OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) - A teacher strike is looming in the Oakland Unified School District. The two sides have yet to come to an agreement on safety protocols at schools during the pandemic.
On Friday, parents, teachers, and students held a joint press conference.
“I want parents to be able to send their kids to school and not have to worry that they might come back with COVID,” Alex Ibarra said.
7th grader Alex Ibarra of Oakland Coliseum College Prep Academy is one of the student-leaders who was joined by OUSD parents and teachers at this virtual press conference urging that the school district meet their three demands for improved safety protocols during the pandemic, which include:
"Weekly testing, high-quality masks and addressing the staffing shortages in the Oakland Unified School District,” Keith Brown, the president of Oakland Education Association, said.
Educators and parents shared their experiences of becoming infected with the virus.
“I’ve had kind of a surge of COVID in my classroom since winter break. I've had two the first week. three the second week?” teacher Tammy Coleman said.
"I have three small children at home. There are teachers that are out sick right now. There are administrators, principals, school staff out right now. So who is running the school?” parent Dulce Farado said.
OUSD and the union that represents Oakland teachers are in the midst of negotiating the union's demand for weekly testing, high quality-masks, and better staffing.
In response, OUSD sent KRON4 a statement that reads in part:
"While the MOU between the Parties covers ventilation, PPE/safety supplies, COVID Testing, Contact Tracing, and COVID safety protocols, the District is always willing to discuss new impacts as they are identified by OEA- the landscape is ever-changing."
But the president of the teachers union says the clock is ticking.
“If we do not get an agreement tonight. I do have the authority to convene a strike vote,” Brown said.
It should be noted that the parents and educators are following the lead of OUSD students who created the list of demands, followed by recent walk-outs of school.
“We also need the county to make sure that they make the district enforce these protocols or school won't be safe for kids,” Ibarra said.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/3fKD05x
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