Vaccines and PAUSD

Text by PAISLEY ANNES, JONAS PAO and ISHAAN BATRA Photos by ANUSHE IRANI

DEPRESSED. ANXIOUS. Zombie-like shells of what they once were. That is how a mother of two Palo Alto Unified School District secondary students described her own children at the Feb. 2 school board meeting.

Her high school daughter was a straight-A student and had just managed to make a group of friends despite being shy. Then, COVID-19 hit. Schools were shut UNPAUSE PAUSD — A PAUSD elementary student holds up her sign at a protest urging PAUSD down, all extracurriculars were forced on- to reopen. “They are hurting so bad and [are] so lonely,” said PAUSD parent Stephanie Compton line and the world was put on hold. at the Feb. 9 board meeting. “They’re going to need a lot of support and help socializing.”

Many hope the COVID-19 vaccine will shove the world back into normality. If vaccinated, the sooner we can have schools Paly teacher Mimi Park does not feel only things were so simple. The California up and running safely,” Cohen said. comfortable returning until she has revaccine rollout has been painfully slow, and ceived the vaccine, and would be morally plans are constantly changing. Many who Tentative teachers uncomfortable returning when students are were promised prioritization find them- At the Feb. 9 board meeting, Super- not yet vaccinated. selves far back in line, if at all. intendent Don Austin announced plans “I think about the high cost to life and

Teachers were to begin receiving the to bring grades 7-12 back onto campus physical life of people that I genuinely care vaccinations in late January according to California’s original rollout plan. However, teachers in Santa Clara “I am very fortunate to be vaccinated, but I am still not ready to go to work.” for “Zoom in a room.” According to Austin, students can return to school as earabout: my students, the staff members, all of that,” Park said. “It’s really hard to imagine the kind of benefits [of in-person learning] really outweighing that, until we get to a situation where we have herd immunity.” Henry M. Gunn High School Student County are still not ly as March 1 Attendant Aria Sufiani has already received eligible to receive — ARIA SUFIANI, PAUSD employee if Santa Clara his vaccination, but is against re-opening. their first injection County is in “I am very fortunate to be vaccinated, as of Feb. 12. the state’s red tier of pandemic risk for but I am still not ready to go to work giv-

Palo Alto High School English teacher five consecutive days. This announcement, en that I have very little confidence with David Cohen awaits the announcement of which came only a week after the news that the protocols,” Sufiani said at the Feb. 9 when he and his coworkers can receive the sixth grade students would have the option board meeting. “I do want to support my vaccine, and believes that it may be the key to return to campus for hybrid learning, students, but please, I’m 30 years old, I to a speedy reopening. riled up the already impassioned parents, have other friends and colleagues who are

“The sooner we have more teachers teachers and students. dealing with the aftermath of COVID-19

READY TO RETURN — Palo Alto parents gather on the crossing of Churchill and El Camino to call for schools to resume. “I do not believe that teacher vaccinations should be a prerequisite for reopening,” said PAUSD parent Bri Nguyen, at the Feb. 9 school board meeting. “We all care about our teachers, we can keep teachers safe, and we can open schools. We can do both.”

… please consider our [PAUSD employees] health too.”

Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School teacher Noel Berghout who, like most teachers, has not received her vaccine, urged the board at the Feb. 2 meeting to hold off on reopening schools.

“Vaccine availability is just around the corner and with the [vaccine] rollout being slow, we are unlikely to get protection prior to March 1,” Berghout said. “We are so close to having better protection for vulnerable groups, and yet we are rushing in ahead of this important milestone by reopening campus in advance of what was originally stated.”

Many looked towards Palo Alto Educators Association President Teri Baldwin for her stance at the Feb. 9 meeting, but she did not explicitly state whether she supported or opposed the plan. Baldwin said she wanted answers to the union’s questions and more details on the plan’s specifics. Parents protest

The majority of the parents who spoke at the school board meetings were in full support of PAUSD’s plan to bring the secondary students back on campus. One day prior to the board meeting where Austin announced the return of secondary grades, approximately 100 parents attended a protest demanding the reopening of grades 7-12 at the PAUSD district office.

“We are sick and tired of these Zoom meetings, writing to the school board and all the hollow words which have not led anywhere,” PAUSD parent and protest attendee Ashima Agarwal said. “Our kids are dying from inside and the teachers and school board are responsible for that.”

While teachers voice concerns, many parents feel returning to school is safe following the proper guidance from major medical institutions such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Pediatric Association. “I am reassured by all the robust scientific data from all over the world and nationally demonstrating that schools can be safely reopened and it can be done without vaccination,” PAUSD parent and immunologist Annemarie Lekkerkerker said at the meeting. “We have evidence in our district that it can be done, so please let our kids go back to campus for in-person learning.” v