OUSD teachers avert one-day strike
OUSD teachers avert one-day strike
After days of threatening to possibly stop working, the Oakland Education Association on Wednesday announced the union has reached an agreement with the Oakland Unified School District to avoid a one-day strike previously scheduled for Thursday.
OAKLAND, Calif. - After days of threatening to possibly stop working, the Oakland Education Association on Wednesday announced the union has reached an agreement with the Oakland Unified School District to avoid a one-day strike.
The agreement means that school will be in session as normal on Thursday, and it restores budget cuts critical to retaining more than 120 experienced high school teachers at the district’s most difficult-to-staff school sites, including Castlemont, Fremont, and McClymonds, and also restores site-based substitute teachers who provide daily classroom coverage and support at school sites, the teacher's union said in a statement.
"This outcome reflects the power of educators standing together against cuts harmful to our goal of retaining experienced teachers in Oakland’s hardest-to-staff classrooms," OEA President Kampala Taiz-Rancifer wrote.
OEA members claim OUSD failed to fulfill their legal obligation to share basic financial information that educators had requested for over a year.
OUSD did not immediately comment on the news.
And it was not immediately clear how the last-minute compromise was reached.
But OUSD board member Mike Hutchinson on Tuesday told KTVU that all that information is already out there.
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"All of our budget and financial information is public information," he said. "OEA has filed 30 requests for information over the last few months and all of those, but two have been filled. The two most recent ones are still in the process."
Parents and students were not thrilled about the work stoppage.
"We support the teachers, and we support the union, but we only like them to strike as a last resort," David Reiman, who has two daughters who are students in the district, said on Tuesday. "This does not seem like a last resort."
Mahedot Brhanu, a high school student, said even a one-day strike will affect him. "I'm missing school time."
"AP tests are coming up soon," he said. "The end of the school year is on the way. I'm going to miss class for finals and stuff, so it's disappointing to be missing school time, especially with my hard classes."
If the teachers had gone on strike, it would have been the fourth strike in six years.
KTVU's Amber Lee contributed to this report.