Skyline Sick Out

shsfight4ed@gmail.com

January 6, 2022

Oakland Educators Call for One-Day Sick Out for School Safety

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OAKLAND, CA—Oakland teachers and support staff at Skyline High School, Fremont High, Garfield Elementary, Life Academy, MetWest, CCPA, Oakland Tech, Oakland International, West Oakland Middle, and other schools have called for a sick out and car caravan for school safety on Friday, January 7, 2022. We will meet at the Leona Canyon Trail Head at 10 AM on Friday, January 7. We will then drive as a car caravan to the OUSD District Office at 1000 Broadway. Some schools may join the caravan along the way.

Oakland schools are facing the greatest crisis in living memory. Hundreds of school staff and students are reporting absent due to COVID infection, exposure, and risk every day. Lesson plans are falling apart because teachers cannot move forward through their curricula with so many students left behind. Skyline history teacher Andrew Burt said “8 out of 28 students came to my second period” on Thursday. Staff and students sit in half-empty classrooms terrified that they will be the next to get infected and bring the disease home to their loved ones. Meanwhile, Oakland Unified continues to stonewall our safety bargaining team, refusing to negotiate in good faith the safety protocols and resources we need to keep schools open safely.

Our demands are straightforward. These specific demands were developed by the rank-and-file staff of Skyline High; other schools may articulate their demands differently or emphasize certain demands more than others.

  1. Mass purchase and distribution of N95/KN95 masks for all staff and students. OUSD’s mask requirement must be updated to require use of these types of masks on campus by both staff and students.
  2. Weekly PCR testing of all students and staff.
  3. Retroactive extension of COVID leave from November 7, 2021 to June 30, 2022.
  4. Immediately meet with the OEA Safety Bargaining Team to negotiate in good faith an agreement governing the implementation of safety protocols throughout OUSD.
  5. Install HEPA filters in all cafeterias and other large spaces.
  6. No budget cuts to classrooms or student services.
  7. Extra support for all school nurses.
  8. Two weeks of remote learning to implement the above measures and reduce community transmission, as districts and universities around the country have already done. Reassess extent of community transmission and safety protocol implementation after two weeks.

No one wants campuses closed. No teacher wants to completely rework multiple weeks of curriculum for remote learning. But right now, schools are effectively closed—not virtual, closed—for hundreds of students sitting at home or sitting in classrooms without their teachers. This is because Oakland Unified, the State of California, and the U.S. Government have abjectly failed to control the spread of this deadly disease and to equip campuses with the resources they need to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, especially the omicron variant. Throughout this pandemic, they have consistently served the interests of capital and profit rather than the interests of the workers they depend on. The only solution is for workers to withhold our labor until we win the pandemic response we deserve.

Please reach out to Harley Litzelman, Jordan Blumberg-Long, or Kiara Smith for press inquiries at shs4ed@gmail.com.