OEA Bargaining Newsletter Updates

Dear OEA,

WE DID IT. Monday at 2:24am your big bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with OUSD. We held the line for ourselves, our students, and our communities – and WE WON. 

You can read the full tentative agreement here. A slide deck on the agreement is here. A detailed summary will come soon. 

Here are some key points of our Tentative Agreement:

Compensation: 

• 10% ongoing raise, with retro from 11/1/22, for all members

• One time $5,000 stipend for all FTE members; pro-rated for members with less than 0.5 FTE

• Increases to the salary schedule starting July 1, 2023

• Collapse of all salary schedules, allowing members to earn more faster and increase lifetime earnings

• Highest increase to ECE salary schedule, reflecting that they are currently the lowest paid

• Adult Ed hourly rate continues to be based on duty day daily rate divided by 6 hours

• Daily substitutes paid 100% of step one, column one

• Expansion of Bilingual stipends

• All Social Workers will be paid 180 hours annually at per diem rate for extra duties

Hours, Working Conditions, and Duties:

• One additional Elementary Preparation Period at all schools by 24-25 school year, 2 staffed and 1 common prep

• SEI courses count as a separate prep

• Newcomer Committee in our contract for the first time

• ECE Re-opener in July 2023

• New Article for TK/K, including a TK/K committee and re-opener to address legislation and classroom-specific issues

• 1:12 TK staffing ratio codified in the contract

• Class Size Overage Payments

• Overage payment for caseloads for Nurses

• PE Class Size reduction

• More autonomy for counselors regarding teaching positions

Staffing: 

• 4 FTE High School Teacher Librarians for 2024-25

• 5 new FTE Network Counselors

• 2 FTE Nurses for 2023-24

• 5 FTE TSAs at Black Thriving Community Schools

• Development of cadre of staff that provide rotating coverage to ECSE to allow for lunch breaks and safe conditions for students

• Protections for Elementary Newcomer Teachers so that the focus is high-quality instruction for Newcomers

• Reopener to discuss Newcomer teacher working conditions

Special Education:

• Workload model based on complexity of caseload 

• Mental Health SCP Class Size: 2023-24: 13 ; 2024-25: 12; 2025-26: 11

• Additional release day for SLPs

• Special Ed Committee will now include SpEd, Gen Ed, and admin (including Network level) in order to serve students in all settings

VAPA:

• $1500 stipend per semester for secondary VAPA

• Formation of VAPA Faculty Council, made up of at least 50% OEA VAPA members

• VAPA will have designated instructional space and a budget

Community Schools:

• Shared Governance at each Community School, with OEA members, parents, and staff represented, plus students in secondary. Community School SSCs will now make decisions by majority vote, rather than serving only as an advisory 

• District-wide shared governance over the development and monitoring of Community Schools via the Community Schools Steering Committee; Majority on district-wide committee selected by OEA, other unions, PSAC, CAC and student board members, not OUSD. Number of administrators allowed to be appointed by OUSD capped at 5.         

Reparations for Black Students: 

• 5 FTE TSAs at Black Thriving Community Schools to support Historically Black Schools and help implement the Black Student Thriving Plan

• Shared Governance on Task Force that includes OEA members, parents, and students and oversees over $2 million in spending; Majority on Task Force selected by OEA, other unions, PSAC, CAC and student board members, not OUSD. Number of administrators allowed to be appointed by OUSD capped at 5.

School Closures:

• OUSD must notify sites being considered for closure, conduct an Equity Impact Analysis, hold two public meetings, and meaningfully consider public input. OEA has the right to grieve.

Housing and Transportation for OUSD Students:

• Commitment to partnering with non-profit organizations to provide stable housing for housing insecure students

• Commitment to work with AC Transit to provide transportation to all OUSD students, prioritizing students who qualify for free and reduced lunch

The MOUs on Community Schools, Black Thriving Community Schools, and School Closures are enforceable through Article 14 (Grievance Process) of our labor contract which includes Binding Arbitration (14.9)

Rejection of Concessions:

• NO 3 additional work days before the start of the year

• NO 6-week unit plans

• NO daily lesson plans

• NO to increased paperwork

• NO to principals dictating our prep

• NO to 2 additional hours of work/week. Agreed to embed 30 minutes direct student support into Wednesday after the bell schedule, as determined at each site with educator autonomy, for TK-5. 

Return to Work: On Monday 5/15, we will have a paid Transition Day. You are not obligated to be present on campus or to perform your normal duties, but you can. Students will also be welcomed on campus. Tuesday will be a regular day of instruction. "There will be no OEA-sanctioned labor actions or picketing."

Ratification Process:

Your fifty-member big bargaining team just voted to approve the tentative agreement. The tentative agreement must now be voted on by members. Ratification vote details to follow soon. 

We took action to demand safe, stable, and racially just schools. Educators standing together, with the support of students and families, will always win. 

In solidarity,

Your OEA Big Bargaining Team

Good night OEA,

Today was a day of power and joy, as we closed out our week with families on the line and marched through downtown. We closed our week with our picket lines larger and stronger, and our resolve to win even deeper. 

Your bargaining team met with OUSD until midnight. We will be back at the table again on Saturday.

The district brought us a counter on hours of work, compensation, and class sizes. We returned a counter which included Article 21 (VAPA, Bilingual, Early Childhood Education, Safety, Counselors, Special Education, etc) as well as hours of work. 

The sticking points right now remain hours of work and compensation. We are not willing to accept an agreement that increases the workload of members or that does not provide Oakland teachers with the wages they need.

Our people power has propelled this far, and we aren’t going to stop now. 

We will keep you updated as things progress at the table. All of the updated proposals are at oea.fyi

In solidarity,

The OEA Big Bargaining Team

“Teachers: We Got You”

People Power is Working

Tonight the district brought positive movement in several areas:

• Committed to maintain daily substitute pay at 100% of Step 1/Column 1 of the TK-12 Salary Schedule

• Committed to staffing 2 additional Nurse positions

• Removed wiggly language around the commitment to staffing 4 Teacher Librarian positions

• Increased Bilingual stipends

• Involving Special Educators in the development of a Workload Analysis pilot project

Our strike is WORKING. The solidarity of educators, families, and parents has completely flipped the script from where we were a few short days ago. We are feeling a sense of guarded optimism after 17 straight days of negotiations/negotiations prep and lots of frustration. (We really appreciated all of the ‘thank you’ text messages today!)

And yet: We still have work ahead of us to reach a settlement. OUSD is a deeply problematic employer. Nobody works as hard as Oakland educators to reach a fair contract. Three strikes in five years!! We are fighting for as much improvement as possible.

TOMORROW, We will see you on your picket lines from 7:30-11am,  followed by a march starting at Lake Merritt Amphitheater at 12:30pm!

Day 6 Report

Today, schools marched to visit each other, invited students to come for face paint and dress-up days, heard from their bargaining team members, held parent meetings, and held each other strong. 

At our rally at Glenview today, a parent from the school, Linnea Nelson, spoke. She said, “Teachers, we see you every day fighting for our kids. We are so grateful that you are holding the line to bring more resources into our classrooms. Teachers on strike are still teaching our students. You are teaching them that even when it’s difficult, it’s essential to fight for each other. You are teaching them that in order to win the schools they deserve, they can’t do it alone. Don’t give up. We have your back.”

Two Glenview students spoke, and finished by letting us all know: “Teachers: we got you.”

This morning, a delegation of teachers, parents, school board members, and custodians attended the Rules Committee of the City Council to ask their support in getting a fair contract. West Oakland Middle School teacher Kamisha spoke about her classroom reaching 98 degrees, and students having to go to another buildings just to access drinking water. Manzanita Seed teacher Olivia spoke about a student she works with who is unhoused and living on the streets. A custodian spoke about ceilings falling in and rodent infestations. Board Director Jennifer Brouhard reminded the council that other districts have negotiated common good demands in their contract. 

Our strength – on the lines, at the rallies, with parents and students, and citywide – is felt in the room. We feel your power in the streets and it is what is moving the district at the table. 

One Day Longer, One Day Stronger!

 Fits and Starts

Every day in the classroom, we deal with the impacts of decades of disinvestment in our schools. That shows up in building conditions, understaffing, mismanagement, our pay, and so much more. Our strike is how we fight back, for ourselves and our students. By striking, we are demanding a contract that represents our entire membership and our entire community. 

Compensation and Staffing

State Trustee Luz Cazares, who oversees OUSD’s budget while in receivership, joined the table tonight for the first time. Her presence was a signal that OUSD was getting serious about discussions around compensation and other economic impacts, like staffing. Some slow movement is starting to happen with some salary scales, but we are still fighting. In order to create stable schools we have to ensure that ALL members – Substitutes, ECE, Adult Education, and Social Workers included – receive the pay we all need to stay in OUSD. 

OUSD also admitted that the numbers they have been sharing with families include the natural step increase that teachers would normally receive, regardless of any new raise. While OUSD doesn’t seem to have an issue with this, we find this to be very misleading to families.

We tried to push the conversation around staffing in order to get an idea of where OUSD is in terms of additional staffing offerings for positions like nurses, counselors, VAPA, Psychologists, and ECSE but no clear indicators were given. 

OUSD Board: You Can Run, But You Can’t Hide

Today, on the fifth day of our strike, the OUSD Board canceled its scheduled meeting, in another display of total disregard for students. Parents fighting against the closures of Special Education programs were disenfranchised from speaking to the Board. OUSD may think that hiding, stalling, and lying will slow us down, but our rally proved the opposite – members, parents, and students took the street and made it clear that we are not backing down!! 

Common Good

Our team is making progress on our Common Good proposals, but we still have a ways to go. We are scheduled to bargain these proposals again early tomorrow when we will negotiate further about Reparations, Community Schools, Shared Governance, School Closures and Housing.

Strike Strong All Day Long

The fact that OUSD brought the state trustee to the table today shows that we are making them move. OUSD is also negotiating with us on Common Good despite previously telling us they didn’t have the authority to do so. Now, our strike lines have to be stronger than ever in order to make sure that progress is not halted. We will get there, together!

One Day Longer, One Day Stronger

Michael Avant, Executive Vice President AFSCME 3299 representing 30,000 University of California union members kicked off our bargaining caucus today reminding us that we are striking for the high-quality education of his members’ kids. That we are changing the labor movement by fighting for the common good. That a reasonable school district would already be working on the common good. That we are using our collective power to improve the lives of our 3,000 members, our 35,000 students, and the community of Oakland.

Last night after a productive conversation that ended at 11:30 pm, our team was expecting to arrive to new sets of counters from OUSD. At 2:15 pm they emailed a counter on a single topic: safety. At 4:00 pm OUSD finally sat down at the table with us. For the entire amount of time of a normal school day, OUSD was not bargaining. If anyone was wasting student learning time today, it was OUSD. 

Progress Towards Agreement

After four days on strike - with a growing list of parent, community, and labor union support - we have some areas of progress towards agreement:

• Staffing Investments: High School Teacher Librarians (4), Elementary Counselors (3), Visual and Performing Arts (13+)

• Art & music implemented in Black Thriving Community Schools in 2022-23 (Common Good!), all other schools in 2023-24

• OEA-OUSD Facilities Committee to address the clean air, water and classrooms our students deserve (Common Good!)

• New Faculty Councils for VAPA and Substitutes, giving more specialist groups a voice

• Common Good table - OUSD agreed to engage on some Community Schools/Common Good issues, potentially at a separate table from the main bargaining table

• Newcomers: SEI courses will count as a separate prep, and OUSD agreed to create a newcomer committee.

In an effort to reach agreement, we refined our class size proposal to focus on making progress in overage payments, combo class stipends, and secondary Newcomer class size.

Standing in the Way of Agreement

While we continue to exchange ideas and proposals on many topics, there are three main categories of issues preventing us from reaching an agreement:

Compensation

OUSD’s salary proposal does move us towards the median teacher salary in Alameda County. However, we are asking OUSD to move us to the median, not just closer to it. Further, their schedule compaction proposal moves certain mid-career teachers backwards. 

Staffing

We are asking for approximately 20 additional positions (total) invested in Early Childhood Special Education, Nurses, Counselors and School Psychologists. 

Common Good

OUSD’s reluctance to engage on Common Good demands has cost us precious time to work together on issues like making unused OUSD property available to nonprofits to develop housing. We need commitments in writing, given OUSD’s record of broken promises.

Strike Strong

Day 5 and our lines are still as strong. We want our members to know that their efforts, their passion, and their willingness to fight for their students and community is what is going to help us win this contract. Your Big Bargaining Team is committed to a contract that represents our membership and our community. When we fight, we win!

 (Not) Just Another Bargaining Monday

Our Big Bargaining Team began bargaining on Sunday and continued until 1:30am Monday morning. We began bargaining again on Monday afternoon and stayed with OUSD in the room until almost midnight.

On Sunday/Monday, we presented a FULL counterproposal while also trying to engage the district in actual back-and-forth negotiations. While the district asked a few clarifying questions they repeatedly asked to review materials later rather than engage in active bargaining.

We reached a conceptual agreement on Newcomer student supports, which you can find in our May 8th package proposal. This is a win given that Newcomers have never been named in our contract before, and a step in the right direction to move towards getting to a full TA that represents our entire membership. This is only one of many topics, with a long way to go towards reaching a TA. 

Today we hoped for a full counter proposal when we came to the table, but instead we received a counter to Teacher Librarians and VAPA only, with the district maintaining their May 5th proposal on everything else. Their counter on Teacher Librarians did not include clear, enforceable language on the number of FTE. It is clear that our power on the picket lines is what got OUSD here, and that our continued power on the picket lines will be what keeps them there.

On Monday evening we continued to bargain over substitute teacher pay and working conditions, Early Elementary (TK) working conditions, Safety/Common Good, and Class Size. Conversations were frank. Formal counters will be prepared and submitted on Tuesday morning.

You can read OUSD’s early proposal from today here, their 9:29pm proposal here, and our OEA counter proposal here.

OEA and OUSD return to the table at 12pm on Tuesday.

Our Power Is Growing!

Just since Thursday, 57 more educators have joined OEA! This is an indicator that our team is strong, growing, and ready to support each other! This is just another way we are showing OUSD that we are united. We remain committed to a contract that encompasses ALL membership.

Today, we also want to shout out school board members Valerie Bachelor, Jennifer Brouhard, and VanCedric Williams for calling out their fellow school board members and demanding that they direct the district's bargaining team to negotiate in good faith on our common good demands. Check it out here.

We need our demands reflected in contract language because it means that we have a quick, clear, legally binding process to enforce it and hold our boss accountable. OUSD has shown over and over again that they don’t follow the rules – contract language lets us enforce rules and hold them to their word. Winning on the common good in our contract means we can hold OUSD legally accountable when they do not take care of our students and our schools. 

Let’s stay strong and stay together to win the contract that we deserve and that our students deserve! Foot on the gas, eyes on the prize. See you on the lines bright and early!

Side By Side Proposal Comparison

A Click Too Early

Bargaining is fluid and things change all the time. We hit send a few minutes too early on our last email. Some of our team need to make a few more edits to the side by side to make sure we have given you the most up to date information. We will send out the updated side by side as well as adding it to our web page oea.fyi as soon as we are finished!

Happy Striking! 

Weekend Bargaining Update

 OUR STRIKE IS WORKING 

Today, OUSD came to the bargaining table. After repeatedly saying that they would not bargain over common good issues, Jenine Lindsey spoke with your big bargaining team about those very proposals. Our power has forced them to move, and now we have shown that they can actually bargain on the common good issues impacting our schools.

Your bargaining team heard Jenine out, asked questions regarding their latest package proposal, and in live time made edits to a counter proposal that will be going to the district tonight. This only happened because of YOU and YOUR POWER on the line. Keep the fire burning under them so we can push through their delay tactics and get a tentative agreement nailed down.

Please review this SIDE BY SIDE BARGAINING UPDATE for the most recent update on where we are in bargaining. Send this document to families to keep them informed as well.

OUR STRIKE IN THE PRESS

Stories have flooded the press underlining our struggle and the wins we are making. You can check out updated highlights on the oea.fyi webpage. Here are some of the stories out yesterday:

ABC 7 covers Common Good

KQED Forum interview

Mercury News strike coverage

MEMBERSHIP ASSISTANCE FUND

The OEA Crisis Committee is making available a Strike Hardship Grant Application. A few things to note:

• You must be a member of CTA to receive a hardship grant. You can join CTA here.

• You must check in on the picket line daily (though there is a space on the application to note if you are not able to join the picket line due to extenuating circumstances such as COVID).

• The amount distributed by the hardship fund will depend on the length of the strike and the ultimate settlement of the strike. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, the upper limit of the membership assistance grant will be $599.

• The application is due within two weeks of the CBA being ratified by membership.

The Crisis Committee is made up of the budget committee of the OEA Executive Board (Joey Notaro, Olivia Udovic, Mayra Alvarado, Liz Pauw) minus Vilma Serrano who is busy being bargaining co-chair!

If any organization or individual wants to donate to the OEA Membership Assistance Fund (or to our general fund, which is covering many other expenses of our strike) they can write a check to the Oakland Education Association and mail it or drop it off at the OEA office (272 E. 12th St. Oakland, CA 94606).

Additionally, information about Provident Credit Union 0% interest loans is available here.

GET READY, STAY READY

Our strike continues tomorrow morning to keep the district accountable, at the table, and negotiating with us. OUSD has shown that they will not follow through on any commitments unless we force them to. Teachers are fighting to get the learning conditions our students need into our union contract so that we can hold them accountable to their promises.  

OUSD has lost control of the situation – we are in the streets, parents are supporting us, and their dysfunction has been exposed. The only thing they have left is FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. They will try to divide us in order to take back power. We should expect the district to continue to say contradictory things, to lie about what is happening in bargaining, and to create division. These tactics are designed to confuse us and make us lose our focus. We have to keep our eyes on the prize – as we showed today, when we stand together, we can make the district move. 

For the seven+ months, OUSD has said NO to educators, students, and families – no to good faith bargaining, no to accountability, no to living wages, no to mental health supports, no to shared decision making, no to giving our students the resources they need to thrive. Our strike is how we turn that NO into a YES.    

See you on the picket lines at 7:30am.

Friday Night Bargaining Update

BREAKING: We just received an updated partial proposal via email from OUSD. Your OEA bargaining team is going to review the proposal tonight and is prepared to continue negotiations tomorrow morning. 

And the rest of this message we wrote 30 minutes before that…

After 2 Days On Strike, What Is Happening?

With 98% of members holding strong on the picket line and a powerful & joyous midday rally, it's clear that we are stronger than ever. Let's be crystal clear: our strength in numbers is WORKING. We are winning.

This is in spite of the clear attempts of the district to stow division in our union. 

Here’s the reality: for the past two days members of the bargaining team, with support from OEA leadership, have continued conversations to try and move this process forward. Bargaining is when we both (OEA and OUSD) sit down together and exchange counter offers back and forth. That has not happened and is the basis for what this ULP strike is about. Bargaining needs to happen in order to get a contract. 

STRIKE: Two Days In And Still Going Strong

The power of our Big Bargaining Team is in representation, remaining in communication with our members, and collectively bringing the needs of all our members and their community into one contract. After 8 full consecutive days of our team ready to bargain with OUSD, pushing the conversations, and trying to get them to fully respond to our proposals, our union was forced to go on strike. For the past two days our team has been out on the line with you each morning before our meetings, visiting different sites, engaging in conversations with members and families, and most importantly listening. Listening so that we can continue to represent you, our members, in this contract. 

The power of our strike relies on you, your power, and your willingness to fight for a contract that represents our entire membership. For the past two days you have SHOWN UP!

After spending six hours caucusing in a back room - while our entire team waited in the main hall - OUSD’s bargaining team physically left at 8pm and then later emailed over a package proposal, without a call or text heads up, nor an offer to come back and discuss with us. OUSD’s proposal was riddled with omissions and typos, including a very expensive proposal to assign only 2 students per PE middle school teacher. They have time for fancy infographics and press conferences, but not to write actual proposals.

Our big bargaining team and OUSD’s “big salaried” team have not met face-to-face since 1:45am on Sunday, April 30th. We have worked hard to move the process along, but this isn’t a substitute for OUSD showing up and talking to all of us with fully prepared and accurate proposals. 

Where Are We Stuck Right Now?

Right now we are stuck on the issue of power. OUSD and the OUSD School Board do not want to give power to our teachers, our community, our members. 

Shared governance is a priority for our team.  The School Board has been blocking OUSD’s ability to bargain with us on this topic. OUSD has chosen to highlight common good, while also dangling compensation numbers, as a way to divide us. From the start the bargaining team has been fighting for safe, stable, racially just community schools and we are continuing to do so. 

The real sticking point right now: OUSD must make a comprehensive proposal that responds to all the topics we put forth in our proposals, actually meet with us so we can discuss it, and stay in the building until we can provide a counterproposal. We are not going to reach a settlement over email. All of this will happen as soon as the OUSD school board meets in closed session & provides the superintendent with full authority to negotiate on all mandatory salary, working conditions, and related subjects, including Community Schools.

Reaching a Tentative Agreement (TA) is our most urgent priority. And we recognize that a TA is a critical step towards - but not the endpoint - for safe, stable, and racially just community schools.

Once a Tentative Agreement (TA) is decided on by our 50 member big bargaining team, all of our members will have the final say on ratification.

The power of educators, students and families have flipped bargaining from six months of bad faith foot-dragging by OUSD, to us finally receiving a serious salary proposal last weekend. And if our embarrassing paychecks were the only issue we needed to address, we would probably have worked out a settlement by now.

So What Compensation Is On The Table?

There is a common narrative going around that teachers have been offered an over 20% raise. The reality of OUSD’s proposal is that there is not a single OEA member in their most recent proposal who would reach 20% or more. 

P.S. Have you seen the district calculator on their compensation proposal? Turns out it’s as broken as the dysfunction we’re hoping to change in our righteous fight for our students. 

ULP Strike Date Announcement

Our big bargaining team has poured its heart and soul into this work, spending hundreds of hours preparing and negotiating, talking with our coworkers, sending out surveys to our coworkers and families, and researching extensively. We finished submitting all of our proposals to the district in January.

And then we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

We can’t wait, our students can’t wait, and our schools can’t wait any longer. Our district is in crisis -- educators are leaving, our special education students aren’t receiving what they need, and our students, who have been through so much over the past few years, are not getting the support they deserve.

We are incredibly disappointed in this District that we are at this point. We should have settled this contract months ago. But the District’s continued refusal to partner in good faith with our frontline team of educators to do what’s best for our students has left us with no choice. This morning, after four days of conversations with the district, we finally received a formal written proposal that was incomplete, confusing, and far from comprehensive. That document was a final indication of their lack of seriousness about and attention to bargaining.

We will begin our Unfair Labor Practice strike on Thursday, May 4.

There is still time for the District to do the right thing. We want to settle. Our big bargaining team stands ready and willing to bargain whenever and wherever we can make progress. We do not want to be forced to strike. But the District’s behavior – especially over the last few days when it presented no formal proposals for days and the Superintendent showed up to the table for the first time on Sunday night after 10pm -- and even then made no actual proposals – has made it clear to us that this District simply does not think that bargaining in good faith with OEA is important.

There will be a press conference today at 5pm, live streamed on the OEA Facebook page, to provide details about the potential ULP strike. The last few hours have determined the message we plan to share at this press conference: OUSD is woefully unprepared and shameful in their bargaining strategy (or lack thereof). 

A low boil isn’t getting OUSD to show up, it’s time to crank up the flame.

Please stay tuned for further updates.

Please change your social media profile picture in support.

Keep up with proposal updates (if we ever get any) at oea.fyi, make sure you are getting text updates from your BT member or Rep, and follow us on Tiktok @oeabargaining 

Bargaining Update - Sunday (So Far)

We bargained from 1:00pm to 10:45pm on Saturday. Bargaining resumed Sunday morning.

Where is our Superintendent?

One key member of OUSD’s bargaining team has been absent from the table: our superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell. Although she has been engaged with her team from a distance, the video she shared perpetuated misinformation about OUSD’s most recent compensation offer, claiming that it offered a “fair and reasonable compensation package to all members.” The superintendent has the final say on all formal offers that can be made to OEA, so where has she been? The OEA bargaining team has made it clear that we will be making our strike recommendation tomorrow morning based on real progress -- or lack of progress -- at the table. We have heard that she will be joining the team at 8pm Sunday evening, yet wonder if she should have joined bargaining long before it reached this point.

State Support and Mediation

This morning OEA welcomed Malia Vella, a staff member from the California State Superintendent’s office to the table. She will help support with getting OUSD to show up not only prepared, but also with the appropriate people necessary to make formal written proposal offers. She will be acting as a go between and step in as a mediator if needed. She was able to provide insight around budgeting, particularly clarifying that while Community Schools may not have previously been in our contract, OUSD had also never been given 80 million dollars specifically for Community Schools.  

What Happened At The Table Yesterday

Your big bargaining team got back to it again yesterday, kicking the morning off with a robust internal conversation about compensation. An important topic of conversation was around salary increases versus one time off schedule payments, such as those that are often done for retro payments. We want to ensure that as much of the compensation gains are made to salary schedules, as opposed to one time payments, so that members' ongoing salary does in fact get to median pay during the life of our current contract. 

The Early Childhood Education team were joined by some of their colleagues to address their inequitable working conditions and low pay schedule. The Common Good team spent many hours with OUSD team members and will hear back more today. 

While OUSD’s team was left to sit with our Strike Art Build as their backdrop, the Compensation team dove in with hard questions for OUSD again, pushing them to bring us a written proposal as soon as possible. OUSD claims to be hearing our demands for fair pay for ALL Oakland educators THIS YEAR, but until they present us a real proposal the bargaining team is still left waiting.

Where Do We Go From Here

Over the past 4 days conceptual conversations with OUSD have appeared to be productive. Yet, OUSD has only presented hypothetical or conversation based ideas, not actual written proposals. We have demanded they put their words into action by giving us written proposals. Tonight's session will be a determining factor on what day a strike may be set for. If OUSD wants to avoid a strike, it’s time to see it on paper. There will be an update on Monday evening regarding the timing of a strike (as we’ve emphasized, there will be at least 48 hours notice provided.)

Thank You and Keep Pushing

Your bargaining team wants to express our gratitude for all our members organizing at the site level, holding family meetings, asking questions, and advocating for the schools Oakland deserves! It is this activism, coupled with the work happening at the table, that will move the process forward.

We must keep applying pressure and preparing to go on strike. OUSD can talk a big talk, but if history means anything, we have to be ready to strike to actually win. 

Please change your social media profile picture in support.

Keep up with proposal updates (if we ever get any) at oea.fyi, make sure you are getting text updates from your BT member or Rep, and follow us on Tiktok @oeabargaining 

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kasondra Walsh, Emerson

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Coliseum College Prep Academy

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Bargaining Update - Summary of Friday Evening

We bargained from 9:30am Friday until 1:45am Saturday. Here's a summary of the negotiations from Friday evening. We resumed bargaining today at 1:00pm and will publish another update on today's negotiations.

The OEA bargaining team continued to push forward to make every second of the day count. While some of us took a much needed lunch break, our nurses and SLPs drove the conversation closer and closer towards getting OUSD to make a formal counter that would be agreeable to both membership groups. 

After over an hour of conversation our nurses made some progress with the district on develop a workload/acuity model to balance out caseload. OUSD signaled some movement in reimbursements for credentialing but still did not budget for additional nurse positions, even after being surprised to hear that numerous sites have zero student access to nurse support. 

Our newcomer Bargaining Team member spoke in support of Newcomers and for the first time since our initial proposal in January, OUSD engaged in discussion on this high need group. While the conversation was fruitful no formal counter was made. 

The Early Elementary team had a productive conversation that included providing detailed rationale for their asks. OUSD’s team seemed to hear them on some points, but it remains to be seen if potential alignments will end up in the district’s actual counter proposal. Following that 11pm conversation, class size brought up the challenges of student contacts vs. class sizes, especially as it pertains to middle and high schools classes such as PE and how developing program specific class sizes could go a long way in support of teachers. 

After a 2 hour conversation the SPED team left feeling hopeful that a wider range of general Ed OUSD admins understood the realities of SPED. We hope this will yield a shift in mindset and movement towards holding the entire admin system accountable. If any of this is included in OUSD’s next offer remains to be seen. 

Calendar Fumble

In order to settle the school calendar for the 2023-2024 school year in time for contracts with other labor partners, OEA submitted our counter proposal on April 20th, which OUSD accepted on April 24th. This calendar was approved by the School Board on April 26, 2023 and can be viewed here and maintains the status quo of 186 teacher work days. Today OUSD put out public communication that was not aligned with this and said they will send out the correct information on Monday. Note, the school calendar must be approved by OEA each school year but is not part of our TA that needs to be ratified. This is just another example of how OUSD is continuing to drag out our bargaining process by causing distractions from the heavy lifting that needs to be done. 

Compensation...or lack thereof

After being promised a compensation counter, your team burned the midnight oil waiting for OUSD to come back to the table. When they did come in at 1 am, they started off by saying they were not fully prepared as they hadn’t crunched all the numbers and would like to provide some framing to then actually discuss a proposal in the morning. 

In response to our pressured questions around this vague compensation description, OUSD applauded the OEA team for the productive conversations that occurred in the last 2 days, by saying, “We were reminded yesterday that we don’t have all the answers. And because of the conversations with all of you yesterday we came up with some solutions.” And yet, over the past 48 hours OUSD has presented us only with conceptual ideas but not ONE SINGLE WRITTEN PROPOSAL. 

One of our OEA Bargaining Team Members responded, “When we started bargaining, Oakland was at an F for compensation. We didn’t ask you for an A or even a B. We asked you to get to a C. Can you get us to a C? We kept hearing you were going to prioritize compensation. 22.97% was to get us to the median THIS year. Next year that’s going to get higher. What you’ve given us is still at an F. I can’t believe we stayed here all night for that.”

Hypothetical Movement Isn’t Where We Need To Be Right Now

Your bargaining team is working HARD, trying to get agreements and movement by the end of the weekend. While many productive conversations have occurred there have been no actual proposals made, no actual agreements made, and OUSD is still not showing up prepared with everything and everyone they need to bargain. 

If OUSD doesn’t make massive gains to settle a TA with us this weekend, our team is prepared to recommend announcing a strike date.

Keep up with all proposals being exchanged at oea.fyi. 

Follow us on TikTok at @oeabargaining for mini-updates from the table. 

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kasondra Walsh, Emerson

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Coliseum College Prep Academy

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Friday Midday Bargaining Update

Your bargaining team stayed at the table until 10pm last night trying to make movement towards a TA and is back at the table today!

What Happened Last Night

Last night the table was full of hypothetical discussions around Hours of Work, VAPA, Counselors, and Teacher Librarians, with an eye towards crafting revised "package" proposals.

The district made some movement - verbally - around teacher and student lunch and elementary preparation periods. Our team helped them develop an understanding of the type of staffing that would be needed to make additional prep happen at the elementary level. While nothing was solidified, it did signal a possible move in the right direction. The conversation continued to be robust, specifically around hours of work. There is still work to be done pertaining to the expansion of after-school programming and funding. The district did signal they would be making moves away from their initial ask of an additional 2 hours of work per week. We look forward to seeing their proposal in writing.

Our Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) team made some gains, particularly around the creation of a VAPA Faculty Council to support the day-to-day challenges experienced by many of our VAPA teachers. The district signaled that they wanted to expand our VAPA program by adding more VAPA teaching positions, specifically prioritizing school sites with a majority of Black and brown students. We are still waiting for a formal written proposal and will be continuing this conversation today. 

As part of a developing package proposal, OUSD offered to make a very modest increase to the number of our teacher librarians, but mostly maintained their counselors counter. This move fell far short of what students deserve, and what we believe OUSD can offer at this time.

OUSD continued to state their position that until a compensation package was agreed upon, there would be little to no movement on additional FTE positions. Their reasoning for this is not knowing how much those staff members would cost. The OEA bargaining team is committed to continuing to push for a compensation package that benefits all of our members in moving to median pay for the area. We believe that we can do this while also fighting for more of the support that our students and staff deserve.

Where The Conversation Is Going Today

This morning, OUSD brought some answers to our questions around class size but remained steadfast in their argument that they would not be lowering class sizes. Despite our team’s many examples of how elementary teachers have cited gains in students' academics when they have classes that are not maxed out as well as safety concerns at the secondary level, OUSD did not make any movement on this topic. They have agreed to speak together more granularly and work to find common ground for mutual benefit.

The OEA Substitute team presented a strong counter-proposal. Among our asks were fair compensation, paid incentives for substitutes to take jobs at sites or programs that are historically harder to fill, stipends for bilingual substitutes, and an ask for administrators to support/fill in lesson plans and materials when teachers are out in an emergency and physically unable to leave lesson materials in the room. OUSD tried to counter with their original hours of work proposal that teachers be required to submit full lesson plans every 6 weeks. Our OEA team highlighted how that was an ask that wouldn’t yield lesson plans designed for a substitute teacher. 

Potential Strike

The bargaining team is committed to reaching a TA that represents the needs of all our members and delivers the schools our students deserve. We have made it clear to OUSD that we want strong movement towards an agreement by the end of the weekend if they want to avoid a strike. We will be at the table all day (and likely well into the night!) today, Saturday, and Sunday working to reach an agreement that gives a compensation raise to all our members and includes further wins across the board for specialist groups and teachers alike. If the Bargaining Team is not able to settle a TA by Monday morning, we are internally prepared to recommend that OEA set a strike date. While OUSD shifted this week on some topics, it is not enough to make up for the months of stalling and poor proposals we have endured. Keep the pressure on OUSD to bring higher-quality counters to the table all weekend long!

You can increase our bargaining power by showing up to tomorrow's Art Build and Merchant Walks.

Keep up with all proposals being exchanged at oea.fyi. 

Follow us on TikTok at @oeabargaining for mini-updates from the table. 

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Your big bargaining team has been hard at work at the table all week, trying to settle a contract that is fair, just, and comprehensive. We’ve been grilling OUSD with probing questions, sharing data from surrounding districts, and pushing them to bring us counters that are SUBSTANTIAL.

Yesterday was a big day for us. First, PERB denied OUSD's effort to block our potential ULP strike. More importantly, educators, families, and students showed up to the school board meeting and made it clear that Oakland is ready to FIGHT for the schools our students deserve!

Interim President Armendariz framed it this way this morning: "Yesterday, District management still had hope to make us settle on their terms. Between our rally and our legal victory, we crushed that hope. The only way they can stop us from walking out next week is to show up with serious proposals that make amends for six months of foot-dragging."

--

Earlier this week our team -- and specialty groups within the team -- met with the district to exchange counters and talk through the rationale behind our positions. We bargained from 9:30am to 9:30pm on Tuesday. As of writing (5:45pm) we are still bargaining today (Thursday).

The District conceded to an equitable Workload Model for our members in SPED, recognizing the simple numerical caps alone are insufficient to maintain a balanced workload. They brought a pithy example of this model to the SPED Bargaining Team, which spent considerable time reviewing the proposal. One issue to note is that our position is to adopt a Workload Model in addition to our existing (or improved) caseload caps, not in conjunction with higher caps.

OUSD also provided a salary proposal addressing our ECE colleagues, which includes a raise and the elimination of the lowest-paid columns. This is a breakthrough for supporting our lowest-paid colleagues who had been previously excluded from most of the salary package presented by OUSD. (We are still evaluating this proposal and have not accepted it.)

Unfortunately, the district rejected the entirety of our class size proposal, citing previous class size reductions as having no quantifiable impact on student achievement or teacher retention. OUSD also stated that “reducing class size has the potential to undermine (our mutual interest) in sustaining enrollment in schools[and] district “OUSD has continued to say they want to give K-12 teachers a substantial raise to ease the hemorrhaging we currently have, but are willing to do so only for TK-12 teachers and if we are willing to accept getting minimal asks elsewhere. 

On 4/25 OUSD presented counters, Social Workers, Class Size, Nurses, Early Childhood Education. On the same day, OEA presented counters on Compensation, Early Elementary, Psychologists, and Special Education. 

We plan to make bargaining updates more frequently, by email, text, social media and via the OEA Bargaining website. 

Keep up with all proposals being exchanged at oea.fyi. 

Follow us on TikTik at @oeabargaining for mini-updates from the table. 

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

See PDF below for the 4.17. 23 Information on OUSD's most recent compensation proposal and corrections to the graphics they published. 

Bargaining Update

Your OEA Bargaining Team met with the district for 3 hours this past Thursday, submitting counters on P.E Teachers (Article 21), Safety (Article 13), School Nurses, and Counselors. OUSD's only new proposal was a draft school calendar for 2023-24. Read the proposals from OEA and OUSD at OEA.fyi. 

Your OEA Bargaining team heard you loud and clear: NO ADDITIONAL district-directed workdays. We stood firm against the district’s proposal of adding four additional district-directed workdays to our work year. The district’s most recent counter accepted those terms, however, we are not yet in agreement about the additional work hours for the week.

We want to make progress on the school year calendar quickly due to pending timelines around SPED transportation coordination and will continue to stand firm against additional hours of work.

OUSD tried to tell us that we couldn’t bring a safety proposal because they rescinded their initial proposal around safety (where they struck out existing safety language). Instead, our team presented a safety proposal to demonstrate our commitment to the safe and racially just schools our students deserve. Our safety proposal brings in elements of our Common Good proposal around safety, moving it towards being preventative and broadening the scope beyond just physical safety (i.e adding more mental health supports for students, climate-controlled classrooms, investment in RJ) as well as changing some language in Article 17 around safety in order to align with our union’s values around safe, police-free schools.

OUSD continues to make slow progress at the table while demonstrating a limited understanding of what is really needed day to day at school sites. They continue to withhold real progress toward increasing support staffing and reducing caseloads and class sizes. They have gone quiet about SPED. They told us they don’t want to bargain over safety, which is a top issue for our members, students, and families. They are rejecting our Common Good demands which provide support to students and families. Their offer for retroactive pay for 2022-2023 is the equivalent of 1.4%. 

We need to continue to demonstrate our willingness and preparedness to take bold action in order to make the union contract changes we need. Let’s continue to build community power with students and families by holding informational meetings with families this week to explain what’s happening at the table. Let’s keep up the pressure by attending a rally at the April 26 school board meeting (more details to come next week)! 

We are asking you to do three simple things this week:

1. Vote YES to authorize a strike over OUSD's bad-faith bargaining

2. Mark your calendar for April 26th's school board rally

3. Reach out to your Bargaining Team representative (or email Tim and Vilma, the co-chairs) with any questions, concerns, or ideas

When we unite, we win!

Let’s do this, OEA!!

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Denise Huffstutler, Parker Elementary

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Mandy Beri, Frick United Academy of Language

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Bargaining Update

On Wednesday, March 29 - just before Spring Break - we held a bargaining session with OUSD and received three counter-proposals:

• Compensation - OUSD proposes a 3.5% raise now beginning February 1, 2023 instead of July 1, 2023 which means four months of higher pay this year or the equivalent of a 1.4% raise on the year.

OUSD also proposed a new higher-paid “Retention” salary schedule applicable to tenured teachers (but not other OEA positions) with 3 continuous years of service likely beginning July 1, 2024.

One serious issue with the concept of a separate salary schedule for tenured teachers is that most Career Technical Educators, including African American Male Achievement facilitators, are ineligible for tenure under state law. We don’t want to institutionalize second-class status for these educators.

• Counselors/Psychologists/Social Workers - OUSD proposes adding 3 additional elementary counselors and more equitable staffing of school psychologists based on need (but no additional psychologists to tackle the workload effectively…). Despite the proposal’s title, it includes nothing for Social Workers.

• Safety - OUSD formally withdrew their previous, concessionary Safety proposal. We specifically called out their previous proposal as “predictably unacceptable” in the Unfair Practice Charge we filed with PERB. This is a positive development.

OUSD is a day late and a lot of dollars short. We have been bargaining for six months. It has taken OEA members flexing their muscles districtwide just to drag OUSD to this point.

We need to show OUSD their bad faith bargaining is unacceptable. Over 2,600 union members have already taken the strike assessment. Please take the assessment today. Click on the link and put in your employee ID (without any zeroes in front).

This Wednesday the Big Bargaining Team will meet for several hours to prepare for Thursday’s bargaining session with OUSD. Please wear your OEA shirt on Wednesday!

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Denise Huffstutler, Parker Elementary

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Mandy Beri, Frick United Academy of Language

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Denise Huffstutler, Parker Elementary

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Mandy Beri, Frick United Academy of Language

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Highlights

• OUSD fails to show up to bargaining, again

• 'Harm reduction' on OUSD budget cuts

• Rain or shine, we walk the line at our March 15 PD Boycott

Last Night’s Board Meeting

A week ago our community rallied on 24 hours' notice to stop the Board President and Superintendent's proposal to merge ten schools without input and balance the budget on the backs of the lowest-paid school employees.

Last night another special board meeting occurred on 24 hours' notice. Through our advocacy, and thanks to our electoral victories in November, we reduced the harm of the original resolution in the following ways:

• Added a hiring freeze on Central Office management positions - a first step in "chop from the top"!

• Added a reduction in Central Office discretionary spending funds, with outside consultant contracts required to be cut first and foremost - a second step in "chop from the top"!

• Removed the requirement to merge ten schools, and added explicit safeguards that any future proposed mergers must first follow AB 1912's required equity impact analysis and community engagement

• Added restoration language that as money becomes available, site-based positions & special education positions will be restored first, followed by the coordinator of safety position that resulted from the George Floyd Police Free Schools resolution.

• Added a required review of how TSA positions can be more equitable throughout sites districtwide

Thank you to everyone who organized and advocated. The whole premise behind budget cuts is upsetting and disappointing. Still, we have laid the groundwork for a significant shift of resources from the Central Office to our school sites - where actual student learning happens every day.

The development of the district budget and annual SELPA plan for the 2023-24 school year will be another opportunity for us to continue to push for spending on student learning at school sites, not executive management bureaucracy at 1000 Broadway.

And we will continue to fight for our students at the bargaining table!

OUSD Doesn’t Show Up to Bargaining, Again

At 4:30pm yesterday, OUSD canceled our 5:00pm bargaining session. We continue to wait for a response to our salary proposal from December or any of the other 20 other proposals made to improve Oakland Unified. Please complete the Priorities Survey ASAP to help our big bargaining team continue to refine our proposals.

All Out for March 15, Rain or Shine!

OUSD’s actions this week make clear that we’ve got to turn up the pressure to get them to take bargaining seriously. Join us on March 15 from 2:00 - 6:00 pm at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, and don’t forget to let your site rep or bargaining team member know that you’ll be there! We will be out at the lake rain or shine! And if you happen to have a pop-up tent we can borrow, please email organizing@oaklandea.org 

PS -- Please continue to share the Oakland Families Supporting Bargaining petition.

Bargaining Update: Please Take The Survey

Since February 15, OUSD has not met with the bargaining team for discussion of proposals or counters. That is almost a month away from the table, a month away from decisions that will give students the education they deserve and teachers all that we need to provide a quality education to our community. 

Read more about the school board meeting that has brought us into discussions about filing an Unfair Labor Practice, which could open the option to authorize a strike vote more quickly than declaring impasse, as a potential strategy to get OUSD back to the table.

We still do not have a date secured for our next meeting with the district. But we do need to hear from you!

Things may start to move quickly and your bargaining team urgently wants to hear from you: Please fill out this bargaining survey in order for us to come back to the table fully informed and ready to secure a contract before the end of this school year. 

Our week of flyering built solidarity amongst families, teachers, and school sites. Now we have over 500 signatures on our petition. Please continue sharing this information.

On Wednesday, March 15, we will boycott PD and go to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater from 2pm - 6pm for an event in support of settling a fair contract. It is critical that we all show up to demonstrate to the District how serious we are about our demands for safe, stable, and racially just community schools.

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Denise Huffstutler, Parker Elementary

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Mandy Beri, Frick United Academy of Language

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

Statement on Tuesday's School Board Trainwreck

Shame on the Superintendent and Board President for proposing ten school mergers, cutting school support staff, and freezing district-wide hiring as the precondition for making a salary proposal to Oakland educators. We’re glad the School Board rejected this proposal Tuesday night at the special meeting called on 24 hours' notice.

Instead, OUSD should use the $54 million in new state revenue this year to pay for a badly needed raise for educators. Or tap into the $227 million in unspent Covid Relief (ESSER) funds. Or cut the 37 new top-level administrative positions added since 2022.

We have the financial resources to ensure every student attends a community school that is safe, stable, and racially just. We just need to put our resources toward the right priorities.

OUSD leaders still have time to do the right thing. They can make appropriate cuts to highly paid administrators and consultants. They can budget responsibility and not create a deficit on paper that doesn’t exist in reality. And they can demonstrate that they value educators by bargaining with OEA in good faith instead of publicly scapegoating our union. 

Unprepared -- OUSD cancels bargaining

We were scheduled to bargain yesterday (Wednesday), but OUSD canceled. Our 50+ member bargaining team has worked incredibly hard to present serious, well-researched, and comprehensive proposals. Meanwhile, we’ve been waiting since December for a compensation counterproposal from the District. Their lack of preparation and seriousness around bargaining is disrespectful to our union, our students, and our community. This is not how a functional bargaining relationship works.

What comes next?

It’s time to escalate. We’ve been engaging Oakland families on our vision for safe, stable, and racially just community schools all week and asking them to sign our petition to support our contract demands. Please continue to share the petition and our flyers. 

On Wednesday, March 15, we will boycott PD and go to the Lake Merritt Amphitheater from 2pm - 6pm for an event in support of settling a fair contract. It is critical that we all show up to demonstrate to the District how serious we are about our demands for safe, stable, and racially just community schools.

*Written/Published By OEA Leadership

Bargaining Update: Despite $54 million in new state funding, no serious offers made to educators

OUSD urgently wants us to agree to add four Professional Development days next year, paid below our per diem salary, so they can let families know the spring break schedule. We wish they had the same urgency about fixing our paychecks eaten up by inflation, or partnering with us to involve families in important school decisions.

OUSD received a $54 million increase in state funding this year but still hasn’t responded to our salary proposal made on December 14 or any other proposal we’ve made. We’re not waiting around for them to get serious. Next week we will be reaching out to families and picketing in front of schools across Oakland.

We spent February 16 in caucus working with a strategic researcher from the National Education Association to gain more insight into OUSD’s ongoing and one-time funds available. We also grappled with the problem of OUSD missing in action at the bargaining table. 

In a functional bargaining relationship, each side would make proposals and counterproposals, working their way towards a common ground. Incremental progress would be transparent and members would have plenty of opportunities to discuss outcomes. With OUSD, the pattern has been for us to receive no counterproposals whatsoever until we build up enough pressure and everything breaks open all at once.

We’ve made bold proposals to improve Oakland Unified. We know that some of our demands will take longer than a single union contract to achieve. But with nothing happening at the bargaining table for months before finally getting serious with us, OUSD deprives our members of the time to dialogue as a union. So we are proactively sharing another bargaining survey soon to help guide our team.

Our next collective action will be school site pickets and family outreach the week of 2/27 - 3/3.

*Published By OEA Bargaining Team

We have a bold vision for community schools that are safe, stable, and racially just.

Four hundred OEA members and supporters rallied this week.

Fourteen hundred educators have signed on to our Bargaining Platform.

This is what union power looks like!

Our next collective action will be school site pickets and family outreach the week of 2/27 - 3/3.

Joining OEA online takes 2 minutes

*Published By OEA Bargaining Team

Bargaining Update: 

OUSD Seeks to Rearrange Deck Chairs on the Titanic

“Bargaining today was ridiculous, folks. We have put 20 proposals on the table on substantive issues like class size, hours and compensation, ethnic studies, and caseloads for psychologists and nurses. Instead of making counterproposals on these issues, today OUSD spent time proposing changing details in our evaluation system (Article 13) and the Peer Assistance and Review process (Article 25).”

-Natasha Saleski,

Kindergarten Teacher at Manzanita SEED &

Big Bargaining Team Member

Here are OUSD’s proposals on Safety, Evaluations, and Peer Assistance and Review. The District informed us to expect a compensation counterproposal on February 23…71 days after we made our compensation proposal on December 14.

OEA members need to show OUSD that we are united & serious about winning safe, stable, and racially just schools!

Sign the Bargaining Platform & come in-person to the School Board Meeting on Wednesday, February 8.

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Denise Huffstutler, Parker Elementary

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Mandy Beri, Frick United Academy of Language

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

OUSD Bargaining Proposals Fall Short - ALL OUT to the School Board on 2/8!

Since returning from the Winter Break, our Big Bargaining Team has held over 50 site engagement meetings all the while making the following proposals:

• Class Size

• Social Workers

• Substitute Teachers

• Visual and Performing Arts

• Newcomers

• Bilingual Educators

• Early Childhood Education

• Early Elementary

• Hours/Preps

• Parental Leaves

• Physical Education

• Central Office TSA Temporary Reassignments

• Association Rights

We’ve been busy advocating for safe, stable, and racially-just schools! Unfortunately, OUSD’s proposals continue to fall short and we are very far apart:

• Safety - OUSD affirmed our shared commitment to restorative justice and police-free schools, BUT proposed removing almost all educator safety provisions, not just those connected to police involvement.

We need to come together and let OUSD know this is unacceptable. Our union contract is expired. Neighboring school districts have already negotiated 8-10% pay raises for this year, on top of salaries that started higher than ours.

Sign the Bargaining Platform & come in-person to the School Board Meeting on Wednesday, February 8.

OEA Bargaining Update

We exchanged salary proposals - plus OEA made proposals for Community Schools, Special Education, School Psychologists & more.

Yesterday, our OEA big bargaining team met with the District bargaining team for a full workday of negotiations. We presented our bold proposals for Compensation, Common Good, Special Education, and School Psychologists. OUSD presented their Compensation proposal. Highlights:

OEA’s Common Good Proposal

• Expand and improve full-service Community Schools

• Increase support for unhoused students

• Cut excessive central office administrators before closing schools

• Address impacts of climate change

OEA’s Special Education Proposal

• Hard caps for special education classes/improved caseloads

• Protect and expand preparation time for special educators

• Strengthen student-family-school relationships

OEA’s School Psychologists Proposal

• Provide school psychologists will private workspaces to respect student confidentiality

• Increase the number of school psychologists serving our students

OEA’s Compensation Proposal

• 22.97% raise for all members, in order to reach the median Alameda County compensation for educators

• Eliminate “pay plateaus” where members wait years without receiving a step increase

OUSD’s Compensation Proposal

• 4.5% raise for OEA members

• Eliminate “pay plateaus”

The District pointed to worsening student academic achievement as the rationale for asking teachers to work two additional hours per week in exchange for a 4.5% raise. 

(Unfortunately, we ran out of time before OUSD was able to finish presenting their proposal - so we didn’t have the chance to ask questions or share our reactions… like how 4.5% is half the raise negotiated by neighboring school districts and would dramatically worsen the existing pay gap!)

Next Steps

Please read each proposal and contact your site bargaining rep to learn more about the research and data behind our calculations, ask questions, and share your perspective. We must work together to have strong communication and unity district-wide. Your engagement matters as we hold our standards high in bargaining and prepare to back up our demands with bold action in the name of making Oakland schools thriving spaces for all. 

Plan to wear union shirts and colors when we return from break on Wednesday, January 3rd.

Our 2022-2023 Big Bargaining Team:

Vilma Serrano, Melrose Leadership Academy, Co-Chair

Timothy Douglas, International Community School, Co-Chair

Kassondra Walsh, Emerson

Denise Huffstutler, Parker Elementary

David Carrigan, Sankofa United

Sonja Travick, Oakland Technical HS

Gena Rinaldi, Kaiser ECE

Rachel Martin, Piedmont Avenue Elementary

Kathy Ortega, Roosevelt Middle

Dawn Ung, Bella Vista Elementary

Holly Adler, Dewey Continuation HS

Hillary Chen, Oakland High

Angel Vasquez, Hoover Elementary

Alicia Simba, Prescott Elementary

Andre San-chez, Westlake Middle

Tyler Flynn Rambo, Redwood Heights

Patrick Surdoval, Montclair Elementary

Deidre Robinson, Joaquin Miller Elementary

Sayuri Valenza, Bret Harte Middle School

Annie Xiong, Allendale Elementary

Yari Ojeda Sandel, Glenview Elementary

Phoi Wong, Sequoia Elementary

Hilaria Barajas, International Community School/Think College Now

Natasha Saleski, Manzanita SEED

Tamar Elster, Global Family School

Wally Scott, Fruitvale Elementary

Paris Gray, Bridges Academy

Erika Guerrero, Manzanita Community

Michael Rodriguez, United for Success

Nick Parker, Fremont HS

Jimmy Barbuto, Skyline HS

Noelle Winter, Burbank Preschool

Katherine Gibson, Greenleaf K-8

Shro Jacque, Community College Prep Academy

Mandy Beri, Frick United Academy of Language

Sarah Koch, East Oakland Pride

Amara Schoenberg, Melrose Leadership Academy

Joanna Davis, Highland Community School

Paulina Russell Silva, Esperanza Elementary

David McKay, EnCompass Academy

Dorian Laird, Korematsu Discovery Academy

Taiwo Kujichagulia-Seitu, Madison Park Academy Upper

Alex Zablotsky, Elementary Music/Visual and Performing Arts

Sherry Kassenbock, Nurses (Oakland High)

Samia Khattab, Teacher Librarians (Franklin Elementary)

Nico Pemantle, School Counselors (Elmhurst United)

Heather Quinones, Speech Language Pathologists

Jennifer Sullivan, Speech Language Pathologists

Laura Rice-Hall, Certificated Substitutes

Juliet Hadid, Certificated Substitutes

Sharon Thomas, Certificated Substitutes

Dolores Jeff, Early Childhood Education

Courtney Woolverton, Burbank Preschool

OEA Bargaining Update

OEA's big bargaining team meets with OUSD all day tomorrow (Wednesday) - please wear your OEA shirt in solidarity!

Our big bargaining team spent two work days last week at the Alameda Labor Council preparing for tomorrow's negotiations session with OUSD. We completed 'first reads' for a large number of proposals, incorporated feedback, and then voted to adopt proposals and bring them to OUSD.

Tomorrow we plan to make proposals on Compensation, Bargaining for the Common Good, Special Education, and School Psychologists. We may email over additional proposals to OUSD, even if we don't have time to discuss them in detail tomorrow.

We are proud of our bold and attainable proposals for safe, stable, and racially-just schools in Oakland. Help us turn these proposals into agreements by wearing your OEA shirts tomorrow and be on the look out for more ways to support bargaining in January.

OEA School Nurses Gwen Edwards and Sherry Kassenbrock pictured here at our in-person bargaining session holding the insulin syringes that school nurses are responsible for training other staff to use safely.

OEA Bargaining Update

We have just one school nurse for every 1,350 students in Oakland Unified. Many nurses are asked to serve multiple sites and some nurses have hundreds of extra students on their caseload. This past Thursday, the Credentialed School Nurses working group presented our compassionate, realistic proposal to improve this dire situation.

As nurse and OEA bargaining team member Sherry Kassenbrock stated: “We are fighting for a nurse on every site, full or part-time, based on an acuity level of care, with the goal of providing the healthcare students deserve to be safe, stay in school, and have better health and academic outcomes.”

Read our compassionate proposal to provide the healthcare our students deserve.

An ‘acuity level of care’ organizes resources based on the intensity of student needs, instead of a one-size-fits-all staffing ratio. This is the recommended approach of the National Association of School Nurses, which recommends the following factors in determining staffing:

• Safety, medical, and health needs of an individual student;

• Characteristics and considerations of student or population including individual social needs as well as the infrastructure that creates inequities in social determinants of health;

• Characteristics and considerations of the school nurse and other interprofessional team members; and

• Context and culture of the school or school district that influences nursing services delivered 

We are currently funding 30 FTE nurses for about 35,776 students at approximately 110 school and early childhood education sites. 

We were glad to see OUSD bring their own proposal to the table this week around Credentialed School Nurses. Interestingly, they also proposed assigning staff based on the National Association of School Nurses’ definition of acuity! Unfortunately, OUSD simply wants to reallocate the workload of existing nurses and told us they do not propose hiring even a single additional school nurse for our kids.

They also proposed adding in two training days a month for nurses during the regular work day, taking a much-needed medical professional out from where they may elsewhere be needed. 

(Here’s a copy of OUSD’s Hours of Employment proposal from last week that we hadn’t received in time for the last bargaining update.)

We have many proposals still to come, including salary, class size, and common good demands. In order to reach a good agreement this school year, we are aiming to make all of our proposals by early December and will not introduce new proposals after that cut-off. 

OEA Solidarity Wednesdays

Our union contract expired on October 31. We need OUSD to see that educators are united behind a bold vision for the safe and racially just schools that our students deserve. Please wear your OEA shirt on Wednesdays!