"As COVID-19 cases begin to slowly decrease, more and more schools are thinking about reopening, including OSA, but how often do these conversations include the voices of those who will be impacted the most? -- Judith Hernandez, 11th
As COVID-19 cases begin to slowly decrease, more and more schools are thinking about reopening, including OSA, but how often do these conversations include the voices of those who will be impacted the most? This includes teachers, students, and their families. During a board meeting on February 26th, Mr. Oz, principal of OSA announced that although there is no official date for returning back to school, there is work being done to the building to prepare to do so. For example, increasing air flow in the classrooms without windows and creating more ventilation is a priority. For students and teachers, safety is a priority too.
Guaranteeing that educators have access to the vaccine before fully opening up schools has been something that the state of California has been working on due to many pushing for schools to reopen. California Governor, Gavin Newsom recently made an announcement that 10% of vaccines, approximately 75,000 vaccines a week, would be set aside for teachers and other school staff beginning March 1st.
According to “California Sets Priorities for Vaccination of Teachers and School Employees”, an article published on Edsource by Sydney Johnson, school staff eligible for the vaccine includes “substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, bus drivers, food service workers, custodial service workers and administrators, as well as on-site staff supporting meal distribution or technological access for students.” Although the goal is to have all teachers vaccinated, certain districts will be prioritized. Johnson writes, “Districts where students have been heavily impacted by the pandemic, such as those with higher portions of low-income students, English learners and foster youth, will also be prioritized in the state’s calculation for distributing the codes in an effort to speed up safe school reopening in hard-hit communities.”
When the State claims it will guarantee support and resources for low-income communities such as mine, I become highly skeptical. Time after time, the government and the State have proven that they do not truly care about me, my classmates and my neighbors the way they say they do. If they did, we would have more funding, more resources, teachers that stay, and bigger classrooms. Our educators being vaccinated is important but I want to see my community actually being prioritized and not just hear speeches about plans that rarely ever lead to action.
Similarly, Frankie Ettinger, a junior in Literary Arts vocalizes the need for administration to ask themselves the following question before students are asked to go back to schools:
Who would be affected the most by the virus if they were to contract it? Who has access to a vaccine? Who needs the vaccine most? Who has little to no healthcare? Who is unable to see a doctor due to financial issues? Who lives with people who are at risk? I think we need to think about how to protect the most vulnerable people in our community before we take any big steps towards reopening.
Bob Marcacci, a high school journalism and English teacher adds on to this by explaining what he is worried about in regards to OSA reopening. He shares, “For me it’s just a safety issue. Are kids going to be safe and are the adults going to be safe? I mean if we all go back to school are we all going to be bringing home the junk to our families—that’s not going to be good... I would want to be vaccinated and I would like for all my students to be vaccinated, which may take a while.” School administration needs to keep in mind that not only will reopening schools have students at a higher risk of getting COVID, but their families will be at a higher risk too.
The fear of catching COVID is something I feel too and is stopping me from wanting to go back to school. My dad and older sister are both essential workers which means they are already at a higher risk of catching COVID. I don’t want to go back to school if I don’t have to because doing so will only make the situation worse for my family and I.
Although there are many challenges that still need to be addressed, there are also things that students and teachers are looking forward to when thinking about schools reopening. For example, Kamaria Wiliams, a freshman at OSA explained that being at school allows her to be in a space where she is able to concentrate which has been a challenge of virtual learning. Kamaria describes her experience, “Some challenges I’ve faced with remote learning are that it’s much harder to concentrate with my family all in the same place. With my sisters also being in class I can hear all their classmates and teachers talking, which sorta overlaps with my instruction time.” Virtual learning creates distractions that simply don’t exist in the classroom. For those of us with internet problems, it’s hard focusing when we miss half the information the teacher gives because the audio keeps cutting out. At the same time, we have to try and quiet down our family members.
Additionally, remote learning has made it difficult for student-teacher relationships to exist. “It's nice to feel a connection to teachers, but I don't really feel that online. I know if I was in regular school, I would have more opportunities to get to know my teachers and build trust” explains Ettinger. Mr. Bob has had a similar experience. He illustrates, “...my ability to reach all my students has really been challenged. A lot of the meaning behind our words is transferred through our gestures or facial expressions or the tone of our voice. Now I can’t look around the classroom and see what everybody’s doing so I can’t make those snap assessments that all teachers do in the classroom.”
Youth spend most of their time at school and their teachers have a huge impact on their relationship with learning and education. A good student and teacher relationship could help motivate and inspire students but a negative one can make school more difficult than it already is. James Ford, the 2015 North Carolina State Teacher of the Year and the program director for the Public School Forum of North Carolina, described in an article by Education Week, “Our first job as teachers is to make sure that we learn our students, that we connect with them on a real level, showing respect for their culture and affirming their worthiness to receive the best education possible.”
While OSA is still planning and trying to figure out a way to reopen schools, many others in the Bay Area have already done so. The College Preparatory School, a private high school in Oakland, has already decided to open schools in early March. Private schools are often smaller than public schools, which makes it easier for students to return to the classroom because there’s less of a worry about being able to stay six feet apart. Private schools also have more funding and, therefore, more resources. Joy Jackson, a junior at The College Preparatory School shares her opinions on schools reopening. She states, “I don’t really think it’s necessary to open my school especially because we are learning just fine over Zoom. I think there should be more effort into reopening public schools because I know a ton of students that have lost so much learning time because they are not equipped to learn at home. I also don’t want us to get in the groove of adapting to COVID when we could be fighting it by staying home and social distancing.”
Similar to Joy Jackson, there have been many parents demanding that public schools open. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed gave an emotional speech in which she urged “SFUSD--its administration, labor partners, and elected Board of Education Commissioners--to do right by the more than 55,000 public school children in San Francisco. Too many of them are struggling with distance learning.”
Although the OSA administration does not have a final plan yet, it is important that they listen to student and teacher voices and take them to consideration when deciding what to do.
Youth spend most of their time at school and their teachers have a huge impact on their relationship with learning and education. A good student and teacher relationship could help motivate and inspire students but a negative one can make school more difficult than it already is. James Ford, the 2015 North Carolina State Teacher of the Year and the program director for the Public School Forum of North Carolina, described in an article by Education Week, “Our first job as teachers is to make sure that we learn our students, that we connect with them on a real level, showing respect for their culture and affirming their worthiness to receive the best education possible.”
While OSA is still planning and trying to figure out a way to reopen schools, many others in the Bay Area have already done so. The College Preparatory School, a private high school in Oakland, has already decided to open schools in early March. Private schools are often smaller than public schools, which makes it easier for students to return to the classroom because there’s less of a worry about being able to stay six feet apart. Private schools also have more funding and, therefore, more resources. Joy Jackson, a junior at The College Preparatory School shares her opinions on schools reopening. She states, “I don’t really think it’s necessary to open my school especially because we are learning just fine over Zoom. I think there should be more effort into reopening public schools because I know a ton of students that have lost so much learning time because they are not equipped to learn at home. I also don’t want us to get in the groove of adapting to COVID when we could be fighting it by staying home and social distancing.”
Similar to Joy Jackson, there have been many parents demanding that public schools open. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed gave an emotional speech in which she urged “SFUSD--its administration, labor partners, and elected Board of Education Commissioners--to do right by the more than 55,000 public school children in San Francisco. Too many of them are struggling with distance learning.”
Although the OSA administration does not have a final plan yet, it is important that they listen to student and teacher voices and take them to consideration when deciding what to do.
