just the pure educational piece that’s children go to school for, social/emotional learning, gaining independence, building friendships.
It’s time to step up Oakland, before any further damage is done to our kids mental, physical and emotional well being.
I want to support the need for a 5 day a week return to school for high school students in the fall. By then all teachers that want to be vaccinated will have done so, as well as any family members that are high risk. Students have suffered greatly this year, emotionally as well as academically. The current online schedule does not provide enough instructional time, and so many students are not engaging or getting lost. We need students in classes with their teachers onsite.
Schools need to open full time in fall. Teachers will be vaccinated by then and there is NO reason we will accept for making kids do a hybrid schedule.
If "negotiations" are the reason then Oakland parents will vote with their feet. We've come to the end of our tether. This cannot go on.
Hello, I would like to see work happening to guarantee opening upper grades in the fall. I’m hearing about hybrid learning and minimesters continuing, which is absolutely ridiculous. By the fall half of the kids in high school and all the teachers will be vaccinated if they choose to. Possibly even 13 and up by then. They are already changing some recommendations about social distant requirements to as little as 3 feet between students. If people want to remain in distance learning at that point please use a third party to provide that like other districts have done and let our teachers teach in the classrooms live. Also, there should be ZERO reduction in instructional minutes! The amount of minutes of live instruction our kids got this year was criminal and the lowest out of ALL neighboring districts. Please stop giving Oakland kids the short end of the stick!!
We need to prioritize opening the schools 5 days a week starting in the 2021/2022 school year for our children's mental, physical, emotional and social health, as well as their academic well being. As a community, there is nothing more important than this. Over the last year, I have seen my children and their friends do their best to persevere. However, the isolation has taken a major toll on their welfare and should not continue. This is not sustainable for them. We must open the schools 5 days as soon as possible. The harm that it is doing to our children far outweighs any other considerations.
5 FULL DAYS! It is crucial to open 5 full in person days of learning. I am a mental health professional and have gotten more inquiries for 6-11 year olds in the past several months than the entire time of my 20 year practice. Things are getting worse for them and partial days is not enough to remediate the disservice we've done to Oakland kids who have been out of school longer than any children on the planet.
5 FULL DAYS also happens to go with science and has been shown in multiple places to have extremely low case rates even among rising community spread. We must learn to live and function with this virus.
Re-opening schools 5 days a week should be done as soon as possible. Students and parents have suffered long enough. New York City's enormous district can do it, along with many other schools in the Bay Area and around the nation. So can Oakland. The OEA has stalled long enough. Health authorities nationwide assure that kids and teachers are safe when following health guidelines. No more excuses. Open the schools 5 days a week.
As a parent of 10th grader at Oakland Technical HS. There should be no debate: kids need to be in school, full time. This is detrimental to the students of Oakland and putting them at a further disadvantage when compared to other areas of the country- and even other areas of the Bay Area. There seems to be a lot of lip service about helping kids, especially those most vulnerable, yet keeping them out of school is making things HARDER on the students. They are falling behind academically, socially, physically. It feels very political instead of really taking a look at what is really is safe and what is in the best interest of the students of OUSD. Schools, ALL schools need to open.
5 days/week of full instruction is needed and imperative for 2021-2022 Academic school year...NO Mini-mester for Tech. Students must receive the pre-planned Block schedule for 2021-2022. Mini-mester has resulted in only 18 weeks vs 36 weeks of English, Math, Science. Not too mention, the students are basically teaching themselves via remote learning.
It seems almost impossible to me (an OUSD parent) that we are debating going back to school full-time NEXT year, while most others have either gone back or are debating how to go back to the classroom THIS year. Especially with a new priority placed on teacher vaccinations, we need to get past the rancor, resist the urge to treat this as a platform to address other issues, and get our kids back into the classroom. It's been hard on everyone, certainly including teachers, but seriously, let's show our kids how to be visionary.
Please provide Oakland students with full school days, five days a week, for the entire 2021-2022 school year, including high school students. They've been terribly underserved, and there is ample time to plan.
Thank you for providing a plan for the spring. I urge you to reopen schools for full time, in-person, learning for all grades asap! By the start of the next school year at the latest.
We need to have all grades back 5 days a week full time for the 2021-2022 school year
I am so opposed to this failed Hybrid approach to teaching with these "minimesters" . The past yr has been a complete waste for my two HS children 10 and 12th grade. In reality, they have approximately 1-2 hrs of actual learning per day, the rest of the short time is filled with "reflection and tutorial" time. We have given up on this academic yr and hope to maintain our family's mental health but we cannot persist with this failed experiment next academic year, we just cannot, it doesn't serve any child. The fact that the district is OK to teach 50% of the AP class curriculum is outrageous, how do we expect our kids to be successful? and how as educators do you think this acceptable? this is insanity.
Please follow through on your past commitment and implement 5 days a week with in-person block scheduling, please give our kids a chance to receive an education and not continue to fail them.
Please solidify a plan for getting all grades back to school 5 days a week, full days, full curriculum. The distance learning/mini-mester situation is not working for our kids. They need to be in person. Its happening in many other areas, indoor dining is coming back. Please make it happen.