Oakland Unified School District plans to eliminate 100 classified workers’ positions

Classified workers represented by SEIU were on the picket lines with teachers during their strike in February. Now, classified workers are challenging layoffs and low pay.

Melvin Phillips has worked in Oakland schools for the last 27 years. He is currently the lead school security officer at Fremont High School and he is one of hundreds of classified employees in the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Classified workers include instructional specialists like classroom support staff and tutors, administrative workers, custodians, security…

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Oakland City Council gives schools $1.2 million in one-time funding for the school year

Hundreds of Oakland students protested budget cuts at a school board meeting in March. Last week, Oakland City Council restored funding for student programs affected by those cuts. Photo by Nikka Singh.

Last Tuesday, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution to provide $1.2 million in funding for the Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) restorative justice program, foster youth case manager positions, and school libraries. All three programs were at risk of enacting widespread layoffs or reductions to the services they provide following the Oakland school board’s…

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Oakland school board votes for $9 million in budget cuts

A crowd of over 100 students, teachers and community members march from the Lake Merritt Amphitheater to La Escuelita to protest the impending school-site budget cuts. Photo by Anne Wernikoff

In a six to one vote, the Oakland Unified School District school board voted to cut $9 million from the district’s budget on Wednesday night. Earlier in the afternoon, members of the Oakland Education Association assembled at Lake Merritt to protest the proposed cuts, then marched down the streets toward La Escuelita Elementary School, where…

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