Oakland Parents Want Seat at Negotiation Table With Teachers Union

Parents in Oakland have united and formed a new coalition that wants a seat at the teacher union's negotiation table after being fed up with their children's public school education.

The newly formed coalition of Oakland parents that consists of two groups: the CA Parent Power, made up of "white and affluent families" in Hills school, and The Oakland REACH, which champions Black and Latino families from the flatlands of the city, drafted a resolution requesting for a seat at the table during the Oakland Unified School District's negotiations with the teachers union, The 74 reported.

Lakisha Young, the founder of The Oakland REACH, said, "When you think about the piss-poor education outcomes of our kids, the parents that we believe need to be most at the table are the parents who want to be at the table in a meaningful way."

For transparency

The said resolution asks the school board to give parents and families permission to provide meaningful ideas, comments, and suggestions on all proposals for labor agreements, such as collective bargaining and memoranda of understanding.

This new parent coalition requests official support from the school district to allow parents into the "sunshining phase of negotiations," where public participation is consented. The coalition explained that their request is due to their experience with the schools lacking transparency, leaving parents out in the dark, powerless to have a say when legally they have the right.

These parents are serving different constituents and yet are uniting as a team for this common goal, according to KQED.

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More movements are rising

In an interview, the President of the Oakland Unified School District board, Gary Yee, stated that he is favorably willing to place the resolution on the agenda to be discussed by the school board. He expressed that it is just right to properly consider the requests of the parents, especially since they were the ones who have been helping them teach the children at home for the past 2 ½ years during the pandemic, and now, they are the ones working to keep the children safe at school.

The founder of CA Parent Power, Megan Bacigalupi, agreed, indicating that the pandemic has awakened the parents to the "awful reality" that student outcomes have been poor for decades in California, especially in Oakland.

General counsel with the California Public Employment Relations Board, Felix De la Torre, declared that the school district and the teachers union would have no choice but to agree to the resolution and parents' participation.

The Oakland Education Association has yet to comment regarding the parents' proposal.

Movements for more parents' rights and power have been on the rise in California. Recently, a new parent group, Berkeley Parents Union, has been created to "amplify the parent voice," as quoted from their mission statement published on their website.

This group of parents is quite causing a stir. School board director Ty Alper had already expressed his disappointment over the group stating that the group's approach could ultimately cause "division and distrust."

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