Please continue to follow the science and keep schools open. Keep up the good work working with absent employees, trouble finding substitute teachers, and continue to do the right thing by keeping schools open. Thank you!
We need to make sure our schools are kept open. Schools are proven to be a safe place for children. OUSD is doing all the right things by mandating vaccines and universal masking. That is keeping everyone safe. Going back to distance learning would be incredibly detrimental to our children and our communities.
while a small number of kids do OK in remote, we know from loads of data that academically and on a mental health front, remote learning harms kids. So you may say, how could 1-2 weeks cause harm? For most kids, school is much more than "just school". For some, It is the only safe place they go to, or where they get 2 meals a day. For others, it is where they socialize with friends. It is CRITICAL that We keep schools open for these kids.
School is essential. Teachers staging sick-outs when they are healthy and robbing kids of instruction are committing an egregious act and should find work elsewhere. I am glad OUSD is providing quality masks but they cost like 50 cents and are easy to find for all who need them -- really don't understand especially since school has been shown over and over again to not cause spread and teachers themselves are responsible for ensuring mask-wearing compliance. Thank you OUSD for keeping our schools open! As a mental health professional, I can say with certainty that the unnecessary length of school closures in Oakland have caused widespread damage to thousands of kids. In person school is the ONLY school.
I will add to my previous comment that the SINGLE OUTBREAK we have had at our school was due to a teacher who showed up very sick the Monday before the holiday break, did not have good judgment to stay home, was coughing supposedly all day with her mask on and off all day - then was positive with COVID and passed it on to 9 kids in the class, thus ruining most of our families plans during the holidays. So any teacher request for additional "protection" against the kids is really disingenuous, and this should be on the public record that a teacher gave it to 9 of her students and that's the only outbreak of COVID we've had. Thankfully no one was seriously ill.
To quote Dr. Jeanne Noble UCSF “Closing schools in 2020, pre-vaccination, was wrong harming children w/o reducing viral transmission. To return to this strategy now, post-vaccination, when facing an attenuated variant is beyond pale.” Closing schools must never be an option.
I write to thank OUSD for doing its best to keep schools open and functioning. I strongly oppose any further shutdowns or remote learning. Remote learning was devastating for our kids, and went on for far longer than it should have in Oakland; under no circumstances can we regress to living the way we did in January 2021. In January 2022, schools have been functioning, largely without issue, for five months. Another closure will harm our kids and drive even more families out of OUSD and into private schools, or into districts that are not held hostage by organized labor and illegal "sick out" theatrics. So please hold the line against the OEA panic machine, and keep making kids the priority. If you do that, you have my support.
First: thank you for the good job of rolling out of masks to all schools and the testing protocols pre and post winter break.
Second I'm advocating for keeping all schools open. Study after study, including one by the Center for School and Student Progress: showed learning gains during the 20-21 school year to be lower compared to prepandemic trends. Moreover, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Black, and Latinx students, as well as students in high-poverty schools were further disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades. IN OUSD, over half of all k-5th students are reading below grade level. 2/3 of 5th graders, who will soon be moving to middle school, are reading below grade level. Schools are not transmission points, and children continue to contract at a much lower rate. We can not afford to put adults, who can be fully vaccinated ahead of children again.
Thank you OUSD for doing so much to KEEP OUR SCHOOLS OPEN IN-PERSON. The idea of distance learning right now is beyond ridiculous and would have severe repercussions.
Today's data from the CDC director identifies a new study on the severity of Omicron vs Delta in California:
- 53% less risk of symptomatic hospitalization
- 74% less risk of ICU admission
- 91% less risk of death
- Zero Omicron patients required mechanical ventilation
All the data says we should be keeping schools open:
- Omicron severity is almost zero for those that are vaccinated.
- All the students 12+ are vaccinated and most of 5-11 are vaccinated
- There are air purifiers and many other safety additions in OUSD schools.
Thank you OUSD for all you are doing to keep schools safe and open for our children. I strongly believe that our schools must stay open for the best interest of our children. Please continue your commitment to our kids and their well-being by staying open.
We know that vaccines and boosters work. Fact
We know that children are only mildly affected by covid in the vast majority of cases
Fact
We know the damage wrought on our kids by school closures (violent crime in Oakland, fights in schools, ask any teacher how the kids are now than before the pandemic, the mental health crisis)
Fact
We know omnicrom is much milder
Fact
We have all these facts at our disposal and they equal schools staying open. Our kids need school. The damage done to them can never be taken back but we can prevent more. Teachers should be stepping up instead of stepping back. What’s going on? The teachers of Oakland are pushing our kids to stay off school tomorrow in a ‘sick out’. They claim they feel unsafe? But the facts point otherwise, these people are damaging our kids confidence in the facts
I oppose school shut downs. Tremendous harness done to students last year when we were remote…everyone knows that. As a parent of one kid in middle school and one in high school, my kids haven’t had an uninterrupted school year in 4 years. The strike then Covid and now this. Enough is enough. Kids need to be in school.
I agree on having n95 masks for all but the bi weekly testing request is crazy. OUSD cannot make tests appear where there are none. There is a shortage of tests everywhere and barring OUSD somehow creating them themselves, this isn’t going to happen.
Thank you to the OUSD staff and teachers for all the support in KEEPING OUR SCHOOLS OPEN! Thank you for all of the measures, effort and dedication you have taken to get us where we are in person right now. It is wonderful to see my son and his peers happy, learning and thriving. What a difference a year makes! I am also in support of more testing, more quality, upgraded masks and more outdoor seating for our children to be able to eat/learn outside where applicable. I am strongly opposed to the schools shutting down again for virtual learning or strikes of any period of time. The consequences for our children are too dire. Thank you for all that you are doing.
Thank you OUSD for all you are doing to keep schools OPEN and SAFE. I strongly believe that our schools must stay open and it is in the best interest of all children to do so. We must trust the science and not give in to fear. Please continue your commitment to our kids and their well-being by staying open. We will get through this together.
I want to voice my support for keeping OUSD schools open every day, all year long. I have two elementary age children who lost so much learning and social-emotional support during the remote 'learning' era. I recognize my privilege and feel confident my kids will be 'okay' in the long run. However, I have voiced my opinion before, and will re-iterate here, that schools should be considered 'essential' and remain open. Kids depend on schools for a safe space, meals, and meaningful CONNECTION with classmates, teachers, and support staff. Closing down, even periodically, causes unnecessary disruption and even chaos. We know how to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID. There are ways to remain open safely. Please do the right thing for our kids-- their future, and our society's progress, depend on it. Thank you.
We must preserve in person school given the known relative safety of this vs. any remote option (which has many known harms). I want and support requests/demands for weekly testing, the district is not doing an adequate job surveilling for cases and preventing more disruption or missed school.
Thank you to the OUSD staff and teachers for all the support in KEEPING OUR SCHOOLS OPEN. Thank you for providing test kits prior to returning from the winter break, working to get better masks for all students and teachers, and for supporting our children during this time. As an elementary and middle school parent, I've seen first-hand how appreciative and happy kids are to be back in school in person and how much more engaged and excited they are about learning. We will get thru this as a community.
I’m writing as a mom of an 8th grader at Montera and a senior at Oakland Tech that I am strongly opposed to the schools shutting down again for virtual learning or strikes foe any period of time. The social/emotional/mental challenges distance learning caused for my children and so many others far outweighs the risks of catching COVID at this point for all students and staff who have been vaccinated, which all are eligible for nearly a year. (Other than the few immunocompromised).
PLEASE keep our schools open!! OUSD has done an impressive job of implementing testing sites, pooled testing, vaccination sites, improved ventilation, masking protocols...and now providing KN95 masks. We can get through this as a community!! If there are staffing shortages, ask parent-volunteers to step up. I assure you, we will rise to the occasion for the benefit of our kids. OUSD kids NEED schools. Thank you.
Please continue to follow the science and keep schools open. Keep up the good work working with absent employees, trouble finding substitute teachers, and continue to do the right thing by keeping schools open. Thank you!
We need to make sure our schools are kept open. Schools are proven to be a safe place for children. OUSD is doing all the right things by mandating vaccines and universal masking. That is keeping everyone safe. Going back to distance learning would be incredibly detrimental to our children and our communities.
Board,
while a small number of kids do OK in remote, we know from loads of data that academically and on a mental health front, remote learning harms kids. So you may say, how could 1-2 weeks cause harm? For most kids, school is much more than "just school". For some, It is the only safe place they go to, or where they get 2 meals a day. For others, it is where they socialize with friends. It is CRITICAL that We keep schools open for these kids.
School is essential. Teachers staging sick-outs when they are healthy and robbing kids of instruction are committing an egregious act and should find work elsewhere. I am glad OUSD is providing quality masks but they cost like 50 cents and are easy to find for all who need them -- really don't understand especially since school has been shown over and over again to not cause spread and teachers themselves are responsible for ensuring mask-wearing compliance. Thank you OUSD for keeping our schools open! As a mental health professional, I can say with certainty that the unnecessary length of school closures in Oakland have caused widespread damage to thousands of kids. In person school is the ONLY school.
I will add to my previous comment that the SINGLE OUTBREAK we have had at our school was due to a teacher who showed up very sick the Monday before the holiday break, did not have good judgment to stay home, was coughing supposedly all day with her mask on and off all day - then was positive with COVID and passed it on to 9 kids in the class, thus ruining most of our families plans during the holidays. So any teacher request for additional "protection" against the kids is really disingenuous, and this should be on the public record that a teacher gave it to 9 of her students and that's the only outbreak of COVID we've had. Thankfully no one was seriously ill.
To quote Dr. Jeanne Noble UCSF “Closing schools in 2020, pre-vaccination, was wrong harming children w/o reducing viral transmission. To return to this strategy now, post-vaccination, when facing an attenuated variant is beyond pale.” Closing schools must never be an option.
I write to thank OUSD for doing its best to keep schools open and functioning. I strongly oppose any further shutdowns or remote learning. Remote learning was devastating for our kids, and went on for far longer than it should have in Oakland; under no circumstances can we regress to living the way we did in January 2021. In January 2022, schools have been functioning, largely without issue, for five months. Another closure will harm our kids and drive even more families out of OUSD and into private schools, or into districts that are not held hostage by organized labor and illegal "sick out" theatrics. So please hold the line against the OEA panic machine, and keep making kids the priority. If you do that, you have my support.
First: thank you for the good job of rolling out of masks to all schools and the testing protocols pre and post winter break.
Second I'm advocating for keeping all schools open. Study after study, including one by the Center for School and Student Progress: showed learning gains during the 20-21 school year to be lower compared to prepandemic trends. Moreover, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), Black, and Latinx students, as well as students in high-poverty schools were further disproportionately impacted, particularly in the elementary grades. IN OUSD, over half of all k-5th students are reading below grade level. 2/3 of 5th graders, who will soon be moving to middle school, are reading below grade level. Schools are not transmission points, and children continue to contract at a much lower rate. We can not afford to put adults, who can be fully vaccinated ahead of children again.
Thank you OUSD for doing so much to KEEP OUR SCHOOLS OPEN IN-PERSON. The idea of distance learning right now is beyond ridiculous and would have severe repercussions.
Today's data from the CDC director identifies a new study on the severity of Omicron vs Delta in California:
- 53% less risk of symptomatic hospitalization
- 74% less risk of ICU admission
- 91% less risk of death
- Zero Omicron patients required mechanical ventilation
All the data says we should be keeping schools open:
- Omicron severity is almost zero for those that are vaccinated.
- All the students 12+ are vaccinated and most of 5-11 are vaccinated
- There are air purifiers and many other safety additions in OUSD schools.
reference: https://twitter.com/CDCDirector/status/1481315911843856387?t=ZQYXtjWFSOE5urEB-toPUg
Thank you OUSD for all you are doing to keep schools safe and open for our children. I strongly believe that our schools must stay open for the best interest of our children. Please continue your commitment to our kids and their well-being by staying open.
We know that vaccines and boosters work. Fact
We know that children are only mildly affected by covid in the vast majority of cases
Fact
We know the damage wrought on our kids by school closures (violent crime in Oakland, fights in schools, ask any teacher how the kids are now than before the pandemic, the mental health crisis)
Fact
We know omnicrom is much milder
Fact
We have all these facts at our disposal and they equal schools staying open. Our kids need school. The damage done to them can never be taken back but we can prevent more. Teachers should be stepping up instead of stepping back. What’s going on? The teachers of Oakland are pushing our kids to stay off school tomorrow in a ‘sick out’. They claim they feel unsafe? But the facts point otherwise, these people are damaging our kids confidence in the facts
I oppose school shut downs. Tremendous harness done to students last year when we were remote…everyone knows that. As a parent of one kid in middle school and one in high school, my kids haven’t had an uninterrupted school year in 4 years. The strike then Covid and now this. Enough is enough. Kids need to be in school.
I agree on having n95 masks for all but the bi weekly testing request is crazy. OUSD cannot make tests appear where there are none. There is a shortage of tests everywhere and barring OUSD somehow creating them themselves, this isn’t going to happen.
Thank you to the OUSD staff and teachers for all the support in KEEPING OUR SCHOOLS OPEN! Thank you for all of the measures, effort and dedication you have taken to get us where we are in person right now. It is wonderful to see my son and his peers happy, learning and thriving. What a difference a year makes! I am also in support of more testing, more quality, upgraded masks and more outdoor seating for our children to be able to eat/learn outside where applicable. I am strongly opposed to the schools shutting down again for virtual learning or strikes of any period of time. The consequences for our children are too dire. Thank you for all that you are doing.
Thank you OUSD for all you are doing to keep schools OPEN and SAFE. I strongly believe that our schools must stay open and it is in the best interest of all children to do so. We must trust the science and not give in to fear. Please continue your commitment to our kids and their well-being by staying open. We will get through this together.
I want to voice my support for keeping OUSD schools open every day, all year long. I have two elementary age children who lost so much learning and social-emotional support during the remote 'learning' era. I recognize my privilege and feel confident my kids will be 'okay' in the long run. However, I have voiced my opinion before, and will re-iterate here, that schools should be considered 'essential' and remain open. Kids depend on schools for a safe space, meals, and meaningful CONNECTION with classmates, teachers, and support staff. Closing down, even periodically, causes unnecessary disruption and even chaos. We know how to mitigate the risk of spreading COVID. There are ways to remain open safely. Please do the right thing for our kids-- their future, and our society's progress, depend on it. Thank you.
We must preserve in person school given the known relative safety of this vs. any remote option (which has many known harms). I want and support requests/demands for weekly testing, the district is not doing an adequate job surveilling for cases and preventing more disruption or missed school.
Thank you to the OUSD staff and teachers for all the support in KEEPING OUR SCHOOLS OPEN. Thank you for providing test kits prior to returning from the winter break, working to get better masks for all students and teachers, and for supporting our children during this time. As an elementary and middle school parent, I've seen first-hand how appreciative and happy kids are to be back in school in person and how much more engaged and excited they are about learning. We will get thru this as a community.
I’m writing as a mom of an 8th grader at Montera and a senior at Oakland Tech that I am strongly opposed to the schools shutting down again for virtual learning or strikes foe any period of time. The social/emotional/mental challenges distance learning caused for my children and so many others far outweighs the risks of catching COVID at this point for all students and staff who have been vaccinated, which all are eligible for nearly a year. (Other than the few immunocompromised).
PLEASE keep our schools open!! OUSD has done an impressive job of implementing testing sites, pooled testing, vaccination sites, improved ventilation, masking protocols...and now providing KN95 masks. We can get through this as a community!! If there are staffing shortages, ask parent-volunteers to step up. I assure you, we will rise to the occasion for the benefit of our kids. OUSD kids NEED schools. Thank you.