Tensions rise, Oakland teachers move picket line to district office under construction

OAKLAND, Calif. - Oakland teachers on strike took their picket line to a new spot early Thursday morning, picketing outside a school district office under construction. 

Before the sun came up, about a dozen teachers rallied at the construction site at the Cole campus on Union Street, which is slated for a two-story OUSD administrative office building.

Things got a bit tense when a contractor drove to the site to start work, driving his SUV close to the picketing teachers, pushing them closer to the locked construction site fence. 

Some heated words were exchanged between the union members and the contractor. He eventually stopped his SUV outside the fence and the picketers let him walk into the site.

"He just kept saying, ‘You can’t do this. You can't do this,'" parent Robbie Donohoe said. 

The heated moment came on Day 6 of the teachers' strike, where they decided to put focus on a new administrative building that is slated to cost $57 million paid for by Measure Y bond funds. 

"We want to draw attention to the ironies," said teacher Divya Farias. 

In a YouTube statement, Supt. Kyla Johnson-Trammel said that the district and the teachers appear to be close to an agreement. OUSD has already offered up to 22% for some teachers and union professionals.

District leaders and spokespersons have not made themselves available to answer KTVU's direct questions since Monday.

The union says this strike is about more than money for them, and they're calling for a long list of other items to be negotiated: Everything from reparations for Black students, more teacher input on how schools are run, and facilities upgrades like better HVAC systems and climate controls in classrooms.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao weighed in on Thursday urging both sides to come together to end the strike and worked toward the shared goal of a united city, "one in which all residents have opportunities to live, work, play and learn. That includes our children, who deserve to be in classrooms getting quality education in a safe, equitable and joyful environment. And that includes our teachers and school district staff, who are charged with educating our greatest asset: Oakland’s youth."

The district's more than 30,000 students have not been in class since last Thursday. 

The school year is scheduled to end on May 25.