Tentative deal allows return of Oakland pupils
The first Oakland students would be back in classrooms by March 30, with all elementary and at least one middle or high school grade back in schools by April 19 under a tentative deal reached by the district and union over the weekend.
The plan would reopen one of the largest districts in the Bay Area, where many of its 35,000 students have lacked the technology and resources to participate fully in distance learning.
Under the deal, preschool through secondgrade students would return first, with older
students phased in over the following two weeks. Highneeds students across all grades, including homeless students, foster youth, English learners, disengaged students and those with special needs, among others, would also be able to return.
Highneeds students make up about half the district’s enrollment, officials said.
Based on the number of eligible children and families saying they would return, an estimated 13,000 students could be back in classrooms by midApril.
Students would likely return part time, splitting the week between time in the classroom and virtual instruction.
“I am thrilled,” said kindergarten parent Selam Brown on Monday morning. “I’ll take a day a week. I’ll take anything.”
Her son, IV (pronounced ivy), short for Malchester Brown IV, attends Thornhill Elementary and has missed nearly a year of critical social interaction, Brown said.
“He says all the time he doesn’t have any friends,” she said, adding that prior to distance learning he was never allowed access to a computer. “Now he’d rather stay in front of a screen than run outside.”
Details on the return to inperson instruction were not immediately available, including how many days or hours students would be back in classrooms each week, but officials said they would provide additional information in the coming days.
Oakland is set to reopen prior to other large urban districts across the state, including San Francisco, with officials saying it is imperative to get students back given the devastating impact of distance learning, including mental health issues and learning loss. In addition, hundreds if not thousands of families have left the district, enrolling in private and charter alternatives or transferring to reopened public schools in nearby communities.
“Getting our students safely back to a more normal routine will go a long way to fostering their education and their mental, physical and emotional wellbeing,” said school board President Shanthi Gonzales.
The deal offers teachers a significant financial incentive, including a $2,000 stipend for all 2,700 union members who return to inperson learning. That’s in addition to $800 for teachers who opt to return voluntarily in March, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The Chronicle.
All told, the agreement could cost the district well over $5 million in teacher stipends. However, the deal would allow Oakland to qualify for several million dollars in state funding tied to reopening.
“Ideally everybody would have been thrilled about coming back, but I understand there is lot of fear and trepidation,” Gonzales said. “We do have a lot of additional money onetime from the state and federal government right now. This seems like a good use of it.”
The agreement acknowledges that not all teachers will be fully vaccinated until midApril, which is why officials will reopen the first sites in March with teachers who volunteer to return to inperson instruction.
All other teachers would be required to report to schools on April 14, with instruction for students through fifth grade, and one additional grade in middle or high school, who opt to return starting on April 19.
“We believe that phasing in student return on April 19 allows all educators to complete their vaccinations, if they so choose, and for California's targeted vaccination program to reach our most vulnerable communities,” said
Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association.
San Francisco teachers and district officials reached a reopening agreement prior to Oakland, but currently there are no plans to reopen middle and high school campuses, meaning they will likely not qualify for their share of the $2 billion available to districts across the state.
What the Oakland school day would look like depends in part on how many families and teachers return. Gonzales said one possibility is distance learning for everyone in the mornings, with inperson students returning in the afternoon two days a week for lunch and class time.
The district has been readying classrooms for months to get ready for reopening, with most elementary schools ready for inperson instruction. The district is still assessing how to get students to schools, given limited public transportation options under pandemic bus schedules.
“All that has to be figured out,” Gonzales said.
A majority of elementary school families — representing 54% of 18,500 students — said they want to return to inperson learning, although the responses varied by race, according district officials. About 8% of families did not respond to requests to state a preference.
Thornhill parent Brown said she resents the rhetoric that implies those calling for reopening do not represent communities of color.
“It’s been really frustrating to hear people say that only rich white families want to go back,” she said. “We are minority through and through. We see how much IV needs to be back in school.”
A majority of white, Black, Pacific Islander and multiple ethnicity families said they would return. A relative majority of Latino, Filipino American and lowincome families also responded positively to inperson learning, although they had a higher rate of nonresponse. A majority of Asian American families said they preferred to remain in distance learning.
Communities of color and lowincome families have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic, in terms of job loss as well as in the number of severe cases or deaths related to COVID19. The district has a higher percentage of lowincome families, with 72% of students on free or reducedcost lunch, compared with 59% statewide. Many live in multigenerational housing as well and could be wary of returning to inperson instruction until vaccines are widely available.
“This is a critical step forward for our students, families and staff, as we all can now see the light at the end of the tunnel of this yearlong ordeal,” said Superintendent Kyla JohnsonTrammell. “I look forward to March 30 with great excitement for students and staff who are eager to be together again.”