Berkeley Unified School District is trying to force teachers and staff back to school sites in order to claim the Berkeley schools are completely reopened.  BUSD Administration has  announced their intention to revoke accommodations for teachers with underlying conditions that put them at high risk of sickness and death from COVID-19. Berkeley Administration approved the accommodations to continue working virtually for the remainder of this school year less than a month ago. Now they have sent letters to retract it.

Teachers with the accommodations have already gotten letters from their doctor certifying that they have underlying health conditions that the CDC says puts them at increased risk for severe outcome if infected with COVID. The District is now claiming those doctors’ letters are insufficient.  Certifying that the patient has such an underlying condition and needs accommodation is exactly what any doctor can and should do. Anything else violates the employee’s right to privacy and there is no doctor or health official who can make an accurate conjecture on what impact the vaccine will have on people with underlying conditions who are expose to COVID. This is blatant harassment in an attempt to force – not only teachers, but also students — back into the classrooms without any regard for their safety. We oppose reopening schools while community transmission is high and believe that COVID-19 vaccines are necessary for all school staff and students in order to reopen schools safely.

The District’s action increases inequality for teachers and students and takes decision-making on keeping children home away from parents.  If schools are open in some form every day of the week, pandemic aid to care for children in virtual learning will be cuts.  Experimental hybrid schemes or modified 5 day in-school programs jeopardize the right of poor, working class, and middle class caregivers’ right to choose remote learning options for their children

We know that children can become infected by and transmit the coronavirus. Children can become sick and they can die from COVID-19. We know that there are especially high rates of child hospitalization in the black and Latino/a communities and a huge disparity in deaths.  BUSD’s demand on teachers to return to classrooms despite their own risks and underlying conditions in order to fully reopen face to face instruction, puts everyone at risk.  It is the moral and legal obligation of teachers to defeat this cynical and dangerous scheme.  We need to demand increased resources so that remote learning classes can be improved, not force people out of them.

Yvette Felarca, an Equal Opportunity Now/By Any Means Necessary (EON/BAMN) Caucus member, BFT Rep, and ESL teacher at Martin Luther King Middle School stated, “There has been no study of what impact vaccines have when people with underlying conditions are exposed to COVID. We need to make the defense of human life our top priority. Everyone must be vaccinated, teachers, staff and students, before it’s safe for anyone to go back.”

Linda Clark, a Special Education in Berkeley stated, “This is discrimination against teachers and students. The policy of trying to force all teachers back to the classroom discriminates not only on the basis of disability but denies families and students the right to maintain distance learning. We already know that the black, Latino/a, and immigrant bear the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic. This will only deepen that inequality.”