Oakland teachers protest district's reopening plan

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland teachers are protesting their school district's plans for reopening.

On Tuesday, union members held a car caravan from East Oakland to the district's headquarters on Broadway. 

They said the district should not re-open for in-person learning until there is what they call near-zero incidents of coronavirus cases in every Oakland zip code. 

They also want to see a detailed contact tracing and testing program in place.

"We know that the communities that have been hardest hit are the Latino and Black communities, in Fruitvale, in East Oakland, in a huge percentage of our district," said Mark Airgood, a member of the Oakland Education Association. 

The teachers are also asking the district to have substitute teachers to help with student support while remote classes are being held.

Earlier this month, the district revealed a plan for re-opening schools for in-person instruction.

The district wants to start phasing in in-person learning on Jan. 25 if the virus case count is low enough. Right now, Alameda County is in the most restrictive purple tier, which does not allow for reopening.

Last weekend, a group of parents held a rally to reopen the schools, also saying that distance learning disproportionately harms low-income students and students of color.