Strike ends: Oakland teachers return to work with 10% pay raise

Oakland Unified School District

Oakland Unified School District teachers will return to work Tuesday, 12 days after striking when the union and district could not come to an agreement on wages and other issues. The three-year tentative deal, retroactive to Nov. 1, 2022, includes a 10% raise and a $5,000 one-time payment, a compensation package that Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell…

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An Oakland teacher explains why he’s going on strike

Today is the first day of the Oakland teachers’ strike. Public school teachers and staff gathered outside their schools to form picket lines, chanting and rallying support in their quest for smaller class sizes, higher wages, more student support services and a promise from the district that there will be no more school closures. Earlier…

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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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Q&A: Meet new Oakland Education Association president Trish Gorham

With the new school year approaching, Oakland North sits down with the newly hired Oakland Education Association (OEA) president, Trish Gorham. In this wide-ranging interview, the new head of the teachers’ union discusses school closures, the small schools movement, inequity among Oakland schools, the Lakeview protest, the challenges facing Oakland’s teachers and much more.

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Labor council decides not to sanction picket line at Lakeview Elementary

During a closed meeting on Wednesday, the Alameda Central Labor Council—an organization that represents over 100 workers’ unions and helps employers bargain to improve their workplaces—decided against a motion to sanction a workers’ picket line in front of Lakeview Elementary School which would have prevented unionized workers employed by the district from helping to develop the site into administrative offices.

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Lakeview Elementary School supporters host concert and rally

Over one hundred people gathered at Splash Pad Park on Sunday for a “Celebration and Convergence for Public Education” concert and rally hosted by the supporters of the Lakeview sit-in and People’s School for Public Education. The park became a home for the People’s School after the volunteer-run program, and the tent city it served, were raided at Lakeview Elementary School in early July.

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