The decision by individual teachers in Oakland about whether they would return to their classrooms this week under the recent agreement with the Oakland Unified School District is leading once again to a situation where students with the greatest need are receiving the least.

Jody London served on the Oakland School Board from 2009-20. (Kristopher Skinner/Bay Area News Group)

Of 79 pre-schools and K-8 campuses, only 32 opened this week for a pared-down, modified schedule. Thirty-two others only partially reopened under even that minimal plan. And 15 will not open at all until April 19 because teachers are choosing to stay home. Those schools with partial or no reopening are almost all ones that serve predominantly low-income students of color.

The Oakland teachers’ union should prioritize getting its members back to school immediately. The Oakland Education Association must be mindful of the critical role its members play as parents make long-term decisions about the schools, and school districts, their children will attend.

Parents from across the socioeconomic spectrum have indicated they want their children to receive in-person instruction. Students across the country, including in much of the Bay Area, are back in class. But in Oakland, parents are finding that is not a priority at most schools.

When I was president of the Oakland School Board in 2012, I asked the then-president of the teachers’ union where she saw the district in five years. “Well,” she said, “I’ve never really thought about it.”

I told her I was surprised by that and shared my vision that in five years the district would have increased enrollment, with career pathways programs available to all high school students, and schools at every grade level and in every neighborhood to which families wanted to send their children. Although that goal was missed, I still believe that it could be achieved with cooperation from the union.

I understand that COVID-19 is scary, and that there are going to be extenuating circumstances for some teachers. But every educator in the Oakland Unified School District has had the opportunity to get a vaccine for several weeks. With few exceptions, teachers should be returning to the classroom now. After all, other essential workers have been on the job since the start of the pandemic.

It is well-documented that the students who are most at risk of falling behind are students who are poor, students of color or foster youth — the children most historically underserved by our systems of government, including the schools. The school district’s plan to return to instruction prioritizes getting these students back into classrooms.  That can only happen if the teachers return.

The union should be partnering with the district leadership and parents to let the community know that teachers welcome students and are eager to get back to school.  It should ensure that the students who have historically been the most underserved are the first to benefit from in-person instruction.

A union’s mission is to preserve and create jobs for its members and to ensure the conditions of work are fair. If parents continue to leave district schools because they do not believe the teachers are committed to their students’ success, that will continue the downward enrollment spiral. Lower enrollment means the district needs fewer teachers. It means the district will continue to lose funding, and the school board will be forced to continue to make heart-wrenching decisions to balance the budget.

The teachers’ union must take the long-term view and do everything in its power to welcome students, and their families, back to in-person instruction at every school.

Jody London served on the Oakland School Board from 2009-20.