Some parents cross Oakland teachers' picket lines as strike continues

At an event in Hayward this morning, California Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tony Thurmond spoke about his role mediating negotiations between the Oakland Unified School District and the Oakland Education Association, the union for the striking city teachers.

"My job is to keep both sides talking. Keep them talking," he said.

Today is the seventh day of the teachers' strike. The OUSD school year is scheduled to end on May 25. 

"There's no way to predict when it will end. Let me put it this way - if I thought it was going to last through the end of the year I would not be here right now. I would have canceled this event," Thurmond said when asked if he thought the strike would end before classes break for the summer. 

The district's 3,000 teachers, counselors, psychologists, nurses and educators returned to picket lines this morning at Oakland schools.

At Joaquin Miller Elementary and neighboring Monterra Middle School, there were honks of support from people driving past picket lines this morning. Some parents and their kids joined teachers on the picket lines and gathered for music and dancing.

But a growing number of parents are also becoming more vocal about their frustration with the length and timing of this strike at the end of the school year.

The vast majority of OUSD's more than 30,000 students have not been in a classroom with their teacher since May 3.

This morning at Joaquin Miller Elementary School, a group of parents gathered across the street to cross the picket line together, and escort their kids to campus.

An email from the school's principal to parents that was shared with KTVU said 28 students and two teachers were in classrooms on Thursday.

"I've never crossed a picket line before in my life. Yesterday was the first day I crossed," said OUSD parent Francesca Brown, who has a 1st and 3rd grader.

Brown said she worries prolonged and frequent strikes put the district's financial future at long-term risk.

"I've seen wealthy families put their kids in private school, and I just see that happening more and more if we have more strikes in Oakland. Then it's our lower-income families stuck in a dysfunctional system, and not enough money for schools," she said. "I support our teachers 100 percent. I think they absolutely should be paid more, but at this point, I think they should be negotiating these things while our kids are in the classroom."

Joaquin Miller parent, Ali Schwarz disagreed.

"Some people belive they should be back in school while they continue negotiating," she said. "But I know that's not how it works. They don't have power if they're in school."

Other parents have formed strike schools that meet in public places, like a park.

A teacher on the picket line told KTVU she has not noticed a decline in public support. 

"The power we have as a community right now to fight for this is unprecedented," said Joaquin Miller 2nd grade teacher Shelby Ziesing. "Our picket lines were stronger yesterday than they have been all week."

The union and the school district continue to negotiate issues like increased pay for educators, although exactly how that extra pay would be distributed is still being discussed.  So are other issues, like increasing teacher preparation time, giving extra resources to schools where Black students are 40% of the student body, and giving teachers more decision-making power about how schools are run by creating what are called "Community Schools".

The formation of Community Schools is encouraged under a 2021 California law, which provides grants to school districts that form them. To create a Community School, district administrators are required to give teachers and parents decision-making power over how school resources are used, and schools must partner with county and state government entities to provide social services to families and students.

Thurmond said the Oakland Unified School District has $66 million in grants available to use if it agrees to form Community Schools within the district.

The OEA's "Common Goods list" which includes the demand to form Community Schools, has been criticized by OUSD's leaders, parent groups and even the Oakland Chapter of the NAACP as being overly broad and impractical.

Thurmond, however, spoke favorably about it.

"It's a really thoughtful framework," he said, adding: "There are many unions and agreements on the books, in the state and across the country where common good items have been successfully negotiated as part of labor contracts."

A link to the latest common goods proposals from OEA and OUSD can be found here. The most recent post is from May 8. It drops the initial OEA calls for drought-resistant landscaping at schools and the specific demand to convert vacant school buildings into shelters for un-housed students and families, instead asking that OUSD take steps to address homelessness through community partnerships.