DJUSD Positions

The DJUSD Parent Coalition believes in following the recommendations of experts in matters of public health, particularly when deciding on when to reopen schools.

We agree with the World health Organization (WHO), who argue that “If proper and consistent measures are in place, schools do not pose a greater risk of infection for children and teachers and other staff than any other public place”.

We concur with the Center for Disease Control (CDC), which states that schools can reopen safely if proper mitigation protocols are followed, and other actions are taken to limit community spread. We support these actions, such as keeping bars closed, to keep schools open.

We agree with Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has stated that “We need to try to get the children back to school” in support of the CDC’s recommendations.

We are in agreement with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which has repeatedly warned that closing schools carries an enormous cost, while open schools are not primary drivers of the pandemic.

We encourage policy-makers to consider the adverse effect of school closures when making decisions on schools, as cited by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

We agree with the rationale of the California “Safe Schools for All” plan.

We believe that DJUSD has put in place extensive mitigation measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and that the DJUSD faculty & staff are responsible enough to enforce them. They include:

· MERV-13 Filters in every HVAC

· Setting up classrooms for 6’ or greater distancing

· Placing two air purifiers in each classroom

· Defining a process for notification, quarantine and contact tracing

· Ensuring safety protocols are in place per Cal/OSHA COVID-19 Requirements

· Requiring a strict adherence to masking and good hygiene practices

Items being finalized include:

· Establishing asymptomatic testing for students and staff on each campus (8 of 15 complete)

We believe that the city of Davis is uniquely positioned in the state, country and perhaps the world to reopen its schools, given the twice weekly testing offered to every resident under the nationally lauded “Healthy Davis Together” program.

In light of all of the above, we believe that schools should reopen safely – for both students and staff – following proper and consistent mitigation protocols as soon as state and local health conditions allow, with those conditions being determined by the State of California and the Yolo County Public Health Officer.

The conditions outlined by the state include:

· Less than 25 cases per 100k county residents (for grades K-6)

· Less than 7 cases per 100k county residents (for grades 7-12)

· Post a comprehensive Covid-19 Safety Plan (CSP)

(NOTE – while the “Safe Schools for All” plan depends on legislative approval for funding, the above metrics do not, and have been adopted by the CA Dept of Public Health, replacing their original guidance issued in August 2020)

As to when the schools should reopen – we believe that when Yolo County meets the state’s guidelines (as it does now for grades K-6, at 18.8 cases per 100k and falling rapidly), and when the Yolo County Public Health Officer recommends K-6 should return to classrooms, as she has done recently, we should heed her advice. We are dismayed our Board of Trustees did not listen to her recommendations when she appeared before them in November and again in January.

We disagree with the Board of Trustee’s decision to require the county to be in the red tier (<7 cases per 100k) prior to reopening schools, as this is a direct contradiction of WHO and CDC recommendations, and is 3.5 times more restrictive than that required by the state of California for grades K-6.

We support prioritizing teachers for vaccination, though we agree with the CDC and the State of California that vaccines are not a prerequisite for safely opening schools when proper mitigation protocols are established and enforced, as demonstrated by open schools around the world. We thus strongly disagree with the Board of Trustee’s prerequisite for vaccination of all staff before even a hybrid model of learning can begin.

We believe that Davis is an outlier in how we deliver education in the United States (data current as of Feb 7, 2021):

· Virtual only (Davis): 35.2%

· Hybrid: 25.1%

· Traditional (Daily, in-person): 39.7%

(Some form of in-person learning: 64.8%)

We believe that the term ‘outbreak’ has been repeatedly misused in the media, especially in regard to schools. When cases do show up at schools, if they are not connected and there is no transmission, this is not an ‘outbreak’ – it is simply cases that showed up in schools. These reports have then been used to justify the continued closure of schools. As cited earlier by the CDC, in-school transmission is low, especially when mitigation measures are employed.

The DJUSD Parent Coalition is neither anti-union nor anti-teacher. Many of our members are also members of unions, and some are teachers. We have repeatedly shared that message with our members, and actively attempt to keep our social media feeds clear of such talk.

The DJUSD Parent Coalition does not take a political stance. We are bi-partisan, though many are surprised to discover our members mostly self-describe as progressive or liberal.

The DJUSD Parent Coalition is a grassroots organization, and is not led by any one individual. We are physicians, scientists, public health experts, educators and parents who have coalesced to safely reopen schools. Our small expenses are entirely self-funded by individual parents.