COVID And Schools: Oakland Unified Teachers Push Back On Plan To Reopen In-Person Learning
OAKLAND (KPIX 5) – A group of protestors Wednesday night took to the streets of Oakland, speaking out about reopening schools.
The car caravan protest started at East Oakland Pride Elementary School and ended outside of the school district office. Organizers of the protest said it would be too dangerous to return to school during a pandemic.
Protesters with signs plastered on their cars honked their horns as they cruised down Broadway with a message.
Mark Airgood, an Oakland Unified Teacher told KPIX 5, "We're saying we need a near-zero transmission of COVID in every zip code in Oakland."
Currently, Alameda County is in the purple tier and schools wouldn't be allowed to open even if they wanted to. The district submitted a reopening plan to the county in hopes of returning to in-person learning after the winter break, but the Oakland Unified School district says that's unlikely.
John Sasaki, a spokesperson with OUSD told KPIX 5, "I think that maybe some people were a little bit alarmed saying, 'we the district was planning on opening on January 25th, no matter what.' That's not true. We can't right now, anyway because of purple tier and because of what's happening on the ground with the coronavirus."
Sasaki added that schools will not open until it's safe for everyone involved and the county returns to the orange tier.
Those who took part in Wednesday's protest though said they would like to see schools close for the rest of the school year.
Airgood said, "If you start to reopen when you're in orange, and bring groups of students and teachers together, then you're going to be back in purple within a few weeks. We've seen that pattern, that's playing with people's lives."
But during an Oakland Unified School Board meeting Wednesday night, some parents spoke in support of bringing kids back into the classroom.
The district says it recognizes the limitations of distance learning.
Sasaki said, "This is of course not an ideal situation, nobody is a huge fan of distance learning. Our kids are struggling through, they are doing well, they're fighting every day. Our staff is working well, but it's nothing like learning being in person."
To open, the district has to have its plan approved by the county. OUSD will also have to reach an agreement on a labor contract agreement with the teacher's union.