MENLO PARK, Calif. â South of San Francisco, the Sequoia Union High School District serves some of the Bay Areaâs wealthiest communities, such as Atherton, Menlo Park and Woodside, as well as some of its neediest, including East Palo Alto, North Fair Oaks and Redwood City.
On Tuesday, the school district learned it had risen into a state tier that would allow high school students, if they chose, to resume on-campus learning. At the urging of many parents, district leaders on Wednesday announced an April reopening plan.
That is when things got ugly.
âHow many deaths will you accept as collateral for your two months of school? Can you live with that?â Alison Mock, a teacher at East Palo Alto Academy asked the districtâs board of trustees in a contentious Zoom meeting on Wednesday.
In one Bay Area district, reopening high schools gets ugly latimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from latimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Board President Alan Sarver noted there will always be some potential risk to students be it an earthquake, school shooting or the virus.
Other schools have found ways to safely reopen with little to no transmission of the virus between teachers and students, according to recent studies. The CDC advises that it s safe for students to go back to school with mask wearing and social distancing in the more restrictive purple tier.
That inequity has also carried over to vaccination rates, which have been much higher in wealthier areas of the Peninsula, the teacher said.
According to data from the county updated Feb. 24, Atherton has one of the highest rates in San Mateo County with 42.83% of residents age 16 and up vaccinated. Some 22.4% of Atherton s population is over 65 years old according to census data the group that makes the majority of people vaccinated so far. Just 9.96% of East Palo Alto residents have been vaccinated (16.5% of its population is over 65 years old, accordi
Guest opinion: Parents urge Sequoia district to reopen in red tier almanacnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from almanacnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.