Coronavirus (Los Angeles, San Diego, Oakland: vacations, spring break, school district)

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by saibot

Contrast that with Santa Ana and Anaheim districts whose boards voted virtually unanimously NOT to return to any in-person class time this academic year. In Anaheim, only one board member felt that the schools should even consider it. Who knows what they are thinking, if anything, about the fall.

Without even looking, is it perhaps because there's only about eight weeks of the 2021 school year left? The vibe I'm getting is that anything being decided right now isn't meant to carry over to next Fall so perhaps some districts are just writing off the last two months of this year to avoid a sloppy reopening for that short period.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by joosoon

The site I'm at has one of the highest in-person presence in the county and it's been that way since October. The only ones dragging this out are the state and their consistently inconsistent messaging about what is and isn't an acceptable level of covid. Everything to do with reopening schools centers around the directives from the very top. Individual unions and districts have to hammer out details for a plan in order to reopen and are battling an ever changing set of rules and guidance to come up with a solution.


Where is this idea that it's union leaders trying to keep everything closed even coming from? I'm genuinely interested in this emerging urban legend.

That's probably a pretty low bar to clear.

If that was actually the case I don't see how some districts have managed to open while most others haven't then. All you hear are the same vague arguments from unions why they can't open yet.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by joosoon

Without even looking, is it perhaps because there's only about eight weeks of the 2021 school year left? The vibe I'm getting is that anything being decided right now isn't meant to carry over to next Fall so perhaps some districts are just writing off the last two months of this year to avoid a sloppy reopening for that short period.

Yeah, maybe. On the other hand, board members were quoted saying things like "If we have even one Covid case [among students or teachers], that's one case too many."

The schools that were open coped with having an occasional student or teacher test positive. We would get notifications when this happened. It never caused an outbreak, it never caused panic, and it never caused in-person instruction to be cancelled. For some reason the teachers and board in these other districts are so extremely risk-averse that they are unwilling to reopen with anything less than perfection, i.e. zero Covid cases.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by saibot

Yeah, maybe. On the other hand, board members were quoted saying things like "If we have even one Covid case [among students or teachers], that's one case too many."

The schools that were open coped with having an occasional student or teacher test positive. We would get notifications when this happened. It never caused an outbreak, it never caused panic, and it never caused in-person instruction to be cancelled. For some reason the teachers and board in these other districts are so extremely risk-averse that they are unwilling to reopen with anything less than perfection, i.e. zero Covid cases.

Yup, it's insane how ridiculous some of the teachers are.

COVID And Schools: Oakland Unified Teachers Push Back On Plan To Reopen In-Person Learning

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.”


That will pretty much NEVER happen. It's disturbing people like that are even "teachers".

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by joosoon

???

Sorry - wrong poster. I should have had some coffee before posting this morning. I sent you a message.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by sav858

That's probably a pretty low bar to clear.

If that was actually the case I don't see how some districts have managed to open while most others haven't then. All you hear are the same vague arguments from unions why they can't open yet.

That's literally the three legs of SDEA/SDUSD's bargaining. I'm not saying there may be some other small local somewhere being obstinate about reopening because I don't follow all one-thousand districts details across the state. But here in the #2 largest district in California, reopening is contingent on those exact things; red tier, vaccination and the suggested mitigation protocols. From what I've read, almost all the big urban districts are on about the same page too. Our county missed upgrading from purple last week although it's very close. Everything else is on track or has happened. April 12th is the target date.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by saibot

Yeah, maybe. On the other hand, board members were quoted saying things like "If we have even one Covid case [among students or teachers], that's one case too many."

The schools that were open coped with having an occasional student or teacher test positive. We would get notifications when this happened. It never caused an outbreak, it never caused panic, and it never caused in-person instruction to be cancelled. For some reason the teachers and board in these other districts are so extremely risk-averse that they are unwilling to reopen with anything less than perfection, i.e. zero Covid cases.

Locally, smaller districts in the county have yo-yo'ed between open and closed because they were too loose with their plans, had cases, had too many kids interacting with one another and had outbreaks significant enough to force closures. There's absolutely no benefit to doing it like that because the net result is less school. Meanwhile, in my district, the approach has been cautious almost to a fault. But because of that, there hasn't been a site which has forced to shut down nor a single case traced to an exposure at school.



Isn't it preferably to use a model which has proven results? To me it is. I don't want my kids to have to be in a constant state of flux between zoom hell and actual school. If it means they won't be on campus everyday or all day in order to accommodate the protocols, so be it. At least they'll be getting something.


And next Fall is a completely different animal.

[joosoon]

Originally Posted by sav858

Yup, it's insane how ridiculous some of the teachers are.

COVID And Schools: Oakland Unified Teachers Push Back On Plan To Reopen In-Person Learning

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.”


That will pretty much NEVER happen. It's disturbing people like that are even "teachers".

Did you see the part of the article where it says Alameda County rejected the district's reopening plan because they're still in purple tier? Does that strike you as the teachers being ridiculous and keeping schools unnecessarily closed, or does it sound more like what I've been saying for months in countless ignored posts? Who says they represent their whole bargaining unit? Is there a demand in the actual OEA negotiations for near zero-transmission?


I agree this all a big poopshow at this point but at least realistically consider that there's more here than just one idiot teacher's comments being the pivot point for all things reopening. They're not, I assure you. Even in Oakland.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by joosoon

That's literally the three legs of SDEA/SDUSD's bargaining. I'm not saying there may be some other small local somewhere being obstinate about reopening because I don't follow all one-thousand districts details across the state. But here in the #2 largest district in California, reopening is contingent on those exact things; red tier, vaccination and the suggested mitigation protocols. From what I've read, almost all the big urban districts are on about the same page too. Our county missed upgrading from purple last week although it's very close. Everything else is on track or has happened. April 12th is the target date.

Yes so it is union demands holding up reopening....not entirely sure what your argument here was as that is what I have been saying this entire time.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by joosoon

Did you see the part of the article where it says Alameda County rejected the district's reopening plan because they're still in purple tier? Does that strike you as the teachers being ridiculous and keeping schools unnecessarily closed, or does it sound more like what I've been saying for months in countless ignored posts? Who says they represent their whole bargaining unit? Is there a demand in the actual OEA negotiations for near zero-transmission?


I agree this all a big poopshow at this point but at least realistically consider that there's more here than just one idiot teacher's comments being the pivot point for all things reopening. They're not, I assure you. Even in Oakland.

No I do not see that. It says they couldn't open at the time due to the purple tier designation but it doesn't say the county rejected their reopening plan.

The OUSD spokesman said they didn’t want to reopen until the orange tier and some teachers at the protest said they don’t want to open at all this year. So yes I do see that as teachers being unnecessarily ridiculous wanting to keep schools closed.

It was just an example of the mindset some teachers have, that's all I'm pointing out. Don't try to read too much into it.