We start the show with voices from California parents, teachers and students weighing in on the debate around schools reopening.
‘Nightmares’ of Black Zoom Boxes: A Day in the Life of an Oakland Remote Learning Teacher
It has been almost a year since schools shut down in-person classes, and distance learning is taking a toll on students and parents. It’s also taking a toll on teachers, especially those with their own kids at home. KQED’s Vanessa Rancaño asked one Oakland teacher to keep an audio diary for a day, documenting her every move.
‘He’d Still Be Here Today’: In Oakland, a Push to Resume School Sports to Stem Rising Violence
California public health officials have given the green light for school sports to start up again, both outdoors and indoors, if they meet certain requirements. The pandemic had disrupted a lot of sports programs, some of which kept kids out of trouble. For some kids in Oakland, that sport was football. At the same time, 2020 marked one of the deadliest years on the streets of that city in the last decade. As KQED’s Marco Siler-Gonzales tells us, police officials and community activists say there’s a connection.
No, the Tuskegee Study Is Not the Top Reason Some Black Americans Question the COVID-19 Vaccine
Surveys show that Black Californians are a lot more reluctant to get the coronavirus vaccine than white Californians. But most surveys don’t ask respondents why. The California Report’s health correspondent April Dembosky reports one hypothesis politicians and medical experts have widely embraced, may not be as widespread in the community.