Oakland Should Follow the Science and Reopen Schools
As public health experts reach a clear consensus about the low risk of transmission of the COVID-19 virus within schools, Oakland parents have become frustrated and angry at the lack of urgency by educational leaders to get kids back to the classroom in a safe way. Right now, there appears to be a huge abyss between the plan rolled out last week by the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and the demands of the teacher’s union, the Oakland Education Association (OEA).
COVID-19 rates have hit new records across the country in recent weeks, and Alameda County has been sent back to the most restrictive tier. While we understand there will be no new school reopenings until the county is downgraded to the red tier — and, in fact, OUSD is suggesting an even more conservative proposal of putting off reopening until we reach the orange tier — we believe OUSD should begin negotiations with the OEA immediately, to try and reach the goal of beginning a phased reopening on January 25, 2021, as specified in the OUSD plan.
A wealth of evidence has been publicized in the past month showing that schools, particularly elementary schools, don’t contribute to community spread of the virus. Brown University economist Emily Oster has collected data from thousands of schools across the country, and argues elementary schools can safely reopen with mitigation measures in place. The New York Times, NPR, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington Post have all echoed Oster’s findings. Countless public health experts and physicians argue that keeping schools closed poses a much bigger risk to kids’ health and wellbeing than reopening them. Importantly, the rate of teachers becoming infected at school is also very low.
It’s abundantly clear that distance learning isn’t an adequate substitute for in-person learning. The many negative effects include learning loss, an alarming increase in mental health emergencies, and potentially hundreds of thousands of cases of abuse at home that are not being reported. Many students with disabilities aren’t receiving the services districts are legally mandated to provide.
Educational disparities are widening quickly, making school reopening an issue of equity: disproportionately Black and Latino, OUSD students are being left behind, while private schools and wealthier Bay Area public schools have returned to in-class instruction. Many are calling this situation “a national emergency.” The achievement gaps will follow OUSD students for years if we’re unable to return to in-person learning before next fall.
Nonetheless, the response to OUSD’s reopening plan by OEA leaders last week suggests they don’t believe the situation is particularly urgent; a representative even went so far as to praise the San Bernardino school board’s premature decision to keep schools closed until Fall 2021. It’s clear the OEA is pushing for the same result. In the meantime, kids across the country — from Houston to Fairfax County, Virginia to St. Paul, Minnesota — are failing at astronomical rates.
Given the many risks of keeping schools closed, negotiations between OUSD and the OEA should begin immediately. We know that due to the current rate of the virus, plans will need to be flexible. But our kids can’t afford to wait until the Memorandum of Understanding with the OEA expires on December 31 for the parties to come to the negotiating table. Larger urban districts have reopened, while Oakland has barely begun the process.
Oakland has a generous philanthropic community that we believe would be more than willing to help the district through this crisis — and we want these funds to be distributed equitably across the district’s schools. But before they can be approached, we need to know how far apart OUSD and the OEA are on sufficient safety protocols. OUSD recently published a Readiness Dashboard that indicates substantial progress on county-mandated standards for reopening, and has reached agreements with all labor partners except the OEA. We’re losing valuable time each day and worry negotiations will drag on for months, to the detriment of thousands of kids.
Just this week, OUSD released the initial results of the Fall Family Survey regarding reopening. More parents want to send their kids back to school than any other option: 43% are in favor, 31% are unsure, and 26% oppose reopening. Among elementary school parents, the number in favor is even higher (48%), suggesting many parents are aware of the data showing much lower transmission rates in kids under 10.
Until a vaccine is widely distributed, there will be some element of risk in attending in-person school, but many school districts across the country and in the Bay Area have opened without outbreaks. The goal should be harm reduction: providing kids the many benefits of in-person learning, using measures to mitigate the spread of the virus, and giving families and teachers at higher risk for becoming seriously ill with COVID-19 the option to continue in distance learning.
As a group representing parents from all seven Oakland school districts, and following the recent letter from seven superintendents (including OUSD’s) to Governor Gavin Newsom, we hope local and state leaders will help jumpstart the negotiations between OUSD and the OEA. For the purposes of transparency, we believe negotiation sessions should be open to the public.
Most European countries have prioritized keeping schools open, even as everything else has been shut down — and the recent statistics show they made the right decision. We too believe schools are essential and should be reopened before everything else, beginning with phasing in elementary school kids, and using OUSD’s equity lens to prioritize English language learners, homeless students, and those with disabilities.
Joining similar parent-led movements across the country who are pressuring our local educational leaders and unions to follow the science on COVID-19 and schools, we will fight for what’s in the best interests of our kids.
