OAKLAND — As Oakland Unified teachers insist they’ll stage a one-day strike Friday to protest the planned closure, merger or shrinking of 11 schools, district leaders are urging families to keep their children home that day.
Since the Oakland Education Association, which represents teachers and other school staff, authorized the strike last week, the district and the union have been debating the legality of the proposed action.
District leaders are urging the union to prevent the strike, but the union doubled down Tuesday by announcing that it’s still on.
In a letter shared with the school community and public Tuesday, Oakland Unified Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said although the district still hopes the union will “change course,” she is urging families to not send students to class if teachers walk out.
“While school buildings will be open on Friday and all employees are still required to come to work, we do not believe that we’ll be able to cover the high number of expected staff absences with substitutes or reassigned central office staff,” Johnson-Trammell wrote in the public memo. “Therefore, we are asking all families not to send their children to school on Friday. The absence will be excused and no student will be adversely impacted by not attending school that day.”
She also condemned the work action as “illegal,” noting the only times the union can strike is after bargaining over a contract or over an emergency health or safety issue.
But the Oakland Education Association has countered that the district is the one acting illegally by closing down schools in such a rushed manner. It says union members can strike in response to what they deem an unfair labor practice by the district.
When the school board agreed to close and merge schools to reduce a looming budget deficit driven in part by declining student enrollment, it didn’t conduct a racial equity analysis or provide enough time for community feedback as required by a previous board resolution and agreement, union leaders say.
After revealing the district’s plan to close schools in January, the board voted in early February to approve the closures and mergers. The board insisted then it had no choice but to close the schools to get district finances under control and to improve school campuses, teacher pay and student programs. The state made about $10 million available to Oakland Unified on the condition it closes schools and submits an audit and financial plan.
The union earlier this year filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the district with the Public Employee Relations Board, the quasi-judicial agency that oversees collective bargaining agreements for many public employees.
That request is still pending and could be for many months, which is why the union wants to take the more immediate step of striking over the issue for one day.
Mandy Hu, a staff attorney for the California Teachers Association that’s representing the local union, said Tuesday that a strike over the alleged unfair labor practice is one of the tools legally available under public employee law.
Earlier this month, the ACLU of Northern California — representing a coalition that includes educators, parents and students — filed a complaint with the California Department of Justice asking state Attorney General Rob Bonta to investigate the board’s plan to close schools. The civil rights organization contends the closures will disproportionately impact Black students and families. At four of the seven schools the district plans to close by 2023, more than half the students are Black.
Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association, said Tuesday he doubts the school closure plan will save the district a substantial amount of money. “The money is there to keep our schools open in Oakland,” he said.
Kim Davis, a member of OUSD Parents United, said Tuesday the group wants to see the district spend less on outside consultants and contracts to free up money to keep the schools open.
The district is “choosing to break its own promises,” she said.
Source: www.mercurynews.com