COVID-19 vaccine site at Fremont High School.
Vaccination efforts are shifting increasingly to smaller community-based sites, including schools. Credit: Amir Aziz

The Oakland Unified School District is hosting a series of information sessions for families who want to learn more about the COVID-19 vaccine and school safety. Beginning this week, the district will livestream discussions for particular groups, including Latino families, African-American families, and special education families. There will also be future sessions for Asian-American families and youth.

Each discussion will feature doctors from the UCSF Pediatric Advisory Task Force to inform families about how the virus spreads, how to lower the risk of contracting coronavirus, how safe the vaccines are, and to answer any other questions people may have about COVID-19 in Oakland. 

ousd family information sessions

Latino Family Session: Vaccines and Safety in Schools
Tuesday, Feb. 23
5:30 to 7 p.m. PST
Zoom link
Fill out this form to submit questions

African American Family Session: Vaccines and Safety in Schools
Thursday, Feb. 25
5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. PST
Zoom link
Fill out this form to submit questions

Special Education Family Session: Vaccines and Safety in Schools
Wednesday, March 3
5:30 to 7 p.m. PST
Zoom link
Fill out this form to submit questions

Other upcoming discussions:
Asian-American Family Session
Youth Session

The sessions will also be streamed live from OUSD’s Facebook page.

Throughout January and February, district leaders and school board members have been holding virtual conversations about school reopening, what criteria OUSD is using to evaluate the safety of in-person learning, and what preparations schools are making to welcome students back into the buildings, which have been closed since last March. Previous sessions were recorded and are available to watch online.

Ashley McBride headshot

Ashley McBride reports on education equity for The Oaklandside. She covered the 2019 Oakland Unified School District teachers’ strike as a breaking news reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. More recently, she was an education reporter for the San Antonio Express-News where she covered several local school districts, charter schools, and the community college system. McBride earned her master’s degree in journalism from Syracuse University, has held positions at the Palm Beach Post and the Poynter Institute, and is a recent Hearst Journalism Fellow.