Berkeley Distance Learning Families Feel Some Relief After Complaints About Being Overlooked

Berkeley parents who were upset about the school district’s plan for families who have chosen to remain in distance learning even as in-person classes resume saw some of their concerns alleviated this week.

After families learned last week that children who stay in distance learning would lose their teachers and might be taught by substitutes, a group of predominantly Black and Latino parents expressed outrage that distance learners were being relegated to a “second-class” educational experience.

The anger was fueled by a lack of details and a tight timeline to make a decision about whether to send kids back in person, which galvanized parents to form a new parent advocacy group.

But at town hall meetings for parents this week, Berkeley Unified School District Superintendent Brent Stephens assured families that although the majority of distance learning students will be assigned new teachers, they would be full-time Berkeley Unified teachers, not substitutes.

“They’re our teachers, they have a lot of experience,” Stephens said, adding that distance learning students will be matched with teachers of the same grade level, and those who receive special education, reading intervention or other specialized services will have the same teachers they do now. An extra virtual class per day will also be added for distance learners.

Another big change is that parents will now get two opportunities to switch which of the two programs they’re in, once before students begin returning in person on March 29 and again in early May. Parents were previously told their decision would be final.

“It looks like things are moving in the right direction,” said Malcolm X Elementary School parent Roberto Santiago, one of the parents who had concerns, in a text. “I am feeling better.”

Gladys Ocampo Stout is opting to keep both of her kids home, in part because she has a son with asthma. She and other parents of kids who go to Sylvia Mendez Elementary School were especially worried about how teacher reassignment will affect students in the school’s Spanish immersion program. But at the town hall, Stephens said bilingual teachers from the same school will be available for those who stay in distance learning.

That’s a relief for Ocampo Stout. Still, she expressed frustration that the reopening fight in Berkeley had devolved into what felt like parents fighting for their own kids to get back at the expense of hers.

“Everybody was talking about equity, and then when it comes down to it, we’re just going to ignore that part,” she said. “I don’t dismiss the importance of opening up. I understand that there are kids that are seriously depressed, there are kids that are suicidal. It’s about understanding and being compassionate — the world doesn’t revolve around you, there are other people here, too.”

Superintendent Stephens said reassigning students was one of the most difficult decisions the district had to confront. “I recognize it’s not the same,” he said. “We struggled a lot with this decision. We realize there’s an impact.”

The district will aim to keep continuing remote learning students who are in the same class together, but they may now be grouped with kids from other schools. Under the plan, far fewer students returning in person will be assigned new teachers.

Overall, only 18% of families are opting to keep their kids in distance learning, according to the district. But some parents say they felt pressured into sending kids back in person, because the distance learning option seemed so inferior.

“I felt lots and lots of pressure,” said Maria Moreno, whose son goes to Sylvia Mendez Elementary. Her son has asthma, and she would much prefer to keep him home for the rest of the school year, but was so worried about him losing his teacher that she’s sending him back.

“I’m going to try it and see what happens,” she said. “But honestly, I’m still scared.”

After much debate, Lizet Lopez, whose three children attend Thousand Oaks and Ruth Acty elementary schools, made the same call.

She’s sending her kids back in person even though it makes her uncomfortable. “If they told me I will have my teachers and therapists if I stay online, I would stay online,” Lopez said.

Significant differences have emerged in which families are opting to put their kids in a classroom again and which are remaining remote-only: 28% of Black families, 23% of English learner families and 26% of socioeconomically disadvantaged families are opting for distance learning, accordinging to district data, compared to 13% of white families.

“We don’t feel comfortable sending our kids back into this environment because systemic racism already hurt our kids, so what’s it going to look like when you add a pandemic?” Santiago said earlier this week.

He’s keeping his kids home out of safety concerns and to make space in the physical classrooms for those who really need to return.

When the district announced elementary schools would reopen in person five days a week, parents who spent months organizing rallies and pressuring local and state officials to reopen celebrated a major victory, but some Black and Latino parents were alarmed by a perceived lack of attention to students who will stick with learning from home, leading them to call into question the commitment to equity espoused throughout the reopening debate. Late last week, Santiago and other parents formed the group Berkeley Unified Distance Choice Advocates to bring together parents and teachers as advocates for families who are not sending their kids back to classrooms.

Before the district took steps to address their concerns, parent Ludovic Blain said a racial inequity existed. “White parents’ demands were met fully 100%,” he said, referring to those who organized for reopening. “Now we’re left with the scraps to try to piece together a semblance of distance learning.” Months before a reopening deal was reached, the teachers union warned of such a possibility in arguing for a measured approach to reopening that was often criticized as too slow.

Blain is not ready to send his 11-year-old son back into a classroom at Sylvia Mendez Elementary School, due to “data-based hesitancy,” he said. As an African American, he’s watched the virus take a disproportionate toll on his community, and his wife is vulnerable because of a recent surgery.

Now that the situation appears improved for students like his son, who is in the Spanish immersion program, he’s feeling better, though his frustration with the process hasn’t ebbed. “This is all coming out a week after families had to choose,” he said.

Lei Levy, who leads a Berkeley parent group that pushed for reopening, expressed regret that the reopening process seemed to pit parents against each other. She takes issue with the characterization of parents who fought hard for the reopening of schools as predominantly affluent and white, and argues framing the issue as a fight between white parents and parents of color is an oversimplification.

“We’re just happy that we’re finally at this place that both sides are being considered equally, because it felt like for so long only the distance learning families were being considered,” Levy said. “That’s why our group came into existence; we saw that nobody was advocating for us.”

She said she welcomes having another group of parent advocates join the fray.

“Parents feel like, ‘Oh, wait, now I have to start advocating for my kids?’ Yeah, you do. We all have to step up right now because lazy policy is being steamrolled over us,” Levy said.

Distance Learning teacher assignments will be announced beginning next week.

This post was updated with new enrollment decision data released by the district Friday evening.