Home Hospital

OUSD's Home/Hospital Program is designed to help maintain a student's continuity of education during a time of illness or other temporary disability. Both general education and special education programs are provided.

The Home/Hospital program supports the student's academic needs until they are able to return to a school-based program. Instruction may take place in the home, in an Oakland hospital, or in our classroom at the Santa Fe School campus.

The program instructors make every effort to correlate home instruction with the student's school program, but Home/Hospital is not equivalent to full-time school instruction. Certain course work cannot be replicated in the home environment, (e.g. lab work, physical education, group work, academic discourse etc.) It is important to understand that there are two concurrent concerns, the student's health and recovery, and the student's continuity of education. Home/Hospital participants must consider that a student's performance may not be equal to the child's performance prior to the illness or injury.

Eligibility & Exceptions

Eligibility

• Students hospitalized for five (5) or more days within the boundaries of the Oakland School District may request educational services delivered in the hospital setting.
• Parents may apply for home instruction if the student will be at home and absent due to temporary disability for an extended period of time (typically more than fifteen (15) school days.) If the student will be absent fewer than twenty days, the student may be able to do site-based Independent Study on the authority of the school principal.
• The student's medical condition must be verified by signed authorization of the licensed physician treating the child's condition. In the case of a psychiatric diagnosis, the physician signing the authorization must be the psychiatrist or licensed clinical psychologist treating the condition. The physician treating the student shall have determined and indicate in writing that the student is unable to attend school for a period of fifteen (15) days or longer, certifying that the severity of the condition prevents the pupil from attending a less restrictive placement. The Home and Hospital referral must include the return-to-school date, the medical reason, and the physician's signature. A stay in the HHI program must be reviewed by the program manager, after 60 days, if an extension is requested.
• The student must reside within the Oakland Unified School District's boundaries or be hospitalized at a facility within the district boundaries. Students who are temporarily disabled who are receiving care in an out-of-district residential health facility (excluding state hospitals) are deemed residents of the district in which the health facility is located. Students will be eligible for instruction through their school district of residence upon release from the facility and return to their home.

Exceptions

• A Home/Hospital teaching assignment cannot risk exposing the home teacher to any contagious diseases, i.e., COVID, measles, chicken pox, tuberculosis.
• A change of venue may be necessary should it be determined that safety or health conditions exist preventing instruction from taking place in the home.
• Home and Hospital Instruction will not be provided with fewer than fifteen (15) days remaining in the student's school year.
• A revised IEP is necessary for a Special Education Student to be placed on home instruction.