OEA – Oakland North

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…

Tensions from the recent Oakland teachers’ strike were still reverberating among attendees during a special meeting for the Board of Education on Wednesday night. Hundreds of people filled the auditorium at La Escuelita Education Complex, holding small green signs that set the theme for the night. One side of the signs read “No new charters.”…

Hundreds of Oakland high school students marched to the school board meeting to demand no cuts to student programs. They told the board how the programs affected their lives.

The Oakland teachers’ strike officially ended on Sunday evening, but the debate over their contract and district budget cuts is still not over. The vote on Sunday was far from unanimous. Members of the teachers’ union—the Oakland Education Association—gathered at the Paramount Theater for four hours of debate before voting on whether or not to…

Teachers picket outside the scheduled Oakland school board meeting on Friday. Photo by Wyatt Kroopf.

On Friday afternoon, just as Oakland’s school board meeting was supposed to start, a union representative wearing red–the symbol of the “Red for Ed” movement that has galvanized teachers’ strikes across the nation–stepped in front of the crowd and announced that teachers and school officials had reached a tentative four-year agreement. If ratified, it will…

Teachers and their supporters picketed outside of La Escuelita Education Complex until the school board cancelled their scheduled meeting. Teachers celebrated their success with music, dancing, and chants, as they filled the streets. Photo by Wyatt Kroopf

On the fifth day of their strike, Oakland teachers shut down a school board meeting. Starting in the early afternoon on Wednesday, teachers and their supporters picketed outside of the La Escuelita Education Complex. By the time the meeting was set to start, thousands of teachers, parents, and students were marching all around the building.…

Thousands of teachers and supporters gathered at DeFremery Park on Friday morning to rally during day two of the strike. Teachers wore red to show support for the national "Red for Ed" movement.

On Friday morning, Oakland teachers returned to the picket lines as their strike entered its second day. The bargaining teams from the Oakland Education Association (OEA)—the teachers’ union—and the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) met in the morning to resume negotiations but as of 4 pm Friday afternoon, had not come to any resolution. The…

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…

Teachers rallied in front on City Hall on February 5 to ask for City Council's support on a possible strike. After last-ditch attempts at negotiations failed today, the strike is set to begin tomorrow morning. Photo by Nikka Singh.

Oakland teachers will strike on Thursday, after a last minute efforts to reach an agreement failed today. A new fact-finding report will likely serve as a foundation when negotiations resume on Friday.

Teachers and students demonstrating for a new contract outside of Oakland International High School.

As the teachers’ union and school district continue contract negotiations, teachers across Oakland demonstrated last week to demand smaller class sizes and a pay raise be included in the new contract.

The Oakland Unified School Board meeting Wednesday night was packed—and then it wasn’t. Hundreds of parents and children wearing pro-charter school t-shirts and waving roses filled the left hand side of the gym at La Escuelita Learning Center, spilling over onto the right side where union members from the Oakland Education Association sat. Over twenty…

On Wednesday night, community members interested in teaching in Oakland attended a recruiting event hosted by non-profits Educate 78, Education for Change and the Oakland Unified School District.

School board directors discuss potential changes in the district's enrollment policy.

On Wednesday, district officials presented a plan for improvements to the student enrollment system, Lance Jackson updated the board on the Central Kitchen Project, and the Oakland Athletic League (OAL) presented a progress report from the athletic department.

Wearing bright shirts that say “Fighting for the Schools that Oakland Students Deserve” and holding supportive posters, nearly 500 parents, students, teachers and community members rallied at San Antonio Park on Tuesday before marching to the Oakland Unified School District headquarters on Broadway. Contract negotiations between the Oakland Education Association (OEA) and the school district…

It started with a bargaining tactic, and continued on Wednesday afternoon as a group of about 70 parents, students, and teachers walked down Park Boulevard carrying signs and shouting that they wanted a fairer contract. The march led to a packed school board meeting, as teachers, parents, and community members eagerly waited to speak about…

An OEA member holds up one of many signs at the OUSD school board meeting.

Members of the Oakland Education Association showed up en masse at Tuesday’s school board meeting.

The second-to-last Oakland Unified School District board meeting before the summer recess began Wednesday night with members of the teachers’ union demanding a new contract on the steps outside the district’s office, and ended with those same teachers becoming angry, tired and frustrated at having to wait six hours to present their proposal to the board.