Meeting Time: March 16, 2021 at 5:00pm PDT
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Agenda Item

Labor Matter{s)

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    Laura Powell over 3 years ago

    We need to be planning for normal, full-time school in the fall. Most elementary children are already back in full-time school. We have every reason to believe that rates will continue to plummet as vaccination rates increase. As a parent of an incoming kindergartner and a rising third grader, I know that they need to be back in real school. And the district needs to reassure parents that barring some unforeseen circumstance, school will resume in the fall. Right now families are making choices about the fall, and OUSD is going to see enrollment numbers crash if the district does not demonstrate that it is focused on this goal.

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    Yasmin Medora over 3 years ago

    Please fully open schools in the fall of 2021 for five days per week, full days, full functioning programs. We are an OUSD family - two kids and nineteen consecutive years in OUSD in total.

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    Sarah Watson over 3 years ago

    We are strongly opposed to any "hybrid" or "minimester" system for the 2021-22 school year, especially for HS/MS students. This style of instruction has been an absolute disaster, with so few instructional hours - so unfair to our kids! My son's teachers at Oak Tech have told their classes they're receiving less than 50% of the education they would get in a normal year. It's a travesty. My son earns easy A's and has way too much time on his hands. He and his classmates are already at a disadvantage from other more organized districts, like BUSD. ALL kids at ALL ages need to be 100% back in school 5 DAYS A WEEK on a normal SEMESTER SYSTEM by the first day of the 2021-22 year. All kids are getting shafted by this terrible "minimester" system. Everyone who wants to be vaccinated will be vaccinated by the summer - get these kids back to school! They need to socialize, to learn, and parents need the break. NO continuation of "minimesters" - the absolute worst idea that OUSD has tried.

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    Nina Rea over 3 years ago

    Please provide Oakland students with full school days, five days a week, for the entire 2021-2022 school year including high school.
    Our students were already behind before the pandemic. The teachers, staff and upper grades in high school will be vaccinated.
    Our public schools will loose students who have means to leave and once again those who do not have options will be left behind.
    Both of my OUSD students have suffered from the minimester system and short days, even though they are excellent students. I can only imagine how challenging it has been for students who struggled with academics before the pandemic.

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    Linda Karlin over 3 years ago

    I am another OUSD parent who wants to see full time in person instruction in the fall! By then any staff or faculty who wants to be vaccinated can be and some of our older high school students may even have had vaccinations by then. Please do not put our kids though more on-line and greatly reduced hours of learning and connecting. The public and mental health damage for next year will outweigh the risks of covid that may still linger by next august, unless something terrible emerges with variants. Please, please do not plan for anything but full time in person learning.

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    rahul gidwani over 3 years ago

    If you don't reopen in august, are you okay with the same situation that is happening in SF? Unions do have value, please don't turn the public against them. This is a dangerous game OUSD is playing by alienating the public.

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    Ben Riddell over 3 years ago

    School last are essential services and should be treated as such. If indoor dining can occur in Oakland, so can full time school for all grade levels. How could dining out be more important than educating our kids properly??

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    Rogelio Giron over 3 years ago

    I am another OUSD parent who wants to see full time in person instruction in the fall! By then any staff or faculty who wants to be vaccinated can be and some of our older high school students may even have had vaccinations by then. Please do not put our kids though more on-line and greatly reduced hours of learning and connecting. The public and mental health damage for next year will outweigh the risks of covid that may still linger by next august, unless something terrible emerges with variants. Please, please do not plan for anything but full time in person learning.

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    Star Lightner over 3 years ago

    Asking that you please have a plan in place for full time, 5-days per week school for all grades in fall 2021. Distance learning is not working.

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    Deepi Brar over 3 years ago

    Please reopen schools, including high schools, back to their regular 5-day schedule in the fall! Minimesters have been a terrible, poorly-considered experiment with on-again off-again learning compressed/ cut curricula, and little time to improve grades. Our kids need music, art studio, science labs, drama, sports, clubs, field trips, and all the other things they have loved without for a while year. The science supports this and we should do everything in our power to restore normalcy for our students. I am an OUSD high school parent.

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    CEA A over 3 years ago

    We really need to put a stake in the ground and commit to full time, in person school for ALL grades in the fall. Vaccines will be widely available to teachers, staff, and likely older students. Other countries and states have been managing successfully with lower than community rates of transmission.

    My middle schooler (8th) desperately needs to be with other people AND get a quality education in high school next year. My high school daughter left the district in pursuit of a challenging, full time education that will allow her to compete for university acceptance with students on other areas who have benefited from full time, in person school.

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    Ginny Fine over 3 years ago

    please work on a plan now for the fall of 2021. Seniors should be the 1st to go back of the secondary group. They are the most responsible, it's there last chance at in person HS. They can be vaccinated the soonest. Poll the teachers & families now. Who wants to teach go remote remote who doesn't. Divide the kids up so the families who want to do remote are placed with teacher who want to teach remote & families who want in person are placed with teachers who want to teach in person. Until you have guesstimate numbers you won't know how much class room space you need. Let the public know how many class rooms & schools have proper ventilation

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    Andrea M over 3 years ago

    As a parent of 3 kids in OUSD, I ask that you choose to support our students & families by voting to open all OUSD schools (pre-K-12), for in-person full time learning, 5 days a week this fall. Thank you.

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    Joanne Elias over 3 years ago

    We are an OUSD family, with 2 students at Oakland Tech. We strongly support school reopening full time - 5 days a week/full days for Fall 2021-2022 school year, along with all the extra curricular support and activities. Our kids have missed out on far too much.

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    anon anon over 3 years ago

    We have 2 kids in ousd--middle & high school. as things stand now, it is looking like there should be no reason not to fully open schools for alls kids in the fall. please make it happen, plan for it, for all our sakes.

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    P Moore over 3 years ago

    After a year of at-home learning, it's time to get all our kids back into the classroom full time by Fall. Everyone should be vaccinated and with that in place, there really should not be an issue with getting kids and teachers safely back in school. The current "minimester" plan at the HS level, does not offer sufficient learning, and has made learning language and math very challenging for my child. It's not sustainable and our kids are suffering. Let's not let them lose another year. Our neighboring districts are opening. We should be able to do it to! Thanks!

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    Ruth Goldstone over 3 years ago

    Please open schools ASAP, all grades, full days. Our kids have lost so much valuable learning time and social emotional development. My kid who leans introvert truly benefits from being in group in-person discussions and social settings, which I believe can be done now safely after a year of being patient and open to distance learning. It’s equally devastating (but in different ways) to a junior high kid, a high school kid and a grade schooler to not return now that most local communities have re-opened. With vaccinations and masks in place and available, it is time! Depression is taking hold for our teens and pre-teens, which is just as tragic as early learners falling behind. We can learn from the time left this academic year what’s needed for the fall to get kids back to speed. It would be huge loss if upper grade kids and middle school kids don’t get any return to live, in-person learning this year. All kids are hurting.

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    Heather Dodge over 3 years ago

    Please ensure that there is daily in-person contact at schools, particularly in the lower elementary grades, every day until the end of the school year. Our kids need as much face time with their teachers as they can get. Thank you to the board, the union, and the administration for listening to our voices about re-opening, now please ensure that we make it right and make it real for the remainder of the year.
    Thanks!

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    First Grader over 3 years ago

    please open school every day.

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    Tiffany Dacko over 3 years ago

    Please open all schools and grade levels for full time in the Fall. My 5th grader has gone from being curious and participating to unengaged and hating school. Our distance learning platform is failing students, please open schools. Oakland will only continue to lose families and attendance to private school, moves through the tunnels and out of area if they cannot provide an in person learning option for our children.