Parents call on Oregon Health Authority to change school safety metrics

PORTLAND, Ore. — Parents, teachers, and students have been calling for more students to return to the classroom for months, but on Saturday, instead of focusing on school districts, hundreds called out the Oregon Health Authority.

At a rally at the OHA building in Northeast Portland, parents spoke and marched in an effort to get OHA to change the state-wide metrics schools currently have.

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"I’m just really advocating that we get back to in-person learning," said Angela Pederson, an Oregon substitute teacher at the rally. "I think the metrics that the state is using is inadequate and incorrect, arbitrary."

The metrics they don't agree with are the 35-square foot space required around each student. They also want to see the number of weekly interactions change.

Right now, students aren't able to interact with more than 100 people a week. School districts have told KATU that this metric makes it difficult for students in older grades to return to school since they have different classes.

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"The six-foot metrics that OHA has determined to be the way to go is not really reasonable," said a Beaverton School District parent. "We have masks, it’s been proven with other schools across the country that it’s safe to open school with masks and it’s safe to open schools in full, period. That’s what we need to do in Oregon, we are falling way behind the rest of the country and this needs to change."

During a news conference on Friday, Governor Kate Brown said she is using every tool to get kids back into the classroom. She has yet to issue an executive order to reopen schools.

KATU reached out to the OHA on Saturday about the rally and a change in metrics, we did not immediately hear back.