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Oakland Teachers Strike Announced On Social Media, Set For February 21st

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The 2019 Oakland Teachers Strike was announced on Twitter, Facebook, and Periscope four hours ago. The date for what’s still be called the “potential” walkout is February 21st. Here’s the full video:

The Oakland Education Association’s website features what the OEA calls a “10-point-checklist” drawn from the independent fact-finders report (which you can read here) released Friday, February 15th.

The OEA claims that the report backs its call for reforms in the Oakland Public Schools, and asserts that the growth in the number of charter schools in Oakland is a major reason for many of the current problems that plague the Oakland Unified School District. Here’s the checklist:

The teacher retention crisis in Oakland is worse than most other districts in the state, and the effect is particularly severe in high-needs schools. (p. 8)

Substandard pay is driving the teacher retention crisis, and the district must take action to keep teachers in Oakland by offering a better wage proposal. (p. 21-22)

Class size reductions must be a priority for the Oakland Unified School District. (p. 16) The district should not continue to seek an increase in special education class sizes. (p.17)

The district has a nursing shortage crisis, and should take steps to lower caseloads for nurses by filling vacancies. (p. 18)

The district should make significant reductions in counselor caseloads through staffing. (p. 18)

The district should fill speech therapists vacancies to lower caseloads. (p. 19)

The district should decrease caseloads for Resource Specialists, and encourage the state-mandate for these important special education jobs be lowered as well. (p. 19)

The district should open three more psychologist positions, so as to place OUSD in line with the National Association of School Psychologist Standards (p. 19)

School privatization is hurting Oakland students (p. 6)

The Oakland Unified School District should remain a sanctuary district, and work to emphasize restorative justice over punitive practices (p. 17)

From the looks of the letter at the front of the report, the OEA is prepared to dig in its heels for what it calls a “struggle for the soul of public education in Oakland.” Here are some of the Twitter tweets from people, groups, and organizations supporting the proposed Oakland Teachers Strike:

Stay tuned.