Meet the Team

Hello, I'm Ronan Gillespie. I've been with OUSD about 5 years and I'm a PE teacher at Oakland International High School. I volunteered to serve on this BT because I believe that bargaining is strongest when OUSD knows it's not just negotiating with a few people, but with the whole active membership of our union, and that we won't settle for anything less than exactly what our school communities need. My goal is to bring the fight for safe conditions from the community to the negotiating table. You can count on me to have a critical eye on negotiations, to share information and insights with full transparency, to listen and solicit input on what our members need, and to help us organize the fight to win these resources.

I joined the BT so that I can support our schools to be as safe as possible. To help organize our union and to help expand democratic processes in bargaining and our union more broadly.

I believe very important to winning in bargaining is open and transparent bargaining that helps all members and community allies understand and become part of the process. Connected with the last part is deep organizing across and between sites that allows members and community allies to lead and deepen the bargaining themselves. Unfortunately I think this will be hard this bargaining cycle since we’re starting this process very late in the game and we have not had much momentum in terms of organizing during this pandemic.

I joined the bargaining team to speak up for Oakland communities and more specifically middle schools. I know that we will keep us safe and we must speak up and stand strong for what our school communities need to be safe. This is a life and death situation and I am prepared to represent community members at the bargaining table.

Joined the bargaining team to represent the needs of Cluster 5. I hope to add to the strength of our big bargaining team by representing our rank and file members. And to advocate at the bargaining table for the best school site conditions for our members, students, families, and community.

My name is Sasha Rockwell. I am a 3rd and 4th grade teacher at Bridges Academy at Melrose in East Oakland.

I joined the Bargaining Team because I believe the fight for safety in our schools is urgent and important. We need weekly, mandatory testing at every site to protect our entire community.

We need to link the work at the bargaining to the safety organizing on the ground. In the coming weeks we will have a number of work actions - informational picketing at sites, an Hour of Power across clusters, and a district-wide march. We need to get as many people involved as possible. This fight is critical. We must act now!

My name is Sarah Vogelstein. I am a Resource Specialist at United for Success Academy, a middle school in the Fruitvale. This is my 5th year in OUSD and my 16th year working in special education. I joined the Safety Bargaining Team because nothing is more important than fighting for safe schools during a pandemic. I believe the keys to a winning bargaining team are developing a proposal in collaboration with our membership, students, and their families; having strong knowledge and a clear understanding, based on the most-up-to date scientific information, of the most effective ways to prevent Covid from spreading in our schools, so that we can keep schools open safely; and linking our on-the-ground organizing directly to our bargaining at the table.

Newcomer Social Science Teacher

Green Energy Pathway Social Science Teacher

Co-Safety Lead and Site Rep.

I am passionate about improving learning and teaching safety conditions at Skyline and other high schools. I really enjoy teaching in person and really want to stay teaching in person and I know my students do too. I believe that a strong safety MOU will save lives and push the district forward in realizing the safety measures that are necessary to maintain the public health standards resources our students and teachers deserve.

I believe that the best way to win at the bargaining table is through family and community support, media attention on the realities and perils faced by Oakland students and educators, and the push we will need from rank and file membership. Our community clearly wants a strong testing program and I believe this will be critical for OUSD to remain open in person this school year.

My name is Divya Farias and I am an 11-12th grade Inclusion Teacher / RSP at Coliseum College Prep Academy. I joined the Bargaining Team this fall compelled by the urgency of ensuring our schools are safe for all students and education workers. My strength and experience in the union is as an organizer, and I hope to help the team mobilize the weight of the membership as well as families, students, and classified staff to demand the resources, protocols, and staffing we have actually needed long before the pandemic. I believe that our success at the bargaining table depends on the strength of the collective labor action and community involvement that we are able to organize.

My name is Stephen Aguayo and I am a Special Education Teacher at Madison Park Academy. This is my fourth year teaching and tenth year working in a school, however this is my first in California. At MPA I teach English (SDC classes), study skills and I am the case manager for 11th grade students with an IEP.

I recently moved to Oakland 2 months ago and think joining the bargaining team is a great opportunity to become involved in my new school district. In addition, I was teaching in Central New York and have experienced in person teaching post/during covid last year.

I believe the key to winning for the bargaining team is to present a concise and deliverable proposal. The interests of the students safety and ability to learn should be apparent to anyone who reads the proposal. As for how to pressure prominent stakeholders, I am interested in the opinions of more tenured members on the team.

Hello all, my name is Autumn, I am a second grade teacher at Esperanza Elementary, and I am honored to be on this safety bargaining team. I joined the bargaining team because I am a fighter, I am an advocate, and because I want to help push OUSD to make our schools safe for everyone. I am also an organizer and I believe that we have a strong union and that organizing is the way to win safer conditions, so let’s get organized for safer schools.

I am a Career Techincal Education instructor and teach Engineering for grades 10-12 at Madison Park Academy 6-12 in East Oakland. I am on the Safety Bargaining Team because I need to understand all of the moving parts of this OUSD COVID response in order to make better decisions.

To get this right everyone on the team must commit to understanding the wants and needs of all sides, not just our own. There is no room for personal agendas. We must be ready to make decisions that are best for students, families, and staff; that may come at the expense of our personal wants.

My name is Maria Pirner. I am a TK/K teacher and STEAM lead at Korematsu Discovery Academy. I joined the bargaining team, because a safe environment is the most important piece that a school should provide before all else. I also believe that safety and access should not vary from site to site. All students, staff, and families have a right to feel safe and protected on every campus within OUSD. For me, a winning bargaining team works with and for the entire community. I will fight for both immediate fixes to safety along with more long term commitments that require more partnerships.

I’m Craig Gordon, a substitute teacher and retired OUSD high/middle school history teacher. I joined the Safety MOU Bargaining Team, because I want to help ensure that rank-and-file members are fully informed and have meaningful input at every step in this process. A transparent, democratic bargaining process is essential to organizing active involvement by OEA members, other school workers and the community. Our only leverage is our ability to organize and mobilize actions that impose material consequences on the district and its political/economic backers.