We believe in following the science and the voices of experts on the issue of reopening schools. We trust in the words of the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Center for Disease Control (CDC), European CDC, American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Dr. Anthony Fauci, The CA Health and Human Services Secretary, the CA Dept. of Public Health, the Yolo County Public Health Officer and countless epidemiologists, infectious disease experts, physicians, public health experts, education and development experts, etc. – all of whom are now convinced we can safely reopen our schools, following basic mitigation strategies, when community spread reaches acceptable levels. We also believe, backed by the experts above, that the closure of schools does little to nothing in terms of stopping the spread of Coronavirus, while needlessly hurting our children and our community in the process. In the words of Dr. Anthony Fauci on Nov. 29th, 2020:

“...we say it, not being facetiously or as a sound bite or anything, but you know, close the bars and keep the schools open is what we really say.”

As the CDC Director, Dr. Robert Redfield stated on Nov 19^th, 2020, and as the new CDC Director, Dr. Rochelle Walinsky, re-iterated on Jan 26, 2021:

“The truth is for kids K-12 one of the safest places they can be, from our perspective, is to remain in school.”

We support the recommendation of the CDC, which is backed by Dr. Fauci that, with basic mitigation strategies, returning students to campus has been demonstrated to be very low-risk, for both students and staff, time and again.

We support the CDC recommendations regarding COVID-19 and schools, and advocate for local officials to use this as their guidance when deciding when and how to reopen.

As the Yolo County Public Health Officer, Dr. Aimee Sisson, told the DJUSD Board of Trustees on Nov. 19th, 2020 and reiterated again on Jan 7th, 2021:

"On the whole, what evidence there is, again, suggests that students and staff are able, when proper precautions are taken, that they can return to school in a relatively safe manner in person"

(Note: Dr. Sisson has since updated her stance; on Jan 28th, she told the Woodland Unified School District Board that she "strongly recommends" elementary schools reopen. Her position is well identified in this article from the Sacramento Bee)

We believe that the demonstrated risks of continued school closures far outweigh the risks of reopening them. This belief is supported by the experience of nations the world over, private schools that have been safely operating in Yolo County since September, other states and even school districts in counties across California that have reopened their schools with little to no evidence of virus transmission. As UNICEF stated on Jan. 12th, 2021:

"Despite overwhelming evidence of the impact of school closures on children, and despite increasing evidence that children are not drivers of the pandemic, too many countries have opted to keep schools closed, some for nearly a year.

The cost of closing schools - which at the peak of the pandemic lockdowns affected 90 per cent of students worldwide and left more than a third of schoolchildren with no access to remote education - has been devastating"

We understand why the California Chapters of the American Academy of Pediatrics have united and called for "An urgent and safe reopening of schools", and we echo that sentiment.

We know that DJUSD has already established robust protection measures for our schools, to include: MERV-13 filters for every building; two air-purifiers per classroom; procedures for notification of infection, quarantine and contact tracing; establishing 6' or greater social distancing in classrooms; ensuring safety protocols are in place in accordance with Cal/OSHA COVID-19 requirements and asymptomatic testing for students and staff on, or in close proximity, to each campus (8 of 15 campuses completed as of 2/3/21).

We support the prioritization of teachers for vaccines, but agree with the CDC, the WHO, the State of California , Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Yolo County Public Health Officer and schools already safely reopened across the nation and around the world that vaccines are not a necessary prerequisite to safely reopening schools, so long as proper mitigation protocols are in place and enforced. We believe that DJUSD teachers and staff are responsible, intelligent and capable of enforcing these protocols.

Finally, we believe that Davis may be the best equipped city in the state, the country and maybe the world to reopen schools, based on a robust testing capability provided by the "Healthy Davis Together" program. This partnership between the city and University of California - Davis provides free testing for every citizen twice weekly, and has been lauded nationally as a model for other cities.

When considering all of the above factors, the DJUSD Parent Coalition strongly believes that DJUSD schools should offer an in-person learning option for all students who elect it, as soon as state and local conditions allow, in accordance with the guidelines published under the California "Safe Schools for All" plan, the requirements outlined by the California Department of Public Health and following the recommendations of the CDC.

(See our 'Media' page for supporting information)