New school year starts Monday for Oakland students

OAKLAND — Oakland resident Lucrecia Burton and her 12-year-old daughter were making a final grocery run over the weekend before the start of school on Monday.

“I’m excited! As a parent, I think, a lot of parents are excited that their kids are back in school and back into a routine and trying to catch up,” Burton said. 

In May, the teachers union went on strike for about two weeks. An agreement reached between the Oakland Education Association and the school district includes a 15.5 percent salary increase for most teachers. Counselors and additional support staff are to be added.

“They complained about the school lunches, they feel like sometimes the school lunches aren’t up to par,” Burton said of her children’s gripes. 

Her 7th grader picked out her own lunch this week on Sunday. 

The district, which has 34,000 students and 77 schools, plans for art lessons to play a major role in the learning process.

Nick Easter, who will be taking on a new role as principal of Fruitvale Elementary School, said students will have access to more assistance across the district.

“For instance, at our school on Wednesdays, that first 30 minutes right after school, there will be intervention classes where teachers will identify students that they wanted to give extra support in whether that be English language arts, math or it could also be like a social emotional group,” he said. “A targeted extra intervention so that we can reach more students.”

The new deal also includes “common good” clauses aimed at improving social and economic conditions, including the creation of a Black reparations task force. The district agreed to include parents, teachers and staff members in decision-making about how to best spend millions of dollars in new state grant money for education.

“I’m looking forward to a new page. I’m looking forward to a healing process. I’m looking forward to our students being able to come to school that’s not interrupted,” Easter said. 

“A lot of babies fell behind, you know, with all this pandemic stuff — the strike on top of it. So, looking forward to getting back on track,” Burton added.