2019 February

Notes On Oakland Teachers Strike

Notes on Oakland Teachers Strike
By Peter Shapiro

1. The Oakland Education Association (OEA) demands: 12% pay hike over 3 years, more support staff (nurses, counselors, speech pathologists & resource specialists), smaller classes & no more school closures.

2. The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) teachers are so badly paid that many can’t afford to live here. Class size is also an issue. As a result, teacher turnover is extremely high — 500 out of 3000 left the district last year. This is a sore spot with students, who have several organized one-day sympathy strikes in recent weeks. They’re sick of seeing good teachers leave.

3. District has a lot of high needs kids — special ed, kids in foster care, immigrant kids who are still learning English (“newcomers”). Proliferation of charter schools (which enroll a far smaller proportion of these kids) has increased the burden on regular schools. More support staff badly needed, for the kids and their teachers.

For the remaining Notes (#4 through #10), click here for the complete document.