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Teachers and Port of Oakland Workers Strike Friday Against School Closures and Billionaire Fisher’s Port Deal

The Oakland administration and school board have rushed to close schools ignoring its own policy and contract commitments to implement its commitments to confer with parents, teachers and the public about its proposals. Rather than “engage” with school communities, the school closures are being planned in concert with state leaders and their representatives, Alameda County Schools’ Supt. L.K. Monroe and the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT).

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Teachers and community rally against budget cuts and school closures. Photo courtesy of CTA.
Teachers and community rally against budget cuts and school closures. Photo courtesy of CTA.

OUSD Supt. Johnson-Trammell says teacher strike is “illegal” but urges students to stay home on Friday

By Ken Epstein

Oakland educators and Port of Oakland longshore workers are holding simultaneous one-day strikes on Friday as a city-wide movement continues to grow in response to billionaires and gentrifiers backed by elected Democrats seeking to close as many as half of the city’s public schools and give away public funds and public land to build a $12-billion real estate deal and baseball stadium at the Port.

The strikes, as well as rallies and a march, were proposed by a new coalition, Schools and Labor Against Privatization (S.L.A.P.) composed of rank and file educators, members and leaders of ILWU Local and community members to oppose the privatization of public assets and the accelerated displacement of Oakland’s Black, Latino and working class residents.

Keith Brown, president of the Oakland Education Association (OEA), announced the educators’ work stoppage at a press conference on Tuesday. He said an overwhelming 75% of OEA voting members voted to authorize the one-day strike “because the Oakland Unified School District has unilaterally set aside its 2019 agreement with OEA to engage with families when considering school closures. OUSD has continued to ignore this important agreement despite the outcry from families to stop school closures.”

Trent Willis, past president International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 10 said the union moved its annual May Day stop-work meeting from Sunday to Friday so both unions could join together to protest privatization of public resources.

Willis said that longshore workers and school communities are facing the same opponents.

“We have in common the same billionaire, John Fisher, also a funder of KIPP and Rocketship charter schools, who is trying to privatize our schools and our ports,” he said. “Howard Terminal is key to our Port infrastructure and crucial as an economic engine of the Bay Area. It is a nexus between the port cargo area, ILWU training area, and ship turn around. It is critical to keeping trucks off of the streets of West Oakland and is next to a fully functioning industrial railroad.

“Already the (public) price tag for building the luxury condos and A’s stadium is $1.3 million, (and) they want to close down Oakland’s public schools? Not on our watch,” he said.

Willis added, “The ILWU is really excited about this coalition, Schools and Labor Against Privatization — in fact SLAP is urging similar committees against privatization around the country.”

OEA President Brown said that the strike is taking place because educators are taking “the next step to stop school closures that will displace thousands of students and disproportionately impact Black students in Oakland. Educators say that they (have) had enough. We have authorized a one-day ULB (Unfair Labor Practices) strike to let the district know that the refusal to honor agreements and to have meaningful conversations about how these school closures will impact communities of color is unacceptable.”

“This plan to close schools in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods will accelerate charter growth and gentrification, leading to more educational segregation and a financial drain. That already costs Oakland Public Schools $57 million annually,” he said.

“We call on our elected officials to provide students and schools with the support that they need — instead of closing our schools — and stop the disruption and dislocation of our students. Closing schools does not save money. Our students need more, not less.”

He said that on April 29, teachers are picketing at all OUSD school sites at 6:30 a.m. Other actions that are taking place during the day include a rally at Oscar Grant Plaza at Oakland City Hall and a march to the OUSD headquarters at 1000 Broadway.

The Oakland administration and school board have rushed to close schools ignoring its own policy and contract commitments to implement its commitments to confer with parents, teachers and the public about its proposals. Rather than “engage” with school communities, the school closures are being planned in concert with state leaders and their representatives, Alameda County Schools’ Supt. L.K. Monroe and the Fiscal Crisis Management and Assistance Team (FCMAT).

OUSD has already closed about 20 schools since 2003. This year and next year, the district is planning to close about 12 more schools. Officials have said repeatedly that OUSD should ultimately shut down about half of its 80 public schools.

Joining in the strike are school workers in AFCME and SEIU 102. A representative of the Alameda Labor Council spoke at the OEA press conference, backing the unions.

OUSD Supt. Kyla Johnson Trammell denounced the strike as an “illegal” work stoppage and urged parents and guardians not to send their children to school on Friday.

“While school buildings will be open on Friday and all employees are still required to come to work, we do not believe that we’ll be able to cover the high number of expected staff absences with substitutes or reassigned central office staff,” she said. “Therefore, we are asking all families not to send their children to school on Friday. The absence will be excused, and no student will be adversely impacted by not attending school that day.”

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Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 – 21, 2023

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of March 15 - 21, 2023

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

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Richmond Promise Scholarship Application Deadline Closes March 17

Qualifying applicants can receive up to $1,500 annually for four years toward their post-secondary educational goals at a two-year or four-year college and/or while pursuing a Career Technical Education Certificate at any not-for-profit institution in the U.S. 

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Scholarships are available for high school graduates who want to go to a two-year or four-year college or a nonprofit vocational/technical school. Photo courtesy of Richmond Promise.
Scholarships are available for high school graduates who want to go to a two-year or four-year college or a nonprofit vocational/technical school. Photo courtesy of Richmond Promise.

Calling all high school seniors from Richmond and North Richmond: The Richmond Promise Scholarship Application period for the 2022-2023 school year closes on Friday, March 17.

High school seniors and GED students under the age of 24 who reside in Richmond and North Richmond and attend public, private, or charter schools in West Contra Costa County are eligible to apply for the scholarship.

Qualifying applicants can receive up to $1,500 annually for four years toward their post-secondary educational goals at a two-year or four-year college and/or while pursuing a Career Technical Education Certificate at any not-for-profit institution in the U.S. 

Students can also petition for an additional two years of extra funding. Throughout the process, the program provides supportive services to participating scholars from high school through college graduation, including support with identifying and applying for financial aid.

Richmond Promise launched in 2016 with a $35 million, 10-year investment by Chevron Richmond. The funds are part of a $90 million community benefits agreement between the City of Richmond and Chevron connected to the $1 billion Refinery Modernization Project.

To apply for the Richmond Promise Scholarship, go to https://richmondpromise.tfaforms.net/81. Need some help? Reach out to Richmond Promise at scholarships@richmondpromise.org. Learn more about the organization https://richmondpromise.org/

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report

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Bay Area Native Dr. Terri Jett Honored by Indiana’s Butler University

Terri Jett arrived at Butler University in 1999 to begin her teaching career as an assistant professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies after earning her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from Auburn University. Originally from California, Jett was unfamiliar with the Hoosier state, but was drawn to the energy of the faculty and students she met at Butler and the opportunity she saw for connecting her teaching and research with the broader Indianapolis community.

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Dr. Terri Jett poses with Butler Blue, the mascot of Butler University. Photo courtesy of Butler University Stories.
Dr. Terri Jett poses with Butler Blue, the mascot of Butler University. Photo courtesy of Butler University Stories.

By Jennifer Gunnels
Butler University Stories

Bay Area native Terri Jett was received a Distinguished Faculty Award at Indiana’s Butler University.

Terri Jett arrived at Butler University in 1999 to begin her teaching career as an assistant professor of Political Science and Peace and Conflict Studies after earning her Ph.D. in Public Policy and Public Administration from Auburn University.

Originally from California, Jett was unfamiliar with the Hoosier state, but was drawn to the energy of the faculty and students she met at Butler and the opportunity she saw for connecting her teaching and research with the broader Indianapolis community.

More than 20 years later, Jett has excelled at the work she set out to do. Last year, she was named a 2021-22 Distinguished Faculty Award recipient for her profound contributions to Butler University over the course of her career.

In many ways, Jett has been a trailblazer at Butler, including becoming the first Black female to earn tenure, and in 2020 becoming the first Black female to be promoted to full professor. Along with her teaching responsibilities as a member of the faculty, Jett has taken on numerous additional roles over the years including faculty director of the Hub for Black Affairs and Community Engagement (the Hub), member of the Steering Committee of the Race, Gender, Sexuality Studies Program (RGSS), faculty senator, and Faculty Fellow at the Desmond Tutu Peace Lab Think Tank. She also served as Department Chair from 2007-2014, a role she has currently resumed as interim while the current Chair is on sabbatical.

Jett has developed almost two dozen courses — core, departmental, honors, and even taught in our Washington D.C. Semester Program — and is always eager to seize on opportunities to take her students beyond the borders of campus. She has led students on numerous occasions to Selma, Alabama with the Honors course Voting Rights in Black and White: The Case of the Selma to Montgomery Voting Rights March. She says walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge is always a moving and eye-opening experience for her students that brings the Civil Rights Movement to life in new ways.

Of the many courses she has taught, Jett says one of her favorites to teach is the Politics of Alice Walker, which she teaches nearly every summer. Prior to the pandemic, Jett also offered the course several times at the Indiana Women’s Prison and was able to bring some of her Butler students to visit her class in prison.

Jett is committed to doing good things in the world herself and is known in the Indianapolis community for her service and activism. She currently serves on the board of Indiana Humanities and is appointed by Mayor Joe Hogsett to the Indianapolis Land Improvement Bond Bank Board. She also moderates a series on local PBS station WFYI called Simple Civics, which provides short civics lessons and was nominated for a Great Lakes Region Emmy in 2020 and again in 2021.

Jett says her community activism is inspired in part by a desire to demonstrate how to be an engaged citizen for her students as well as a desire to connect her teaching and research to issues happening within the community.

“And I do it because it’s fulfilling,” she said.

Though Jett has various roles within and outside of Butler, she finds satisfaction in discovering ways to integrate her teaching, research, and service. For instance, her research focuses on agriculture and food justice, and last year she leveraged her area of academic expertise and her role as Faculty Director of the Hub to partner with Indy Women in Food in hosting the organization’s first conference on Butler’s campus focused on food insecurity in the city.

“I’m thrilled when I’m able to do that,” Jett said. “All of the hats that I wear are sort of constantly engaged at the same time, and I like that I get to work like that. I’m not running from one thing to the next, I feel like my work is layered with multiple connection points.”

This article is part of a series honoring the 2021-22 recipients of the Butler University Distinguished Faculty Award. Printed with permission.

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