I am so grateful for and supportive of schools remaining open!! My kids are thriving finally and the school protocols are working! Thanks to those members of the school board, administrators, teachers, and parents who support following the science and doing what’s best for our kids!
I am so glad that schools are open full time for both my kids. The academic, social, and emotional benefits are huge. I think there is more that can be done to make sure that all families feel safe to have their children in school. But, for now, it seems safe for our family.
I just wanted to thank the board and the teachers for facilitating as smooth a reopening as possible and being responsive to the challenges of the Delta variant without reducing class time. All three of our children (K,K and 2) are glowing about being back in school. We’re not used to hearing “amazing” “fantastic” and “I can’t wait until tomorrow” and I appreciate the work it takes to keep it this way.
Thank you for opening schools and for so many teachers staff and administrators and families working hard and being brave for our children’s safety. Let’s please keep working together for what everyone wants: safe and open schools. Schools can be both open and safe, which we know from low in school transmission and the findings of public health experts. Closed schools hurts children, families and teachers as we’ve learned from the increase in the education gap, mental illness, and attrition of teachers and staff. Let’s stay on the path of figuring out how to make an open school a safe place. Thank you again!
I just want to thank our schools for being open
Last year was awful my children did not do well being home I have two special needs children in need in person skills that I was not able to provide I’m a single working parent and not being able to work this last year because of distance-learning has really drained us so I am so grateful and so thankful that you were doing right by our children and having our schools open I understand they were all nervous about this Delta variant but I feel like our schools are doing a really good job at keeping our kids safe it is up to us parents to continue making it safe by please keeping your child home if they have any symptoms even if you just think it’s a cold go get tested it easy and free and it will keep our numbers down schools need to remain open under no circumstances can I go back to Distance learning!!
I just want to express how truly, genuinely wonderful it is to see our 2 young kids so happy and fulfilled to be back on campus and back at school! Their emotional well-being is so important to us, and it has deteroriated visibly over the past year and a half since our schools first shut down in early 2020. Finally being able to go to school--be on campus, giving them opportunities not just to learn in person, but to MEET their teachers and other support folks, to SOCIALIZE in person, to PLAY in person, to LAUGH in person, to feel JOY in person... In retrospect, it now becomes so obvious how damaging it all was, that this essential part of childhood was missing from their young lives. Shut downs, shelters, lockdowns, distancing... it has all left them with feelings of emptiness, loneliness, over this difficult time. It has been so heartbreaking to watch. So THANK YOU for making such an effort, putting it all out there, to make sure the schools could open, and remain open. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone working hard to keep our schools open and safe. It means so much to my family to be back to in-person instruction and I deeply appreciate the effort and time and planning that goes into making this possible.
I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for everyone making this full-time, in-person school year happen. Although it is only week 3, I have noticed such a profound difference in my child. He was robbed of his kindergarten experience (as so many others were) and he is LOVING being at school. Thank you for making it a safe environment and thank you for your commitment to our children.
I just wanted to tell OUSD that I am so happy our schools are open!! Thank you for all your hard work in making it happen! My 2 daughters in elementary school are so happy to be in person with their friends and teachers! The safety protocols put in place seem to be working! There is no doubt that this was a scary transition, but the positive impact on our kids learning and emotional health far outweighs the fear!
Having school open and in-person has been a beautiful experience for my first grader. Emerson has handled the transition so smoothly, and the school community has held together with so much spirit. We are happy and we feel safe every day. Thank you for making open schools a priority. We know there are challenges ahead, but in person school has proven essential. Thank you!!
I want to thank the district staff and many of the Board members who have been working to safely reopen our schools and keep them open for our kids. The evidence is pouring in as to the negative impacts, both academic and on the mental health front, for all children kept out of their classrooms last year. While of course children's physical health is paramount, we must also prioritize their mental health and a huge part of that is keeping their schools open. As a parent of two children with IEPs, I also know first hand how their services were impacted in remote learning and the importance for these kids of keeping schools open. Thank you for staying the course and doing what is right for Oakland kids.
Thank you OUSD for finally getting it together and opening schools for our kids. My kids are at 3 ousd schools and are all overjoyed to be back. I think the system you put in place is great. It’s not perfect but given the circumstances and all the factors at play it’s a good system with the minimum of disruption for the kids, teachers and families.
Most parents at the schools I attend are happy and eager for schools to continue running. We will never be risk free from Covid but I think the risk is being managed to the best of our abilities. The kids need school. They need it for so much. My eldest daughter descended into a deadly suicidal depression last year and school closures played a big part. Please keep our kids safe by keeping schools open.
Thank you for all that the OUSD staff is doing to provide in person learning for our kids. Thank you for thinking strategically on how to leverage the resources at hand to keep the kids as safe as possible. The Rapid Response has been very impressive and I am thrilled to hear that this team will receive more resources. Please continue to provide pop up vaccine sites at the schools--vaccines are our way out of this! We know that OEA is now negotiating "Smoke days". Please note that US Soccer only cancels when Purple Air using USA EPA filter shows 150. Training is sometimes cancelled when over 100. This is for soccer: kids running around breathing hard outside in the air. Now that classrooms have HEPA and MEr-16 filters, even more classrooms are going to be safer wrt smoke than at kids' houses. PE can be changed so that kids are not running around and the kids can continue to get their in person instruction. Please don't be bullied into reducing even more instruction time for our kids!
The district should implement a plan for outdoor instruction for the duration of the pandemic. Most OUSD elementary schools have ample outdoor space. This space could easily be repurposed to accommodate several groups outdoors. All you need is to put up some tents and move chairs outside. If there’s wildfire smoke, classes can move inside temporarily. I don’t know why nobody is trying to implement this. They did this 100 years ago during the flu pandemic. When it’s not smoky, we have one of the longest comfortable weather seasons amenable to outdoor instruction in the country, if not the world. So it makes no sense to me that nobody is moving classrooms outside. This would dramatically reduce the risk of COVID transmission. Why aren’t the schools doing this very obvious and straightforward thing?
Thank you for everything you are doing to keep our kids in school, in person. The benefits of in-person school outweighs the risk, and you are doing a good job mitigating the risk. Thank you for the air purifiers, masking mandates, and requiring teachers/staff to either be vaccinated or have mandatory testing. I hope now that the FDA has approved the vaccine that it will be mandatory for all teachers and staff - we need this to protect our children. Thank you for adopting ParentSquare for timely communications from OUSD and from our individual schools. Regarding testing, it is pretty good and I know you are working on adjustments, namely longer hours and hopefully a new testing site to service the hills schools. Your rapid response teams seem to be doing a good job and I hope staffing levels can be increased to the meet the demand. Keep prioritizing kids who had close contact with positive individuals. I support you doing everything you can to KEEP THE KIDS IN SCHOOL, IN PERSON.
I am so grateful for and supportive of schools remaining open!! My kids are thriving finally and the school protocols are working! Thanks to those members of the school board, administrators, teachers, and parents who support following the science and doing what’s best for our kids!
I am so glad that schools are open full time for both my kids. The academic, social, and emotional benefits are huge. I think there is more that can be done to make sure that all families feel safe to have their children in school. But, for now, it seems safe for our family.
I just wanted to thank the board and the teachers for facilitating as smooth a reopening as possible and being responsive to the challenges of the Delta variant without reducing class time. All three of our children (K,K and 2) are glowing about being back in school. We’re not used to hearing “amazing” “fantastic” and “I can’t wait until tomorrow” and I appreciate the work it takes to keep it this way.
We are so happy that our children are back in school! The benefit to everyone far outweighs any health risks!
Thank you for opening schools and for so many teachers staff and administrators and families working hard and being brave for our children’s safety. Let’s please keep working together for what everyone wants: safe and open schools. Schools can be both open and safe, which we know from low in school transmission and the findings of public health experts. Closed schools hurts children, families and teachers as we’ve learned from the increase in the education gap, mental illness, and attrition of teachers and staff. Let’s stay on the path of figuring out how to make an open school a safe place. Thank you again!
I just want to thank our schools for being open
Last year was awful my children did not do well being home I have two special needs children in need in person skills that I was not able to provide I’m a single working parent and not being able to work this last year because of distance-learning has really drained us so I am so grateful and so thankful that you were doing right by our children and having our schools open I understand they were all nervous about this Delta variant but I feel like our schools are doing a really good job at keeping our kids safe it is up to us parents to continue making it safe by please keeping your child home if they have any symptoms even if you just think it’s a cold go get tested it easy and free and it will keep our numbers down schools need to remain open under no circumstances can I go back to Distance learning!!
I just want to express how truly, genuinely wonderful it is to see our 2 young kids so happy and fulfilled to be back on campus and back at school! Their emotional well-being is so important to us, and it has deteroriated visibly over the past year and a half since our schools first shut down in early 2020. Finally being able to go to school--be on campus, giving them opportunities not just to learn in person, but to MEET their teachers and other support folks, to SOCIALIZE in person, to PLAY in person, to LAUGH in person, to feel JOY in person... In retrospect, it now becomes so obvious how damaging it all was, that this essential part of childhood was missing from their young lives. Shut downs, shelters, lockdowns, distancing... it has all left them with feelings of emptiness, loneliness, over this difficult time. It has been so heartbreaking to watch. So THANK YOU for making such an effort, putting it all out there, to make sure the schools could open, and remain open. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone working hard to keep our schools open and safe. It means so much to my family to be back to in-person instruction and I deeply appreciate the effort and time and planning that goes into making this possible.
I want to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for everyone making this full-time, in-person school year happen. Although it is only week 3, I have noticed such a profound difference in my child. He was robbed of his kindergarten experience (as so many others were) and he is LOVING being at school. Thank you for making it a safe environment and thank you for your commitment to our children.
I just wanted to tell OUSD that I am so happy our schools are open!! Thank you for all your hard work in making it happen! My 2 daughters in elementary school are so happy to be in person with their friends and teachers! The safety protocols put in place seem to be working! There is no doubt that this was a scary transition, but the positive impact on our kids learning and emotional health far outweighs the fear!
Having school open and in-person has been a beautiful experience for my first grader. Emerson has handled the transition so smoothly, and the school community has held together with so much spirit. We are happy and we feel safe every day. Thank you for making open schools a priority. We know there are challenges ahead, but in person school has proven essential. Thank you!!
I want to thank the district staff and many of the Board members who have been working to safely reopen our schools and keep them open for our kids. The evidence is pouring in as to the negative impacts, both academic and on the mental health front, for all children kept out of their classrooms last year. While of course children's physical health is paramount, we must also prioritize their mental health and a huge part of that is keeping their schools open. As a parent of two children with IEPs, I also know first hand how their services were impacted in remote learning and the importance for these kids of keeping schools open. Thank you for staying the course and doing what is right for Oakland kids.
Thank you OUSD for finally getting it together and opening schools for our kids. My kids are at 3 ousd schools and are all overjoyed to be back. I think the system you put in place is great. It’s not perfect but given the circumstances and all the factors at play it’s a good system with the minimum of disruption for the kids, teachers and families.
Most parents at the schools I attend are happy and eager for schools to continue running. We will never be risk free from Covid but I think the risk is being managed to the best of our abilities. The kids need school. They need it for so much. My eldest daughter descended into a deadly suicidal depression last year and school closures played a big part. Please keep our kids safe by keeping schools open.
Thank you for all that the OUSD staff is doing to provide in person learning for our kids. Thank you for thinking strategically on how to leverage the resources at hand to keep the kids as safe as possible. The Rapid Response has been very impressive and I am thrilled to hear that this team will receive more resources. Please continue to provide pop up vaccine sites at the schools--vaccines are our way out of this! We know that OEA is now negotiating "Smoke days". Please note that US Soccer only cancels when Purple Air using USA EPA filter shows 150. Training is sometimes cancelled when over 100. This is for soccer: kids running around breathing hard outside in the air. Now that classrooms have HEPA and MEr-16 filters, even more classrooms are going to be safer wrt smoke than at kids' houses. PE can be changed so that kids are not running around and the kids can continue to get their in person instruction. Please don't be bullied into reducing even more instruction time for our kids!
The district should implement a plan for outdoor instruction for the duration of the pandemic. Most OUSD elementary schools have ample outdoor space. This space could easily be repurposed to accommodate several groups outdoors. All you need is to put up some tents and move chairs outside. If there’s wildfire smoke, classes can move inside temporarily. I don’t know why nobody is trying to implement this. They did this 100 years ago during the flu pandemic. When it’s not smoky, we have one of the longest comfortable weather seasons amenable to outdoor instruction in the country, if not the world. So it makes no sense to me that nobody is moving classrooms outside. This would dramatically reduce the risk of COVID transmission. Why aren’t the schools doing this very obvious and straightforward thing?
Thank you for everything you are doing to keep our kids in school, in person. The benefits of in-person school outweighs the risk, and you are doing a good job mitigating the risk. Thank you for the air purifiers, masking mandates, and requiring teachers/staff to either be vaccinated or have mandatory testing. I hope now that the FDA has approved the vaccine that it will be mandatory for all teachers and staff - we need this to protect our children. Thank you for adopting ParentSquare for timely communications from OUSD and from our individual schools. Regarding testing, it is pretty good and I know you are working on adjustments, namely longer hours and hopefully a new testing site to service the hills schools. Your rapid response teams seem to be doing a good job and I hope staffing levels can be increased to the meet the demand. Keep prioritizing kids who had close contact with positive individuals. I support you doing everything you can to KEEP THE KIDS IN SCHOOL, IN PERSON.