Bay Area

WCCUSD Educators Getting 14.5% Salary Hike Within 5 Months

West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) educators will see a total 14.5% increase in salary within the next five months, part of a three-year contract agreement with the United Teachers of Richmond (UTR) that was ratified by UTR members on February 17, according to the school district. In statements, the school district called the agreement “historic,” saying it reflects the highest two-year total increase that WCCUSD has offered in more than 20 years.

Published

3 years ago

February 23, 2023

Oakland Post

Kennedy High School in Richmond. Photo courtesy of The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

In statements, the school district called the agreement “historic,” saying it reflects the highest two-year total increase that WCCUSD has offered in more than 20 years.

As part of the agreement, the district says it will additionally increase the dollar amount of benefits contributions to maintain employees’ current level of health coverage and buffer the rising cost of medical care; establish mental health as an approved reason for Personal Necessity Leave; and expand parental leave (see a summary of agreements incorporated in the contract at the bottom of this story).

“While financing this agreement was not easy, we are proud to offer this critical investment in our educators,” WCCUSD Superintendent Dr. Chris Hurst said. “We strongly believe that this is an ethical reimagination of our district priorities, investing in our students, schools, and programs by recruiting and retaining highly qualified classroom educators.”

According to the district, financing the agreement required “aggressive reallocation of resources” and will mean the district’s budget will undergo significant operational cuts.

The newly ratified deal with UTR followed contentious negotiations and averted a potential strike.

When an impasse in negotations was declared in December, the district had reportedly offered its educators a cumulative 10% raise by July this year, as well as equity-based salary adjustments for hard-to-staff positions that were far below market rate. The UTR countered with a cumulative 17% in the same period, and had additionally requested increases in the third year of the contract, tied to an expected increase in state funding.

In a statement last week, the California Teachers Association (CTA) lauded the new agreement as prioritizing both safety and educator pay. In addition to the 14.5% salary increase, the new contract requires that MERV-31 or HEPA filters are placed in all workplaces, incorporates procedures to document safety concerns and provides educators with trauma-informed de-escalation strategies, according to CTR.

The new deal also incorporates language pertaining to the development of a Community Schools model of education into the UTR contract, a first for CTA member associations. A Community Schools model is one that develops partnerships between a school and other community resources that support a child’s growth beyond the classroom, with an integrated focus on academics, social services, leadership and community engagement, according to the CTA.

According to the WCCUSD, the role of classroom educators in shared governance of Community Schools was a point of contention in contract negotiations. The district had previously proposed addressing incorporation of Community Schools in a separate document or Memorandum of Understanding.

UTR President John Zabala said the new contract agreement, which was approved by 72.84% of 1,182 voting UTR members on Friday, achieves the union’s priorities.

“This was only possible through the incredible organizing efforts that our union demonstrated this year. New leaders have emerged and stepped up, giving up their nights and weekends,” Zabala said. “It has been an honor to meet and work with our zone captains, our organizing team, and our picket captains. We owe them so much.”

Summary of Agreements Included in the 2022-2025 Contract Deal Between WCCUSD and the UTR (as provided by the district):

Increases in Compensation

A 14.5% salary increase over the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 contract years, broken down as follows:
- 7% for the 2022-2023 school year, retroactive to July 1, 2022, including a 1% salary increase that funds additional educator time for collaboration and assessment;
- 5% for the 2023-2024 school year, including 1.5% to fund 1 additional educator workday in the work year;
Increased dollar amount in benefits contributions in order to maintain employees’ current level of coverage and buffer the rising cost of medical care, amounting to the equivalent of another 1.06% of compensation each year for the next three years;
An increase of the educator overtime rate, from $33 per hour to $42 per hour; as well as an increase of the period subbing rate to $50 for secondary and $55 for elementary; and
Increased rate for required staff development.

Direct Efforts to Address the Educator Staffing Crisis

Removal of the limit on years of service that new employees can bring from another district;
Improvement to the value and function of teacher transfer rounds by providing a financial incentive for teachers who notify the District of retirement/resignation by February 1 of each school year;
Compensation at the hourly rate for nurses covering for the absence of another nurse; and
Compensation at 120% rate for nurses covering a higher caseload due to unfilled positions.

Recognition of Educators’ Work Beyond the Instructional Day

A self-directed, work-from-home compensated workday (an extraordinarily rare work benefit for K-12 teachers)
A salary increase of 3.5% for secondary teachers who teach more than three preps (that is, who have to prepare to teach more than three different courses);
Additional stipend for elementary teachers teaching combination classes;
One paid week of collaboration for Speech Language Pathologists; and
Additional stipends for teacher leadership positions, including Teacher in Charge, Community Schools Lead Teacher, World Languages Department Chair, Assistive Technology (WATR) Department Chair.

Commitment to Shared Governance of Schools:

A first in the state of California: Contractual language to maintain our educators’ partnership in shared governance of WCCUSD’s long-standing Community Schools initiatives, both at the district and school site levels; and
Continuation of the collaborative process for creating the professional collaboration calendar at every school.

Improvements to Educators’ Wellness and Safety:

Expansion of the approved reasons for Personal Necessity Leave to include mental health;
MERV-13 filters or HEPA air purifiers for all workspace;
Streamlined process for safety complaints;
Expansion of paid parental leave, from 2 weeks on top of FMLA leave to 3 weeks on top of FMLA leave; and
Removal of the sunset clause for parental leave.

Improvements to Teaching and Learning Environments:

Continuation of class size reductions that went into effect on July 1, 2022;
Reduction of class size for Career Technical Education classes;
Reduction of the counselor-to-student ratio at high schools, from 350:1 to 338:1; and
Improved safeguards for space in dance classes by establishing class size as a 6-foot radius per student within the assigned dance room, up to a maximum of 51 in large rooms.

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Activism

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses. The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Toks Omishakin, secretary of the California State Transportation Agency, was one of the speakers at the event. Photo by Shellee Fisher Photography and Design.

By Calvin Naito, Special to The Post

On June 4, a national nonprofit named the Equity in Infrastructure Project (EIP) – which aims to increase public construction contracting opportunities for small and historically underutilized businesses – held a day-long event in downtown San Francisco to rally supporters and build momentum to its cause.

It was attended by more than 100 individuals from public agencies, private firms, and other organizations committed to increasing contracting opportunities with governmental agencies, thereby creating more competition and lowering public costs.

The EIP event was held the Hyatt Regency San Francisco in conjunction with BuildIT, which aims to increase contracting opportunities for LGBT-owned businesses.

At the event, 16 entities signed the EIP pledge, vowing to take steps to increase public contracting opportunities in their spheres for small and historically underutilized businesses.

The pledge signees included Hub International, the Port of San Francisco, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Port of Oakland, Robert Graham of Webcor Builders, Holder Construction, the Weitz Company, Sky Blue Builders, Hornblower, Swinerton, Luster National, Talson Solutions, Center for Community Wealth Building, and the Construction Contractors Alliance.

Following the workshop, BuildIT hosted a VIP evening reception honoring EIP, whose principals – Phil Washington, John Procari, and Rick Jacobs – accepted the award.

The event also set in motion the coalition’s efforts to implement recommendations from EIP’s “Procurement for Prosperity: A Playbook.”

The Playbook is a practical guide for public agency leaders and procurement and contracting practitioners to grow the capacity of small and first-time contractors, strengthen competition, and deliver better value for taxpayers.

Toks Omishakin, Secretary of the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA), a long-time EIP supporter, also told attendees, “This is about commitment. This has been a life’s work. This is a tailwind moment.”

The event’s presenting sponsor was Hub International, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the nation, which was joined by partners Travelers Insurance and the State Compensation Insurance Fund.

After the pledge-signing ceremony, attendees participated in a workshop in which they examined the policies, practices, and programs needed to meet EIP goals, learned from practitioners, and identified next steps toward utilizing the Playbook.

Ingrid Meriwether, formerly of Merriwether & Williams Insurance Services (MWIS) and current president of Hub International’s Aligned Risk Management, MWIS, described the hard-fought lessons she and her MWIS team have learned over the last three decades administering contractor development programs (CDPs) for the City and County of San Francisco, Alameda County, City of Los Angeles, LA Metro, and other municipalities.

The CDPs help small and local construction firms win public infrastructure contracts with these government agencies. The program provides bonding assistance, contract financing, technical support, training, and other services to underrepresented businesses funded by public agencies who seek greater contracting participation with these firms.

Merriwether said programs like these “break down systemic barriers, create greater fairness, and save taxpayers money by enabling more competition. The contractor development programs have, cumulatively, over two decades, helped contractors access over $1 billion in bonding, supporting over $380 million in awarded contracts, and maintaining a loss ratio 250 times lower than the industry average – while saving participating municipalities more than $27 million in contracting costs as a result of enabling more competition.”

Rick Jacobs, EIP co-founder and co-chair urged attendees make plans to meet again in the near future “to continue building on this work, share progress on organizational commitments, and discuss how we can collectively advance the goals of the EIP pledge.”

For more information on the EIP and to access a copy of the Playbook, go online to https://equityininfrastructure.org/

Calvin Naito is communications manager for Equity in Infrastructure Project.

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Oakland Museum Presents Landmark Retrospective Celebrating Beloved Bay Area Artist Mildred Howard

“Poetics of Memory” coincides with a year of major recognition for Howard. In 2026, she received the California Arts Council’s 50th Anniversary Award, honoring artists whose work has shaped California’s cultural and civic life, as well as the Museum of the African Diaspora’s Artist Impact Award. In 2025, she was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship in recognition of her transformative contributions to American cultural life.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Mildred Howard. Photo by Christine Cueto for the Oakland Museum of California, 2025.

Special to The Post

The Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) opened “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory,” the first major museum survey of Bay Area artist Mildred Howard, on June 12.

The exhibition spans five decades of Howard’s influential work, bringing together immersive installations, found-object sculptures, archival materials, and new commissions that explore memory, identity, and power in American life.

Howard was born in San Francisco in 1945 and raised in the East Bay, where she went on to study Afro-Haitian dance, make and sell clothing, and experiment with collage and sculpture.

Her multimedia art practice emerged from these experiences, later becoming associated with West Coast conceptual art, San Francisco funk, and a vibrant community of artists like Oliver Jackson, Betye Saar, and Raymond Saunders. Since the 1970s, she has used found materials and family stories to explore memory—both individual and collective.

At OMCA, visitors enter “Poetics of Memory” through a series of intimate galleries featuring Howard’s early mixed-media pieces and sculptures, along with a large video projection of a number of her public artworks.

Together, they emphasize Howard’s interest in everyday objects as powerful carriers of individual and shared stories. Highlights include collages that remix images of the artist herself; found-object sculptures like The History of the United States with a few Parts Missing (2007) that address omissions in dominant narratives; and public works like “Locks and Keys for Harry Bridges” (2001) that transform urban space into a meditation on access and labor.

This culminates in a richly detailed “studio” environment, where works in progress, archival exhibition flyers, historic photographs of Howard and her community, postcards from fellow artists, and other materials offer insight into her creative process and daily life.

The exhibition then opens into a high-ceilinged, dramatically lit space that brings together Howard’s signature immersive installations. On one end, “Crossings” (1997/2026) – a field of hundreds of ceramic eggs leading to an ornate mirror – suggests cycles of birth, motherhood, and transition, while drawing on the emotional echoes of the Middle Passage. On the other end, “Blackbird in a Red Sky” (a.k.a. “Fall of the Blood House”) (2002) – a red glass shack bordered by a pond – also uses reflection and transparency to draw viewers into the work and prompt consideration of themes of identity and home.

Howard’s newest video installation, “Moving Stills” (2026), repurposes never-before-seen family footage she took as a teenager on a train trip to the American South. Projected onto cascading layers of translucent fabric that stretch across an entire gallery wall, the piece immerses viewers in a layered meditation on memory, migration, and time.

The “Mildred Howard: Poetics of Memory” exhibit will be on display through Oct. 11 at the Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St., Oakland, CA 94612. Museum hours are Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended hours on Fridays to 9 p.m.

This story is sourced from the Oakland Museum of California press office.

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Alameda County

Ferry Fares to Increase July 1 as Ridership Hits Record Highs

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

Published

3 days ago

June 24, 2026

Oakland Post

Courtesy photo.

By Mike Aldax, The Richmond Standard

Starting July 1, the standard adult fare for the San Francisco Bay Ferry route between Richmond and San Francisco will increase to $5.20, up from the current $4.90.

Discounted fares for eligible passengers, including youth, seniors, people with disabilities, and Clipper START users, will rise to $2.60 from the current $2.40. Children under 5 will continue to ride for free.

The Oakland and Alameda routes will increase from $4.90 to $5.10, the South San Francisco route will go up from $7.40 to $7.60, and the Vallejo route will increase from $9.90 to $10.

The adjustments are part of a systemwide fare update approved by the agency’s Board of Directors, which is moving away from a flat 3% annual increase to route-specific pricing for the 2027 and 2028 fiscal years.

This fare update arrives as San Francisco Bay Ferry celebrates a historic May, transporting 301,270 passengers. The record-breaking figure represents an 8% increase over May 2025 and marks the third consecutive month of record-setting ridership.

Furthermore, it is the sixth month in a row that passenger numbers have exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Weekend travel has been a primary driver of this growth, with average weekend ridership seeing a 56% increase compared to pre-pandemic trends.

The agency states that the fare adjustments are necessary to ensure the long-term fiscal sustainability of public ferry services. By shifting to route-specific adjustments, the agency aims to offset rising operating costs while maintaining the high levels of service frequency and reliability.