After seven days of strikes, the Oakland Unified School District announced it had reached an agreement with the teachers’ union on four “common good” demands — which, until this point, had placed the two sides in a gridlock since the strikes began.
For over a week, the district had argued that these demands — which seek to address racial equity, homelessness, and environmental justice for students — fell outside the scope of a union bargaining agreement. But on Saturday night, four of those demands had been agreed upon, relating to: housing and transportation, the community schools grant, the Black thriving community schools initiative, and school closures.
“We are still on strike, but momentum is on our side,” tweeted the teachers’ union, the Oakland Education Association, that evening.
It was not clear Sunday morning how close the district and the union were on reaching an agreement on the demands still left on the table, particularly related to compensation boosts for staff across the school system. Despite initial proposals from the districts stating teachers could see salaries rise by 22%, union representatives later said such information was misleading — and that such bumps were tied to increased working hours, and left out the vast majority of school staff.
On Friday night, the district sent out an email to parents, students and the community stating that since the strike began, 1.4 million hours of instruction had been lost — and that AP exams, final examinations, senior capstone projects, and social events had been impacted.
“We implore OEA to end the strike, get our students back in school and our seniors ready for graduation, and then, we can work on the common good together” the statement read.
Less than 24 hours later, however, some of those common good agreements had been met. With just nine days left in the school year, that movement is significant — and might be the start of more forward progress in the days ahead.
Here’s what we know so far about how these agreements will change Oakland Unified.
Shared governance of community schools
One of the major sticking points between the union and the school district has been related to Oakland Unified’s community schools grant — a statewide initiative to transform schools into not just learning centers, but hubs of wraparound support for children and families.
Community schools are a decades-old model, but one California has latched onto in recent years, with the state recently committing $4.1 billion to make one in every three campuses a community school. Oakland Unified has been the biggest benefactor of that program, granted $66 million from the state to expand and bolster its existing community school network.
With this new agreement, there will be a citywide committee to steer those grants, one primarily made up of parents, students, educators and school staff. Eight of those members will be appointed by the Oakland Education Association and other teachers’ unions, and five will be appointed by Oakland Unified.
Black Thriving Community Schools
Next academic year, a task force will be created to identify and expand resources for schools with a 40% or higher Black student population, transforming those campuses into Black Thriving Community Schools — a program the union says was voted on in 2021, but never followed through with meaningful action.
As part of this program, another task force of educators, parents, students and staff will be formed to coordinate the actions of this program, and “provide the wrap-around services and supports needed for Black students to thrive,” according to the Oakland Education Association. Five teachers will also be designated to support this program, and help implement a plan to see through the initiative’s aims.
School closures
Over the last few years, school closures have remained a hot button issue for students, parents and community members across the city of Oakland. Earlier this year, the Oakland Unified school board backtracked on its earlier decision to shutter a number of campuses — despite ever-declining enrollment numbers and the associated financial ripple effects.
Through this new agreement, the school district has committed to following a series of steps before closing another school, including conducting an “equity impact analysis,” discussing the closure at two school board meetings, and notifying school communities, regardless of the financial situation of the district.
Housing and transportation
In the new agreements, the Oakland Education Association and the district will “attempt to collaborate with the City of Oakland to identify, develop and institute comprehensive traffic safety improvements” around school property, and work together to provide free bus passes to all the district’s students.
The two have also agreed to work with public and non-profit organizations to “identify and focus on supports” for the district’s homeless youth, and push for Section 8 vouchers to meet students’ housing needs.
Throughout the strike, the union has been advocating for the district to repurpose vacant buildings to house homeless students — and though the current agreement doesn’t quite get there, it does say the district will collaborate with the union on “the identification of possible locations that could be developed into housing” for students who need it.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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