D.-2 21-0804 Approval by the Board of Education of Tentative Agreement as Agreement Between the District and the Oakland Education Association Regarding Impacts and Effects of Reopening Schools in Spring of 2021.
It was so heartwarming to see my son go to school this week for 2 hours.
However for next fall— we need more— and we need a commitment NOW. Essential workers have to choose between going to work or providing their children with the social-emotional connections with their peers and teacher that they crave. As an essential worker, it is hard not to feel resentment as OUSD continues to offer a schedule for our children that caters to the tech industry and families with flexible schedules. For one year, we have been left to figure out how to work outside of our home while managing the distance learning of our children in our home. Essential workers have made it possible for everyone else to shelter in place and work from home. As we move forward and negotiations continue, please do not forget about the essential workers and our children who also deserve an education. I have basically ignored my children for the past year so I could take care of my patients.
OUSD needs to provide full-time in-person school for all students now. CDC & Alameda County Public Health guidance say 3ft + vaccines make schools safe. Do not let OEA keep our kids out of class any longer please! Families are leaving this District...save the schools and stick up for the kids! Do not let the teachers union fail to educate our children!
I am writing to plead with you to require full time school as soon as possible, and to announce the intent to return FULL DAYS 5 DAYS in the fall. Set up a zoom school with teachers who don't want to teach or kids who aren't ready to come in. But do not hold us all back from our campuses and keep teachers out of in person on zoom. Full time in the fall needs to be announced immediately to keep our kids in the district. Did you see the recent news that at the current rate of vaccination, 90% of the American public will be vaccinated by July 24? And we don't even need vaccinations to return safely in person. Give us 5 days. Remote learning is not learning and has hindered progress and ruined lives.
As a parent of 2 OUSD students, I echo the clear call by our parent community for OUSD to evolve the current onsite school format according to the science and the CDC. 4-5 days in-person can work as demonstrated by numerous other districts. We implore OUSD to follow suit.
As an OEA social worker, and parent of a district kindergartener, I see stress, mistrust and disinformation tearing our communities apart. I see teachers bullied and unappreciated, admin sending hopeful messages confusing parents about reopening dates, and parents struggling mightily to stay afloat through what feels like endless distance learning. We need a thorough revamp of the plans for fall, and for spring, to take into account new information from our health department, and to ameliorate the parent and student stress caused by long term isolation and distance from needed academic supports. I am the COST team lead and social worker at an elementary school where parents work multiple jobs, cannot supervise their kids, kids have been alone inside apartments for months, kids don’t have literate family members to help. Some are a year behind academically and clinically depressed. Please heed their call and work towards longer days this spring, and a full reopening by fall.
Every day that OUSD delays opening full-time in-person school for the children of Oakland, while surrounding districts and private schools move forward, is dangerously punitive. The devastating impact on the mental health of our children cannot be emphasized enough. You have the power to help our community recover, but you also have the power to cause more damage. Please choose the former.
The CDC now recommends 3ft separation in schools. Along with masks and vaccinations for teachers, this allows for schools to resume in person teaching for most of not all grades. Alameda county just entered the orange tier, another indication that in person education is safe to do with proper measures in place. Most neighboring districts are already back 4-5 days per week. It is time that OUSD follows suit and reopens for the sake of the students who are suffering mentally and educationally from this prolonged distance learning.
I know it is very hard to predict the future but OUSD/OEA need to stop planning for a world without COVID and start planning to be back in the fall full-time with COVID in existence (it might never go away). I am realizing now that OUSD/OEA had no plans to return this school year until the governor put money on the table & excuses were harder to justify for a district that historically has massive financial shortcomings. Instead of being so unprepared (by assuming we cant go back full-time) maybe an idea is to announce and plan to be back (preparing teachers, the OEA contract and schools for full time instruction in the Fall) and the back up plan is a hybrid model based on COVID. The world is moving forward preparing for safe full time reentry to life with COVID in existence. OUSD/OEA needs to do the same. Why are you not planning for teachers to be back in-person fulltime? Please lets start planning and preparing for full time school. The excuses are old and now illogical.
It is time for OUSD to follow CDC guidelines which allows for 3ft distancing and more students in the class. If you do not follow the guidelines, then you aren’t following the science. Please allow students back 5 days a week this spring and commit to full time school for all in the fall.
OUSD and OEA are running out of excuses. We need them to commit to five full days of school to start in August. No Hybrid, quarter system or mini-mesters are acceptable. Our kids have already lost half of year of their curriculum and we cannot have them lose any more! Enough is enough!
Thank you in advance for ratifying the agreement and bringing our elementary children back into the classroom. As a parent of a 3rd and 5th grader, please, I am *begging* you to commit to FULL-TIME 5 DAYS A WEEK IN FALL 2021!!! Many (most?) neighboring school districts have committed to this and we need to do so. Please follow the data and science. All adults who are interested will be fully vaccinated by then. There is literally no reason to move forward and get back to normal in August. Not having a concrete statement is causing people to flee Oakland public schools and is making everyone lose faith in OUSD. Our kids have suffered enough - end the suffering. Additionally for Spring 2021, the OEA agreement states to follow the CDC guidelines and they say 3 feet distance is sufficient. Please bring 3rd-6th graders back 4 (not 2) days a week, all in one cohort. Help the principals understand what decisions can make for their community as many seem confused on adjustments they can make.
The key thing for me is that all decisions be made in response to data. The right data. Science. Our community is falling apart because of this. People are fleeing. Please promise that there is a plan in place for reopening in the Fall full time. Who is accountable for this?
As parents of first and fifth graders, we implore OUSD to take into account the new CDC guidance re: 3 ft social distancing, eliminate the cohorts, and bring our children back to school full time--just as surrounding districts are doing and private schools have been doing for months. The kids of Oakland have suffered enough and deserve the same educational opportunities as their peers in surrounding communities. OUSD also must commit to full-time in person learning in the Fall for ALL children--TK-12. It is unacceptable to send families into the summer with continued uncertaintiy about their children's educational future. Please do better for all of our children.
Please stick to this guiding principle in bargaining: IF IT'S NOT GOOD FOR THE KIDS, IT IS NOT GOOD. This principle should also be science-based. First and foremost, school is to educate children, not to provide employment for the adults. You must in good conscience, do the right thing and open schools to all children 5 days a week.
Per the tentative agreement, the District MUST adhere to the CDC and CDPH guidelines, which now says students may sit 3 feet apart. I support the District following CDC distancing guidelines.
By following the 3ft guidance, students do NOT need to be placed in A/B cohorts. Children can and should be allowed to attend in-person, 5 days a week. We are now in the orange tier.
Please make fact-based decisions based on expert advice and guidance, not fear.
Do the right thing and let the kids be at school for the maximum time. They desperately need social interaction for their mental well-being. Please put the students FIRST and do right by them.
As parents of two OUSD elementary school students, we urge the board and OEA to reach an agreement that puts the needs of students first and that considers sound science concerning safe reopening. Please commit to increased class time for all OUSD students this school year and a return to full time class instruction in the fall. Our patience with what appears to be chronic mismanagement is wearing extremely thin. It’s past time for strong, competent, and courageous leadership.
OUSD and OEA must start to acknowledge the science, available data, and newer CDC guidelines supporting the safety in opening schools FULL TIME, NOW and for the Fall. Why isn’t OUSD following the example of other local, regional, and out of state schools that have successfully and SAFELY opened for
months now. We are extremely disappointed and frankly fed up with OUSD and OEA. Why are vaccinated teachers allowed to opt out of returning to school? Essential workers being given limited and coveted vaccines should be required to fulfill their essential roles. Our children are suffering emotionally and academically and now out of proportion to other schools that have now opened. We need an UNEQUIVOCAL commitment for full time school for ALL in the fall. Cut the politics out and stand up for our children.
Please do the right thing and put ALL OUSD children back in school full-time before the end of this school year. Three feet is safe--for all. And please commit now to a full-time in-person schedule for 2021-22 year. Berkeley and other districts have already done this. Why is Oakland always behind? When will our leaders take a stand, finally, on behalf of our most precious population and follow the state's education code to provide in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible? When will Oakland lead by good example? We know full-time is possible and the best option. Do the right thing.
This agreement is a completely sub-optimal start to the ONLY solution - get all of our children back in the classroom ASAP. We are so frustrated that there will be no school for our 8th and 9th grader this year; zoom school does not work! We are still dumbfounded by the fact that OUSD and OEA fail to acknowledge the science and data, namely that going back to school in person can be done safely for all age groups.There are examples all over the country, state and even here in the Bay Area. We are even more mystified and, frankly angry, that all vaccinated teachers aren't being required to go back to school this year when so many of our children need to be back?!?!? It stinks of politics gone horribly wrong at the expense of our kids. We need an UNEQUIVOCAL commitment for full time school for ALL in the FALL. If Berkeley and so many other school districts can do it, so can OUSD. The longer schools are closed, the worse the situation will become both for OUSD and every child.
It was so heartwarming to see my son go to school this week for 2 hours.
However for next fall— we need more— and we need a commitment NOW. Essential workers have to choose between going to work or providing their children with the social-emotional connections with their peers and teacher that they crave. As an essential worker, it is hard not to feel resentment as OUSD continues to offer a schedule for our children that caters to the tech industry and families with flexible schedules. For one year, we have been left to figure out how to work outside of our home while managing the distance learning of our children in our home. Essential workers have made it possible for everyone else to shelter in place and work from home. As we move forward and negotiations continue, please do not forget about the essential workers and our children who also deserve an education. I have basically ignored my children for the past year so I could take care of my patients.
OUSD needs to provide full-time in-person school for all students now. CDC & Alameda County Public Health guidance say 3ft + vaccines make schools safe. Do not let OEA keep our kids out of class any longer please! Families are leaving this District...save the schools and stick up for the kids! Do not let the teachers union fail to educate our children!
I am writing to plead with you to require full time school as soon as possible, and to announce the intent to return FULL DAYS 5 DAYS in the fall. Set up a zoom school with teachers who don't want to teach or kids who aren't ready to come in. But do not hold us all back from our campuses and keep teachers out of in person on zoom. Full time in the fall needs to be announced immediately to keep our kids in the district. Did you see the recent news that at the current rate of vaccination, 90% of the American public will be vaccinated by July 24? And we don't even need vaccinations to return safely in person. Give us 5 days. Remote learning is not learning and has hindered progress and ruined lives.
As a parent of 2 OUSD students, I echo the clear call by our parent community for OUSD to evolve the current onsite school format according to the science and the CDC. 4-5 days in-person can work as demonstrated by numerous other districts. We implore OUSD to follow suit.
As an OEA social worker, and parent of a district kindergartener, I see stress, mistrust and disinformation tearing our communities apart. I see teachers bullied and unappreciated, admin sending hopeful messages confusing parents about reopening dates, and parents struggling mightily to stay afloat through what feels like endless distance learning. We need a thorough revamp of the plans for fall, and for spring, to take into account new information from our health department, and to ameliorate the parent and student stress caused by long term isolation and distance from needed academic supports. I am the COST team lead and social worker at an elementary school where parents work multiple jobs, cannot supervise their kids, kids have been alone inside apartments for months, kids don’t have literate family members to help. Some are a year behind academically and clinically depressed. Please heed their call and work towards longer days this spring, and a full reopening by fall.
Every day that OUSD delays opening full-time in-person school for the children of Oakland, while surrounding districts and private schools move forward, is dangerously punitive. The devastating impact on the mental health of our children cannot be emphasized enough. You have the power to help our community recover, but you also have the power to cause more damage. Please choose the former.
The CDC now recommends 3ft separation in schools. Along with masks and vaccinations for teachers, this allows for schools to resume in person teaching for most of not all grades. Alameda county just entered the orange tier, another indication that in person education is safe to do with proper measures in place. Most neighboring districts are already back 4-5 days per week. It is time that OUSD follows suit and reopens for the sake of the students who are suffering mentally and educationally from this prolonged distance learning.
I know it is very hard to predict the future but OUSD/OEA need to stop planning for a world without COVID and start planning to be back in the fall full-time with COVID in existence (it might never go away). I am realizing now that OUSD/OEA had no plans to return this school year until the governor put money on the table & excuses were harder to justify for a district that historically has massive financial shortcomings. Instead of being so unprepared (by assuming we cant go back full-time) maybe an idea is to announce and plan to be back (preparing teachers, the OEA contract and schools for full time instruction in the Fall) and the back up plan is a hybrid model based on COVID. The world is moving forward preparing for safe full time reentry to life with COVID in existence. OUSD/OEA needs to do the same. Why are you not planning for teachers to be back in-person fulltime? Please lets start planning and preparing for full time school. The excuses are old and now illogical.
It is time for OUSD to follow CDC guidelines which allows for 3ft distancing and more students in the class. If you do not follow the guidelines, then you aren’t following the science. Please allow students back 5 days a week this spring and commit to full time school for all in the fall.
OUSD and OEA are running out of excuses. We need them to commit to five full days of school to start in August. No Hybrid, quarter system or mini-mesters are acceptable. Our kids have already lost half of year of their curriculum and we cannot have them lose any more! Enough is enough!
Thank you in advance for ratifying the agreement and bringing our elementary children back into the classroom. As a parent of a 3rd and 5th grader, please, I am *begging* you to commit to FULL-TIME 5 DAYS A WEEK IN FALL 2021!!! Many (most?) neighboring school districts have committed to this and we need to do so. Please follow the data and science. All adults who are interested will be fully vaccinated by then. There is literally no reason to move forward and get back to normal in August. Not having a concrete statement is causing people to flee Oakland public schools and is making everyone lose faith in OUSD. Our kids have suffered enough - end the suffering. Additionally for Spring 2021, the OEA agreement states to follow the CDC guidelines and they say 3 feet distance is sufficient. Please bring 3rd-6th graders back 4 (not 2) days a week, all in one cohort. Help the principals understand what decisions can make for their community as many seem confused on adjustments they can make.
The key thing for me is that all decisions be made in response to data. The right data. Science. Our community is falling apart because of this. People are fleeing. Please promise that there is a plan in place for reopening in the Fall full time. Who is accountable for this?
As parents of first and fifth graders, we implore OUSD to take into account the new CDC guidance re: 3 ft social distancing, eliminate the cohorts, and bring our children back to school full time--just as surrounding districts are doing and private schools have been doing for months. The kids of Oakland have suffered enough and deserve the same educational opportunities as their peers in surrounding communities. OUSD also must commit to full-time in person learning in the Fall for ALL children--TK-12. It is unacceptable to send families into the summer with continued uncertaintiy about their children's educational future. Please do better for all of our children.
Please stick to this guiding principle in bargaining: IF IT'S NOT GOOD FOR THE KIDS, IT IS NOT GOOD. This principle should also be science-based. First and foremost, school is to educate children, not to provide employment for the adults. You must in good conscience, do the right thing and open schools to all children 5 days a week.
Per the tentative agreement, the District MUST adhere to the CDC and CDPH guidelines, which now says students may sit 3 feet apart. I support the District following CDC distancing guidelines.
By following the 3ft guidance, students do NOT need to be placed in A/B cohorts. Children can and should be allowed to attend in-person, 5 days a week. We are now in the orange tier.
Please make fact-based decisions based on expert advice and guidance, not fear.
Do the right thing and let the kids be at school for the maximum time. They desperately need social interaction for their mental well-being. Please put the students FIRST and do right by them.
As parents of two OUSD elementary school students, we urge the board and OEA to reach an agreement that puts the needs of students first and that considers sound science concerning safe reopening. Please commit to increased class time for all OUSD students this school year and a return to full time class instruction in the fall. Our patience with what appears to be chronic mismanagement is wearing extremely thin. It’s past time for strong, competent, and courageous leadership.
OUSD and OEA must start to acknowledge the science, available data, and newer CDC guidelines supporting the safety in opening schools FULL TIME, NOW and for the Fall. Why isn’t OUSD following the example of other local, regional, and out of state schools that have successfully and SAFELY opened for
months now. We are extremely disappointed and frankly fed up with OUSD and OEA. Why are vaccinated teachers allowed to opt out of returning to school? Essential workers being given limited and coveted vaccines should be required to fulfill their essential roles. Our children are suffering emotionally and academically and now out of proportion to other schools that have now opened. We need an UNEQUIVOCAL commitment for full time school for ALL in the fall. Cut the politics out and stand up for our children.
My children are turning into lethargic zombies staring at screens all day. You don’t want them to eat your brains do you?!?!
Please do the right thing and put ALL OUSD children back in school full-time before the end of this school year. Three feet is safe--for all. And please commit now to a full-time in-person schedule for 2021-22 year. Berkeley and other districts have already done this. Why is Oakland always behind? When will our leaders take a stand, finally, on behalf of our most precious population and follow the state's education code to provide in-person instruction to the greatest extent possible? When will Oakland lead by good example? We know full-time is possible and the best option. Do the right thing.
This agreement is a completely sub-optimal start to the ONLY solution - get all of our children back in the classroom ASAP. We are so frustrated that there will be no school for our 8th and 9th grader this year; zoom school does not work! We are still dumbfounded by the fact that OUSD and OEA fail to acknowledge the science and data, namely that going back to school in person can be done safely for all age groups.There are examples all over the country, state and even here in the Bay Area. We are even more mystified and, frankly angry, that all vaccinated teachers aren't being required to go back to school this year when so many of our children need to be back?!?!? It stinks of politics gone horribly wrong at the expense of our kids. We need an UNEQUIVOCAL commitment for full time school for ALL in the FALL. If Berkeley and so many other school districts can do it, so can OUSD. The longer schools are closed, the worse the situation will become both for OUSD and every child.