‘Don’t privatize Oakland schools!’

Several hundred Oakland Education Association teachers as well as students and parents rallied outside an Oakland Unified School District Board meeting on Jan. 28. After they went inside, they spoke out against proposals to privatize Fremont, Castlemont and McClymonds high schools, Frick middle school and Brookfield elementary. They also opposed efforts to make it easier for charter schools to recruit public school families.

These measures are tied to changes the district is pushing to the teachers’ union contract, which would make these turnarounds easier to implement. The OEA is fighting for the resources needed to create stable schools and bottom-up school transformation.

Teachers were also demanding pay increases to match salaries paid in other Bay Area districts, which would enable the OUSD to keep and attract the best teachers.

This follows an action taken Jan. 8 by students at Fremont High School, one of those targeted for privatization. They shut down and took over an OUSD community engagement meeting at their school in protest.