OAKLAND — In anticipation of a possible teachers strike later this month, Oakland Unified is scrambling to cobble a plan to keep schools operating, one that may involve consolidating classes, bringing in substitute teachers and putting administrators back into the classroom.
Teachers voted last week to authorize their union, the Oakland Education Association, to call a strike if salary negotiations with the school district break down.
The union and the district are still in the fact-finding stage of contract talks, which will end Feb. 15 when an independent panel issues a recommended proposal based on its review of the district’s books. If union leaders aren’t satisfied with the panel’s recommendation and whatever new offer the district might make, they could immediately call on the union’s 3,000 members to strike.
At a news conference Wednesday, district officials said it’s too early to gauge how much a possible strike could disrupt classrooms. The district is gathering a pool of substitutes to have on deck, Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell said, but if all 3,000 teachers walk out, it may run out of subs to cover all 37,000 students.
“I would like to hope that (students) are not just watching Netflix,” Johnson-Trammell told reporters Wednesday. “We will have to actually design how the classroom experience looks differently, because we do know in some of our schools there may be less staff. Will the educational experience be exactly like it is during regular times? Probably not. That’s where the creativity comes in … it’s first making sure our students are safe.”
District spokesman John Sasaki said schools may have to change schedules and consolidate classes. Since many of the district’s administrators are former teachers, they might be reassigned to teach classes, he said.
Oakland Education Association president Keith Brown said in an interview that although the potential strike may upset school routines, it could result in a better education for students in the long run because the union’s demands also aim to stem teacher turnover and reduce class sizes.
“If Oakland teachers are forced to strike, a short disruption could lead to long-term improvements and student achievements,” Brown said.
The Oakland City Council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday supporting a potential teachers’ strike.
The Oakland Education Association has been without a contract since July 2017 and is seeking a new one that would provide a 12 percent pay raise over three years, smaller class sizes and the hiring of additional counselors and nurses. The district has offered a 5 percent raise over three years.
Johnson-Trammell has said she and other administrators acknowledge teachers should be paid much more, but the district is too financially strapped to accommodate them. The district is grappling with a budget shortfall that could steadily reach $56 million by the 2020-21 school year unless drastic cost-reduction measures are taken, such as possibly closing as many as two dozen schools.
The average annual salary for Oakland teachers was $63,149 during the 2017-18 school year, according to a report from the state’s Department of Education. Salaries range from $46,570 to $83,724.
Oakland’s last sanctioned teacher strike was in 2010, and it lasted one day. A 26-day teacher strike occurred in 1996.
The district estimates it will cost about $3.5 million a year for each 1 percent pay raise, Johnson-Trammell said in an email last week to parents, students and faculty.
District officials have been lobbying at the state level for additional school funding, she said.