Parents threaten to sue school district
Parents: FUSD ‘has no rational or legal excuse’ to keep campuses closed
A group of frustrated parents is threatening to sue Fremont’s school district if officials don’t meet their demand to reopen schools for in-person learning by April 26.
The demand letter, sent by a law firm the parents hired, was delivered to the district Wednesday — two weeks after Fremont Unified School District Superintendent C.J. Cammack announced schools would remain in distance learning for the rest of the school year after the district was unable to strike a deal with the teachers union for reopening plans.
The district “has no rational or legal excuse to keep its students in distance learning, where they are lagging behind academically and suffering emotionally,” the letter from attorney Lee Andelin said.
Andelin, of the Southern California-based law firm Aannestad, Andelin & Corn, was hired by a group of parents calling itself Fremont Parents for Reopening, which started a nonprofit to raise money to cover the legal fees, and recently launched a website to present its case.
“Despite air filters placed in every classroom, safety protocols beyond current state and lo
“Parents fear that the pattern shown by the district this school year — empty promises followed by delays and excuses — will be repeated in the next school year.” — Lee Andelin, Southern California-based law firm Aannestad, Andelin & Corn
cal guidance, and sufficient access to vaccines for all teachers and staff who want one, FUSD’s schools still remain closed,” Andelin said.
“We have only a precious few weeks left in the school year. FUSD must act now to provide something resembling a normal schedule for the rest of the 20202021 school year,” Andelin said.
Cammack declined an interview request, but in a written statement, said the district shares the frustration of many parents about delays in reopening schools.
“As educators, we are united in a belief that the best environment for students is in the classroom, personally interacting with their teachers, friends and classmates,” Cammack said. “Since October, we have worked with our teachers union to find common ground on a return to in-person instruction through a hybrid instructional model.
“Unfortunately, we have been unable to come to an agreement.”
After negotiations failed, the district said it would instead shift its focus for the remainder of this school year into expanding existing learning hubs and finding other safe opportunities to bring students on campus for social interaction.
As a result, Cammack said the district will forgo the roughly $9 million in state assistance funds legislators approved in March to motivate schools to reopen classrooms to at least some students.
Cammack said in a previous newsletter the union and the district were split on some key issues “including staffing, the scope of grade levels eligible for a full return and additional compensation for employees to return under a hybrid instructional model.”
Before negotiations for the spring halted, the teachers were as of March 31 asking for a onetime, $2,100 stipend to teach in hybrid models, saying that anyone “who will be providing hybrid instruction will be providing additional instruction above their current workload.”
Some parents, like E.C., who requested her name not be used to maintain her kids’ privacy, said that they were upset to see teachers union leadership making “outlandish demands” during negotiations that were unrelated to reopening, such as asking that the district not contract with any law enforcement for secondary school campuses during the year, and that teachers get restorative practices training.
“I think its very sad they are playing political games,” she added. E.C. said she donated to the nonprofit to help pay for the attorney because “nothing else has worked” to get schools reopened. She claims her 15-year-old daughter’s once-high GPA dropped significantly during distance learning.
Victoria Birbeck-Herrera, the teachers union president, said she disagrees with anyone who claims teachers requests were made “for some political gain” but instead said they requested those things for the “overall wellness for (students) as human beings.” She said when the district refused to engage on those items, they were quickly dropped and she doesn’t think they played any part in the inability for the two sides to reach a deal.
In addition to demanding reopening by April 26, parents also demanded the district board approve a plan by April 30 “to return to full-time, in-person instruction providing prepandemic instructional minutes” for the coming school year.
“Parents fear that the pattern shown by the district this school year — empty promises followed by delays and excuses — will be repeated in the next school year,” Andelin said.
Irene Shen said her three kids, ages 11, 10, and 6, all “suffered greatly in the spring,” so she enrolled them in a public charter program, called Circle of Independent Learning.
“I know a lot of parents who are having a really tough time, and I feel that schools not opening is actually more destructive to our community than schools remaining closed in distance learning,” she said in an interview Thursday, though she is not a part of the group threatening to sue the district.
“I don’t think I would want to sue the school district, but I feel like I understand why people would want to do it. Because it’s worked in other areas, and it has been so disappointing here,” she said.
“I think you know a lot of parents would feel a lot better even if (the district) can at least guarantee the fall,” Shen said.
Cammack said Thursday the district is preparing for a “full five-day-aweek return to school” for the coming 2021-22 school year, which is slated to start in August.
“Our staff continues to devote its time, energy, and resources to supporting our students, and preparing for a full return in the fall,” he said.
The demand letter from the law firm is “under review,” he said, “and we have no further comment at this time.”
Fremont Unified’s school board will review the fall reopening plan at its meeting Wednesday and will discuss next steps, according to district spokesperson Brian Killgore.
Many other school districts in the Bay Area have reopened with hybrid models, including Pleasanton Unified, Livermore Valley Unified, Mount Diablo Unified, Milpitas Unified and Oakland Unified.
New Haven Unified, in Union City and South Hayward, opted in March to remain in distance learning, and Newark Unified also recently has failed to reach agreement with its teachers union over reopening plans.
The board had planned to discuss next steps at its meeting Thursday.