Oakland Unified school district warns graduations in jeopardy if teachers strike continues

Teacher's union representatives said significant progress is being made toward a deal to restart classes -- could it happen Monday?

As the Oakland Unified teachers strike marches toward its eighth day next week, the school district is warning a continued walkout threatens high school seniors’ academic future as graduation season approaches — while representatives with the teacher’s union say significant progress is being made toward a deal to restart classes, perhaps by Monday.

That progress could not be confirmed with the district on Saturday. But a message from Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammel late Friday outlined the dire consequences to students from a strike at such a critical time in the school year. Students’ senior projects, final exams, class credits, and in some cases, graduations, college admissions, and financial aid could be at risk if teachers don’t immediately end the strike which began at the 34,000-student district on May 4, district officials said Friday.

There are just nine days left in the school year, with the first high school graduation scheduled May 22, a week from Monday.

“Our students need to be back in school, and especially our seniors, because so much of their immediate future is dependent on having their final grades completed on time so they can take the next step in their education and careers,” Johnson-Trammell said in a video message Friday evening.

Yet, the faculty union insists it also wants to see students back in the classrooms.

“The reality is, we want that more than anything,” says Michael Rodriguez, a seventh grade teacher at United for Success Academy in Oakland who is part of the union bargaining team. “But if you see what we receive consistently from the district, it doesn’t look like they want that.”

“They don’t have the same sense of urgency we have,” he said. “We’ve waited for them for hours to come back with counter offers.”

Rodriguez was part of the bargaining team that met with district officials until around midnight Friday night regarding the union’s “common good” proposals, which seek to address racial equity, homelessness and environmental justice for students across the city. The proposals have been a main sticking point in the negotiations, with the union holding firm and the district saying solutions to broad societal issues do not belong in the contract.

Still, while nothing has been finalized, Rodriguez said he was encouraged by the progress that was made on the proposals

“Common good is almost done and I think it’s just in the hands of the lawyers,” Rodriguez says. “We’ve started pre-tentative agreements. We know where we stand.

“The union is doing everything we can to try and get back to school on Monday.”

Jennifer Brouhard, a member of the Oakland Unified school board, declined to comment on the negotiations, adding the only information she had received about progress on a potential deal was what the district had already made public.

District officials have said that while they support many of the goals of the common good proposals, the measures have no place in a labor contract negotiation and instead should be pursued in coordination with other public agencies and the broader community.

Opinions have varied greatly over what these proposals would cost, with district officials saying that they would run over $1 billion. A source with the teacher’s union told the Bay Area News Group this week the union estimate was closer to $500,000 a year to “fund additional positions for community schools.”

The two sides had reportedly been close to an agreement on pay, until the union this week said it had been given misleading information by the district, and that only 44% of members would receive the hoped-for 22% salary bump in the latest proposal.

In a video message Wednesday night, Superintendent Johnson-Trammell confirmed that only “some teachers” and OEA staff would receive a 22% raise under the latest proposal, but also said union and the district “appear close to an agreement on a robust package which would give teachers a historic raise.”