Thank you for this article. So many of our teenagers continue to suffer in silence. I have been attending MVLA Board meetings since November and Riley has been the balanced voice asserting her opinion despite the union rep Mr. Cambell often trying to discount or minimize her perspectives. It's just plain maddening as a parent! My teenagers at Mountain View are truly struggling and us parents are at a loss for how to help get them back in the classroom. Thousands of high school teachers across the nation have been teaching in person full time in areas with substantially more Covid case rates than ours. These teachers have not been getting Covid from the kids! Our teachers are now getting vaccinated yet the union keeps placing impractical demands on the district. Why can't our trustees and administration come up with a plan that makes sense? Why is the union being so unfair? All of these closed door negotiations are resulting in a sub-par hybrid model while our students continue to suffer. Shame on the union, the administration and the Trustees for the harm they are doing to our kids.

R. Singh / agree. Young White woman showing her moxie! Fantastic that the student representative selection process for the MVLA Board has turned a 'mainly ceremonial' student seat into a 'seat of student advocacy'. It entirely depends on the person Holding the Seat!

I will not be supporting ANY MVLA teacher salary + benefit increases above the absolute minimum (Bay Area COLA). The teachers' Union negotiates this, the teachers' Union leadership is not (IMO) looking out for the interest of the MVLA students.

I think it is interesting that only 25% of high-school students at Los Altos High School (and only 20% of students in my kid's sixth-grade cohort at Crittenden) have opted for the in-person option. Is it possible that a few very vociferous families and individuals are creating the illusion of a groundswell of unhappiness with distance learning? I would like to see an article about the amazing job our local schools and teachers have done in the face of a global health emergency.

@Nora: the low opt in rate (at least at MV and LAHS) is for the current 'stable cohort' plan where students literally sit in the same classroom all day while they zoom in their classes. So, all the kids in the same room are listening to different teachers and trying to contribute to the discussion with their headphones on. My teenagers would much rather stay home, for obvious reasons.

Yes, some of the teachers have done an amazing job pivoting to online instruction given the circumstance. But, for the VAST majority of students, being back in the classroom with their teachers is far optimal (just read the endless studies and articles about it). The point is that all of the science-backed recommendations at the county, state and federal level all say it's safe to be back in the classroom with the right safety protocols. Our district has those in place. The union is now preventing this from happening. It's like saying "I'm not going to get into a car ever because I might get into a car accident" vs. "wear your safety belt, obey the traffic rules, and you should be ok to drive." It's about doing what you can to minimize risk understanding that you can't control for 100% of the outcome.

It's time to recognize that, with the teachers now vaccinated and safeguards in place at the schools, getting teachers front and center with our students is the right immediate next step. The unions need to step up.