Oakland teachers OK reopening deal

the school board.

“It is clear that we need to offer more inperson instruction for those students and families who want and need it while also continuing to offer robust distance learning opportunities,” said Oakland Unified Superintendent Kyla

JohnsonTrammell in a letter posted to the district’s website Saturday. “This pandemic has stripped away many of the tools that we use to support our students and community. A return to inperson learning will allow us to give students new, more robust ways to continue learning.”

Union and district reps could not be reached for comment Sunday morning.

The teachers union, the Oakland Education Association, tweeted about the agreement approval late Saturday, saying, “Until we know for sure that every classroom is prepped and ready to bring students back for inperson instruction, we will continue to organize for a safe and equitable return to sites. It will take all of us working together to keep our community and each other safe.”

Under the agreement, district leaders would expand inperson learning up through six grade on April 19. Priority students in grades 712 would also return that day. Based on the number of eligible children and families saying they would return, an estimated 13,000 students could be back in classrooms by that time.

A group of Oakland teachers protested the agreement last week, saying it puts lowincome and Black and Latino families at greater risk and calling it “reckless and foolish” unless staff, students and families are vaccinated.

Neither state officials nor the Centers for Disease Control recommends vaccinations of staff or families be required before students and teachers return to inperson learning. Teachers and parents also oppose reopening until every ZIP code in Oakland reaches a low transmission rate, which is also not required either by ZIP code or for the city and county as a whole.

The district hopes to discontinue distance learning in the 202122 school year, JohnsonTrammell said.