Oakland teachers on track to enter day 8 of strike

Oakland educators have been on strike for seven days. They're on track to enter day eight tomorrow. The Oakland Education Association and the school district still bargaining over a new contract. Thanks for joining us here on Cronfort News at eight. I'm Noelle Bellow. As the strike continues, students are not receiving a normal education. Cronfort's Amanda Harry spoke to a parent about how this is affecting her student.

Amanda. It's clear from the parent I spoke to that the strike has been stressful for everyone involved. She says she feels torn. She wants the teachers to have fair working conditions, but she also wants the kids to have the education they deserve. I am crossing the picket line. It's been more than a week since teachers with the Oakland Education Association left the classroom to rally on the streets. Patricia Johnson says for the first few days of the strike, she kept her second grader home, but it just wasn't working.

And it just was so hard to work. And it reminded me of some of the deepest days of the pandemic when I was just home with him and I couldn't focus. She says her son was frustrated too. After losing so much of his early education to the pandemic, she felt compelled to send him back to the classroom. Johnson says without the structure of school, kids in the community aren't sure what to do at their time, including one boy she saw at a local park. But he was at the park alone, unsupervised. He's maybe nine years old and hungry.

Teachers have continued to bargain in hopes of getting kids back to school before the end of the year, which is just 10 days away. On Saturday, the group came to a tentative agreement on some common good items, which include things like support for unhoused students, reparations for Black students, and transportation. I felt really strongly about these common good demands because in my day-to-day teaching, I see the way that these items affect students, and then that affects teaching and learning conditions. Johnson says she values what the teachers are fighting for, but doesn't support keeping the kids out of the classroom because of it. I think this strike was not just about a regular contract negotiation. It just felt like a larger political ambition for the union. I don't think that's a good reason to keep kids out of school.

Though Johnson's son has gone back to the classroom, school is not operating as usual. However, nutrition services are still being provided to those who need it. OEA says they're cautiously optimistic about coming to a full agreement soon, but that it's in the district hands, and we can likely expect teachers back on the picket line tomorrow. In the studio, Amanda Harry, Cronford News.

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