Outraged parents confront Oakland Unified School District's Superintendent

Lisa Amin Gulezian Image
ByLisa Amin Gulezian KGO logo
Friday, February 22, 2019
Outraged parents confront Oakland Unified School District's Superintendent
The outrage took over once Oakland Unified's Superintendent wanted to divide the room into smaller break out groups to discuss the proposed school merger.

OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- The outrage took over once Oakland Unified's Superintendent wanted to divide the room into smaller break out groups to discuss the proposed school merger.

That's when Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell silently left the room and quickly drove away.

RELATED: Oakland teachers will continue striking Friday

Parent Alicia Johnson said, "As you saw tonight, she's not really interested in listening to what we as parents have to say."

Many here, like parent Michael Short, also wanted to hear more about the strike directly from the superintendent.

Short said, "A little frustrated it was pretty shocking they just high tailed it out of there. Everyone was in disbelief."

But the district's communications director, John Sasaki insists, the strike wasn't on the agenda.

"The reality is we're in a tight financial situation and we don't have a lot of money. We made a good offer, we came up yesterday from five to eight and a half percent."

But teachers want a 12 percent raise over three years.

OAKLAND TEACHER STRIKE: Here's what you need to know

That's why they'll be picketing again starting at 6-30 a.m.

Oakland Education Association President, Keith Brown said, "strikes are won in the streets, not at the bargaining table so we need strong lines like we had today."

Take a look at the latest stories and videos about the Oakland teacher strike.

Vaya aquí si desea más información sobre la huelga de maestros de Oakland en español.