Berkeley school board discusses phased reopening amid COVID-19 pandemic
Wednesday’s Berkeley Unified School District, or BUSD, board meeting focused on the phased reopening of Berkeley elementary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Phase 1 of reopening, titled Targeted Support for Elementary, will begin Nov. 9 with nine cohorts of eight students and one to two staff members. This program will expand with Phase 1B, beginning Nov. 30, which will increase cohorts to 12 to 14 students each.
Cohorts will be located at Rosa Parks, Malcolm X and Jefferson elementary schools. Students were selected based on estimated need for in-person education, and both students and staff were given the choice of whether to switch to in-person instruction.
Adults present will include BUSD staff as well as new contractors from the Lawrence Hall of Science and Kids’ Village at Malcolm X and Rosa Parks, respectively.
The public comment sections of the meeting saw contentious debate among parents, students, teachers and staff regarding the reopening of schools.
Many parents offered anecdotes about their children’s social isolation, while others said reopening schools would be too dangerous for the community.
Teacher Yvette Felarca also emphasized the need for mandatory and repeated testing for all students and staff before any in-person instruction in Berkeley begins.
Claire Daly is a schools and communities reporter. Contact her at cdaly@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter at @DalyClaire13.