Dr. Robert Harrison, MD, MPH
There has been considerable pressure nationally and locally to reopen public schools, as many recognize that online teaching does not meet the educational needs for students who need to be working directly with teachers in classrooms.
Locally, there was a move to prepare to reopen on Jan. 25, 2021 – a date that the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) submitted to the county as its reopening date. But that proposal was canceled as the COVID-19 tsunami spread uncontrollably across the county and the state.
“Our plan is to reopen schools in phases beginning when our county is in the Orange tier of our state’s color-coded tracking system,” said OUSD Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, in a December 14 letter to the community. “Alameda County and most of California being in the most restrictive Purple tier, and the coming holidays, (makes) it is highly unlikely that we will move into the Orange tier in time for the original proposed date.”