The Oakland Unified School District doesn’t know how many students didn’t attend classes on Tuesday following the circulation of a petition calling for them to do so all week, but officials are in contact with student organizers who say it’s not safe to hold in-person classes right now.
More than 1,200 students across the district have signed a petition demanding Oakland Unified conducts classes online during the COVID-19 omicron variant surge, unless officials can provide high-quality masks to all students, twice-weekly rapid and PCR tests for everyone on campus and additional outdoor spaces where students can eat when it rains. A district spokesperson told reporters on Tuesday those demands are being met.
"The masks have been taken care of,” John Sasaki, Director of Communications with the district, said on Tuesday. “The outdoor eating spaces that are covered are being taken care of as we move forward through the semester. And we have as robust a testing system in place really as anywhere in the state when it comes to school districts."
Sasaki said the district ordered and received 200,000 KN95 masks, all of which were already distributed to schools to give to their students. Covered outdoor eating spaces are going into schools, with some materials on backorder due to pandemic-related supply chain issues.
The district currently operates 10 COVID testing hubs, according to Sasaki. None of the sites are open more than twice a week, according to online listings, with each site listing a maximum of 55 testing slots. Oakland Unified recorded just shy of 35,000 students earlier this school year, according to Oaklandside.
Student organizers wrote in the petition that they will protest outside of the district’s downtown headquarters on Friday if their demands aren’t met. Prior to publication, the group didn’t respond to KCBS Radio’s emailed request for comment sent to an address listed on its petition.
"We hope that students feel that, being in our classes, being on our campuses, they are safe, and they are protected and that we are watching out for them, because we want them in class," Sasaki told reporters.
While Sasaki said he didn’t know how many students skipped classes on Tuesday, three district schools were closed due to teacher absences. Acorn Woodland Elementary School, Bridges Academy and United for Success Academy didn’t hold classes because of teacher sickouts, according to Sasaki.
The district doesn’t expect any additional teacher sickouts, he added. Earlier this month, 12 district schools closed after more than 500 teachers called in sick amid the omicron variant’s surge and calls for increased COVID-19 protections.
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