Elementary school to join Occupy Oakland strike
By Katy Murphy
Friday, October 28th, 2011 at 5:51 pm in families, strike, students.
The staff at Bridges Academy at Melrose sent a bilingual flier home to families, inviting them to join them in Wednesday’s general strike in support of Occupy Oakland — and informing them that teachers would not be in their classrooms that day.
They’re meeting at the East Oakland elementary school in the morning and traveling to Oakland City Hall together, by BART.
“We, the teachers at Bridges, are joining the Occupy Oakland protest on Wednesday, November 2. We will not be in our classrooms that day, all day,” the flier says. “We are the 99%!!”
Are the teachers at your school thinking about joining the strike?
[You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.]
October 29th, 2011 at 12:43 am
And once again these part time revolutionaries know more righteous for kids than their parents? Are you serious? Part of the 99%? These teachers do not recognize that immigrants do not participate in this movement of cyoung communists, old a** hippies, and trust funders trying to find themselves because they are to busy taking the jobs they do not want.
GENTE>>>>> Loomat the values your kids are learning. Is this ok.. colectando limosnas? Son sucios sin morales y pasaran el ejemplo a sus hijos. Esto es lo que hacen en escuales del distrito. They will choose to keep your families in ghettos while they have their trust funds! Daddy….expect them to call for more money soon while they fight the system…..eventually they’ll wear suit and ties like you though.
Anyway-I though theyr’re job was to teach. OUSD will lose money the so deperately need with encouraged absences. Unless of course, they count this as educational? And why is OUSD irrelevant again? I guess this is another charter school conspiracy too right?
October 29th, 2011 at 10:51 am
Statement by Betty Olson-Jones:
In a unanimous vote on 10/28/11, the OEA Executive Board endorsed Occupy Oakland’s November 2 “General Strike/Mass Day of Action” and is urging members to participate in a variety of ways, including taking personal leave to join actions at Frank Ogawa Plaza, doing informational picketing at school sites, and holding teach-ins on the history of general strikes and organizing for economic justice.
Faced with growing class sizes and dwindling resources, school closures, and the ongoing attempts of charter management companies to entice Oakland schools to convert to charters, it is critical that we link our struggles with those of the 99% of Americans fighting for social and economic justice. It is simply wrong that banks and corporations are bailed out and continue to reap huge profits, while schools and social services suffer.
Join us on November 2nd, in solidarity with Occupy Movements across the globe!
WE ARE THE 99%!
Betty Olson-Jones
OEA President
October 29th, 2011 at 10:53 am
Statement of OEA Executive Board:
WHY THE OEA SUPPORTS OCCUPY OAKLAND’S MASS DAY OF ACTION/GENERAL STRIKE*
- Occupy Oakland and the Worldwide Occupy Movement are fighting for full funding for all social services, including public schools.
- Many of our members have been actively participating in the Occupy Oakland movement, and at least 3 were injured in the October 25 crack-down, along with a number of other union activists.
- On Wednesday, October 26 the OUSD School Board voted to shutter 5 schools in Oakland. Unless we build a movement to demand that the top 1% pay their fair share, more school closures will follow.
- The Alameda Central Labor Council, which represents unions from all over Oakland, including the OEA, has voted to endorse Occupy Oakland.
- Occupy Oakland is a model of democracy in action where everyone is free to express their view and where everyone has one vote regardless of wealth or influence.
- Because of the violent and unprovoked crackdown against the peaceful protest on Tuesday, October 25, Oakland has garnered worldwide publicity and attention. Oakland educators need to be seen on the frontlines of the fight for progressive taxation and full funding for public schools and other public services.
* Wednesday’s action is not an OEA-sanctioned strike against OUSD
October 29th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
Wednesday’s are a minimum day throughout OUSD. Why can’t the children go to school as usual and then the teachers, and any others (parents/students/staff), can join the protesters in the early afternoon? I’m all for the Occupy movement, but I don’t think that young kids need to be pulled into it on the front lines. The kids can learn about it at school. I talk to my kids about social and economic justice on a regular basis. We’re living it here in Oakland and our kids are the ones who are suffering. So, yes, I support the cause. I would also support a teach-in which delves into the current issues in depth. But I don’t support taking the kids out of school on Wednesday.
October 29th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Si unos sabelotodos prestaron mas atención cuando tuvieron la oportunidad de estudiar, quizás sabrán escribir una oración completa y comprensible en ingles o español o…imagínalo…en los dos idiomas.
Referente a sus comentarios, le invito ir a Bridges. Ahí se puede aprender un poco de que es comunidad y como una comunidad diversa, con “young communists, old ass hippies” y inmigrantes, trabaja colectivamente por el bienestar de nuestros hijos. Venga a conocer, pero prepárese.
October 29th, 2011 at 11:50 pm
OUSD Parent:
Wednesdays are no longer a minimum day throughout Oakland. Yes, for some schools minimum day is still Wednesday but the minimum day varies from school to school. That aside, I think that it is irresponsible for the teachers at Bridges to abandon their students that day. Will there be substitute teachers? It just doesn’t sound right. And what do they mean by “General Strike In Oakland?”
October 30th, 2011 at 7:45 am
If you don’t want you or your child to participate in the rally then just go about your normal daily activities, substitutes will be in the classroom to teach your children. Don’t criticize teachers for standing up for what they believe in, Solidarity in the General Strike!!!
October 30th, 2011 at 10:04 am
@Marcel. I’m NOT criticizing teachers for participating. I just think the kids are better off in the classroom and it wasn’t clear that there would be subs. That’s all.
October 30th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
I don’t really quite understand the “strike” part of General Strike in the context of strikes in general. We are told if we want to participate, to call for a sub. But this makes no sense; it’s not a sick day. Maybe it’s a personal day, but if you’re getting paid (as we would for sick or approved personal leave), then you’re really not on strike.
That said, I completely support the Occupy movements around the world, including Oakland. I support the idea of a General Strike, but I would have liked a lot more advance notice; at least a month. I would want to prepare lesson plans that inform, not advocate, include the history of social change movements in this country and elsewhere, a chance to have an open house fo parents and families to ask questions, and so on. I don’t really think this General Strike has been well-planned or thought out; if there is not signficant participation throughout Oakland, by all kinds of workers, union or not, and the city is not shut down, then it’s just a pointless charade that will probably disurpt things just enough to annoy people and prove nothing and change nothing. Too bad, because a well-planned General Strike would be a terrific opportunity to educate and inform, and create (maybe) some real changes….
October 30th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
@9
No, the word strike is not being used in its most literal sense as regards teachers since you can take a personal day. (NOT a sick day, that would be fraudulent).
And it was not the OEA that called for the day, but the general assembly of Occupy Oakland. Sometimes events overtake us and we must act accordingly.
Consider November 2 as the anticipatory set that you can base future lessons on.
No matter how large the participation, it will annoy people and it will not change anything EXCEPT the collective consciousness of the 99% to organize the continued growth of the movement.
Do whatever you can.
October 30th, 2011 at 10:39 pm
I will trying to help save our democracy and our country on November 2. Did you have something more important to do?
October 31st, 2011 at 12:57 am
For better or worse, substitute teachers in the OUSD are also union members. There’s a standard fright lecture that goes like this: “If you work on a strike day, you’ll never work again.” That’s patently untrue, of course, but for the sake of clarity, I don’t think it’s wise to frame Wednesday in terms of a “strike day.”
I absolutely support and admire the Occupy movement, and by the way, there are a number of local credit unions that are friendlier places for anybody’s money than B of A or Wells Fargo. Taking that step (and cutting up our credit cards) is probably one of the most meaningful gestures we can make at this point.
October 31st, 2011 at 9:37 am
@2 “In a unanimous vote on 10/28/11, the OEA Executive Board endorsed Occupy Oakland’s November 2 “General Strike/Mass Day of Action”
It was not close to an unanimous vote from the membership, also were we asked if our union dues could be used to place Porta Potties for the Occupy movement?
October 31st, 2011 at 11:00 am
Not too happy,
Hmmm, that’s very interesting. No doubt BJ has an interesting definition of unanimous. Thank you for the heads up on that. There is a saying(it’s an amplification and paraphrase of the Bible Matt 6:21)” To truly know where a persons heart and convictions are you need to know there place of residence and lifestyle”.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:09 am
I think “Not too happy teacher” was talking about two different groups — the elected OEA executive board, which has about 16 members, and the union membership, which includes more than 2,500 people.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:31 am
Katie,
Thanks, that clears it up, 16 members of a board(who do whatever it is that they do besides collect dues,political pandering,political lobbying)could very easily come to a unanimous decision.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:34 am
edit: “their place of residence and lifestyle”.
October 31st, 2011 at 11:42 am
@#13 – Was there an (OEA) membership vote on Friday?
Paying for porta-potties, is no big deal to this OEA member (is that really happening?).
Continued donations to the Democrats is my problem. Obama has not done anything for us.
October 31st, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Get ready for another blow OUSD! It only goes to show that OUSD does not hold the regins of the educational carriage in Oakland- the union does.
The system is bount to implode with such decisions.
October 31st, 2011 at 12:09 pm
I too, as a former Oakland teacher and current community advocate, support the ideals of Occupy Wall Street/Oakland.
However, Oakland kids already receive much less instructional time than they need to truly catch up academically, and ideological strikes during the school day are counter-productive to them in the long run.
http://www.occupyoakland.org/2011/10/occupy-oakland-poster-for-nov-2-general-strike/
There will be a “mass gathering” at 5:00, well after school gets out. Take your kids to that one.
October 31st, 2011 at 12:32 pm
Been away awhile and I must say I’m impressed. Leaving children at school to protest while their parents work for a living. Sheer Genius!
At least this cause – to the extent it is defined as it was initially – is righteous. The 99% are waking up and struggling to find a way to wrestle back control of their country from the rich and powerful. Good luck!
Today we reach 7 billion humans and we are a debtor nation of 300 million and our creditors have over 1 billion people and no debt. Care to ponder how that math works out in the end?
Stopping the pillaging is a good start, but there is much more to do.
October 31st, 2011 at 2:59 pm
To any who suggest this is a diversion from the instruction teachers are supposed to provide should do the following:
1. Learn history
2. Pay close attention to “democracy” and “protest”.
3. Think about whether you’ve ever actually taught your children to stand up for themselves, or simply trained them to obey mindlessly. (This assumes you actually ‘parent’, as opposed to letting the educational institution do it for you).
4. If you’re still confused, return to step 1.
October 31st, 2011 at 3:21 pm
This is an outrage. Parent of these students should lodge a complaint with the board of education in those districts that allowed their teachers to be absent in order to go “protest”. Indirect indoctrination of kids into the Left-wing, socialist-union way of thinking. Instead of teaching the students about how the founding fathers intended this nation to be governed, they are teaching how to subvert the system and bring about change through “mob-rule”. Absolutely sickening.
October 31st, 2011 at 3:32 pm
@Alan – yes, the Brits gave up the “colonies” without a fight … no protests back then (where did all these Tea Party folks get their inspiration from?). Just scream “socialism!”, pour another glass of (white) wine and complain at your TV.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Please be clear: Nov is not a strike day by OEA. Schools are open. The vast majority of teachers will be present. Some teachers will take a personal leave day as allowed (5 per year) as long as they have a sub available. Some teachers feel a strong commitment to advocate for social change, especially when it affects school funding/educational policy. Anyone who thinks that the fact that the richest in this country pay no taxes does NOT affect schools is fooling themselves.
Some teachers will use Nov 2 as a teachable moment for their students. That doesn’t mean they are left wing or socialist. It means they are teaching kids awareness of current events, economics, history and hopefully getting kids excited about learning. I saw the same thing happen on 9/11 and when Bin Laden was killed and did not accuse those teachers of being right wing. Kids need to know what is going on in the world around them.
I am hoping many teachers and OUSD families will come join their community after school or mid-day on Nov 2 for a rally and a barbecue at Frank Ogawa Plaza.
btw – I know that some of those people on the executive board are some of the best teachers around. The same critical thinking that leads them to examine systems in the world helps them to teach their students to analyze the world and become active and enthusiastic learners. Considering the low turnout for all-district union votes, low response rates sit reps get from staff, and low involvement in the union in general, it is ironic that anyone would complain about the executive board – the board who volunteer hundreds of hours yearly on your behalf. Less that 25% of teachers came to the last vote taken. Not every decision can be made district wide; there must be a smaller body of people who regularly meet. And no, I am not on the e-board and never have been.
October 31st, 2011 at 4:37 pm
@Alan Apparently someone forgot their American History.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Thank you OUSD Teacher. Beautifully said.
October 31st, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Let the parents and Mario above watch the kids while the teachers are out saving their future. This is how we do it in America, if you don’t like it, fee free to go back where you came from. Your to dumb to know that these people are fighting to restore the American dream–the reason your as came here to begin with.
October 31st, 2011 at 7:53 pm
Tara,
Hardworking parents who go out and actually produce goods services to earn a living to pay taxes are making it possible for these children to have a future. The “productive” taxpayer is the most vital link in this democratic chain(one of our big the problems is that even the unproductive fools get more of a voice than they should just by being loud). I do agree however that the wealthiest collectively do not pay enough “actual” taxes even though they control nearly all of the wealth. People generally come here in order to have a chance to provide a better life for themselves and their families, and they generally outwork those Americans who are on on public assistance of one type or another. it’s a shame that people can’t see the obvious.
October 31st, 2011 at 8:16 pm
oops multiple typos…….
October 31st, 2011 at 10:08 pm
Why can’t the strike/protest happen in Alamo or Danville, where the 1% actually live and it can actually affect them and make a statement? I can’t see how this will make a positive difference on Wednesday. Instead, it will be ruckus for the kids, and one less day of learning. Not to mention, loads of stress on those parents that are part of the 99% that need to go to work.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:22 pm
#31
I have to say I ponder this every time I see the protests here, Berkeley and in SF where the residents are generally in agreement with the message and end up feeling like, “Why are you taking out on me? I agree with you!”
It should be in Sacramento and in Washington. Whatever the 1% gets away with, whatever bailout Wall St. has taken, the blood is on our leaders’ hands.
October 31st, 2011 at 10:47 pm
I should have posted this earlier, but here is a page on the OEA website with links to a Q & A and lesson plan resources.
I don’t know if this link will work, but it’s a spreadsheet of lesson plans for different grade-levels. (Scroll to the right for the links.) Would you consider using any of these?
November 1st, 2011 at 6:05 am
How much ADA money will OUSD go without when parents decide not to send their students to a school filled with guest teachers?
November 1st, 2011 at 6:54 am
Thanks for posting that Katy. The spreadsheet and links on it open easily. I still am having difficulty getting anywhere with the OEA links.
Re#31 – Wednesday will NOT be a day of no learning. It will not be a day of chaos for kids. Parents can still go to work. Calm down.
I do see the idea of having the protests be where the 1% live though as being poetic justice. I would like to see the movement spread to those places, but that is NOT where the 99% are. Many of the protesters have been doing bank protests for over a year, some even getting arrested when they refused to leave.
November 1st, 2011 at 7:38 am
Thanks, Oakland teacher, I am calm but also frustrated. We have one teacher at our site that gets very dramatic in these sitations (strikes), and gets not-so-nice with the other teachers and clerical staff when they try to downplay things so the kids can have as normal a day as possible. It’s just an ugly site for the students to witness. I wholeheartedly agree with #32 from Parent Stuck in Oakland.
November 1st, 2011 at 11:01 am
At #34
None if the parents bring their child to school and they are counted as present in the morning. What happens after attendance is taken is up to the parent.
November 1st, 2011 at 12:16 pm
Tara;
Your views speak alot! YUou see, though originally I though this might be an OK thing, your answer reveals the truth from the gut!
Your people came here….Mario, assuming he is Latino, was already here. And with you you brought diseases such as small pox and white guilt.
Go Occupy Orinda where your people are at, or Montclair where your children go.
The nerve of your slant. It would be best if you went back to your cave in the Caucuses, or Scandanavia.
KEEP YOUR KIDS IN SCHOOL> NO COMMUNISTS! Most Latins already pay the price for such collectivist information which is why we are here to do the work you refuse to do!
November 1st, 2011 at 12:26 pm
I meant to reply earlier after reading Tara’s comment, but this response reminded me: Please keep your comments civil, folks, and focused on the issue at hand. No name calling or personal attacks.
November 1st, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Reminds me of a particular entrenched teacher with the same name. The parents just wish that she would put as much effort into teaching as she does into being a political activist.
November 1st, 2011 at 4:17 pm
@38 – That’s a terrible thing to say (the racist stuff). Oakland belongs to all of us: white, black, Latin, Asian, or however you like to be identified. A movement without all of the working-class is idiotic. Solidarity!
November 1st, 2011 at 5:03 pm
Don’t you know it’s not “racist” when the target is white in Oakland? It’s called fair. We have two board members openly hostile toward white families (both have said they don’t care about the white families in Oakland schools). We have the outcry that the only “fair” thing to do would be to target so-called “White” schools with closures. It doesn’t seem to matter that white students in OUSD make up about 5% of the ENTIRE district and are a majority at just 5 or 6 schools out of 101.
The hate is strong, in your face and ineffective.
November 1st, 2011 at 5:31 pm
Not just the ADA money, but doesn’t it cost to have Sbstitutes teach? Also I don’t understand who this strike is against…the City of Oakland? Small business in Oakland?
Besides the City, OUSD & small businesses losing money, Oakland is gaining a reputation that will actually make it harder to bring new business here. Thus it’s hurting BOTH current employment AND future employment.
How does that help a just cause? Let’s picket the big banks. Let’s move our bank accounts. Let’s withdraw our savings from Wall Street. (I already have). But close down small business, shut down the Port, the City , and OUSD, & stop teaching kids?
This is nuts.
November 1st, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Teachers are entitled to use personal leave as they see fit with prior admin approval: the cost of substitutes is built into the reality of 5 days available per teacher per year. It wouldn’t be any more or less expensive if that sub day were to happen while that teacher’s at the beach. To me, it seems silly to criticize teachers for spending their personal leave time on making a contribution to the wider public discussion on issues of HUGE impact in the classroom setting.
At my site, most of us are staying until the dismissal bell. All of us are committed to keeping Wednesday calm and productive for all kids attending. And yes, many of us are deeply supportive of the aims of Occupy Wall Street and are taking actions as individuals and OEA members to express that solidarity.
November 1st, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Livegreen #43 raises what I think is the key question: whom is this strike against? I’m somewhat disturbed at how easily this budding movement has morphed from “Occupy Wall Street,” with the encampment at Zucotti Park being at least close to Wall St.(completely appropriate), to “Occupy City Halls” all over the country, apparently without much thought about the difference between those 2 sites. Why are people occupying the space in front of Oakland City Hall? What about occupying the Pacific Stock Exchange in SF? (Of course they would arrest everybody in a heartbeat–some sign that they’re a more appropriate target.) The city of Oakland is not the enemy. The Oakland school board is not the enemy.
November 1st, 2011 at 8:19 pm
If the strike is truly about shutting down Oakland, why have substitute teachers at all?
That’s a rhetorical question. I’ll be covering somebody’s class tomorrow while he or she is out showing solidarity. Thanks for the lesson plans, Katy; it’s the first I’ve heard of them.
Big crucial unrelated question, though: Who else got the phone message this evening about district e-mail? It was a lot of information presented very quickly, with no Replay button, so my details are a bit hazy, BUT:
–Everybody who has e-mail that they want to keep needs to have it archived, on our own home computers, by noon tomorrow. At that point, the IT Services department will be…trashing a lot of our e-mail messages.
–In order to archive your e-mail, you must have Microsoft Outlook installed on your machine.
–September 16th is a milestone date. Any e-mail that’s not archived will be wiped from the district system if you’ve received it (before or after? Gosh, he was talking fast!) September 16th.
No idea why it’s so crucial that everybody’s e-mail be wiped out with less than 24 hours notice. Something about people not being able to read their district e-mail at all.
I called a colleague to ask if she knew what was going on, and she hadn’t even received the phone message, because she’s canceled her land line.
My sense is, this is going to be a rude surprise to a whole bunch of teachers.
November 1st, 2011 at 8:42 pm
I am taking a momentary break from trying to archive all my emails as was suggested in Troy Flint’s message. I have hundreds of emails that I hate to lose, but honestly – my nerves are not up to spending the entire eve working on this.
If anyone comes up with simple step by step directions for those of us who are tech challenged, please post!
Sorry to go so far off topic.
I too am teaching all day tomorrow, but will head over to downtown right afterward.
November 1st, 2011 at 9:57 pm
Here OEA goes again, using propaganda to be divisive. Is Occupy Oakland an anti charter movement as the OEA website states? Are the parents who choose to give their children choice in a failing district somehow not a part of the 99% the protest represents? Last I checked per pupil funding was a parent’s choice. OEA should stop pitting communities apart and stand up for the true values of the occupy movement: solidarity of the people against the growing socioeconomic divide. Thanks to all parents, teachers and staff who try their hardest to give Oakland youth choice in a district that doesn’t provide all the necessary tools.
November 1st, 2011 at 9:58 pm
Step 1: Call the OEA office at 763-4020 and leave a message urging them to prevent this e-mail thing from happening tomorrow.
Step 2: If you’re going downtown tomorrow, don’t take your children or anybody else’s children.
Step 3: While you’re down there, provided there’s no teargas and you don’t wind up in jail, please BUY SOMETHING, whether it’s a hat, a muffin or 12, or a pair of shoes, from one of the small Oakland businesses whose struggling owners haven’t budgeted for all this chaos all over the news.
November 1st, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Wow- I didn’t know tomorrow would “save democracy.”. Can’t wait for the news of this demonstration to shake the Obama administration and the Republican presidential candidates to their very bowels. I’ll bet when those Wall Street fat cats and Sacramento do nothings see those teachers in the streets with little kids carrying signs they’ll just fold up their “tents” and sue for peace and decide to fairly fund education again and tax themselves besides. Hasn’t this been done before?
OK, here’s some history- remember the Bonus Army? Coxey’s Army? the Populist Party? the IWW? The anarchist bombing of Wall Street? Henry Wallace and the Progressive Party? the Seattle General Strike of 1919? Americans will not accept radical change. You could look it up.
November 2nd, 2011 at 7:35 am
Ironically enough, I received the email message about the imminent demise of 45 days worth of emails.
And I’m genuinely not sure how “off topic” this is: as teachers, we’re working under conditions that would be considered comical or abhorrent in the business world. The IT teams of any decent for-profit organization in the nation would never be facing something like this–would have solved the initial rumblings of this current volcanic event months ago. Because they would have been equipped to. Because they are able to prioritize a functioning technological network as a key part of company success. Because the entire world buys the idea that it’s worth spending money to keep the best and brightest working there, with the tools that they need.
Here in the trenches of public education, we face a different and much more strained reality. We’re up against ever-increasing budget cuts and the mantra (the understandable and laudable mantra) that this pain needs to be kept as far as possible away from the classroom, the kids. But the working conditions of Oakland’s educators are the learning conditions of Oakland’s children–it’s simply not possible to buffer all the pain.
My friend the school psychologist spent much of her night last night scrambling to save the crucial contacts she’s made with families, teachers, and agencies over the past month and a half. I stumbled on the email at 10:00 last night when I was checking my work email as a break from my, er, work. I facebooked about it and discovered that many of my colleagues had no idea this was happening.
And at the end of the day…all of us are kind of shrugging. Because what would be seen as an intolerable, heads-will-roll scenario in corporate America is just another little inconvenience in the death-by-papercut reality of public education right now.
THAT is why we’re angry. That is why we Occupy.
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:18 am
The small business owners and normal blue collar folk that work for them are sure feeling your SOLIDARITY.
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/katehicks/2011/11/01/collateral_damage_ows_forces_cafe_to_fire_workers
Too bad the unions can’t(won’t) call in some -substitute- patrons.
I bet those workers are angry too!
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:29 am
The education system has been experiencing death by papercut(go through the motions underperformance) for decades, why did it take you so long to notice? There 9is nothing like accountability and the loss of money to wake people up. The cafe workers know all about accountability, and the price that is paid for not doing your job(immediate termination). They now know something else, their job is not a right, it is dependent upon other peoples money to exist and survive.
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:50 am
In response to the questions about OUSD email: Only the 300 or so OUSD employees who have been without email continuously for the past five days are in danger of losing messages received after September 16 if they fail to archive those messages by noon on November 2. This group is comprised overwhelmingly of those in the “heaviest user” category, primarily principals and high-ranking central office staff.
I apologize for not making this point more clearly in my autodialer message and for causing undue alarm. That said, it is a good practice to regularly archive emails as the problems may not be isolated in the future and storing emails in this way will preserve access to important messages.
You can find step-by-step instructions on archiving here: http://tinyurl.com/42zvppm
The link is also reachable by following: OUSD Homepage (www.ousd.k12.ca.us) > Departments > Information & Technology Services.
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:55 am
A small addendum to the last point: I would distribute the previous message Districtwide via email to resolve confusion, but I do not have access to my account either.
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:01 am
Also, for those who are unsure whether they are affected by the email reset, here is a link to those affected: http://tinyurl.com/3d283r7
November 2nd, 2011 at 11:04 am
Actually, this is the link to the page which contains the spreadsheet:
http://publicportal.ousd.k12.ca.us/19941081118633307/sitedefault.asp
November 2nd, 2011 at 7:09 pm
#48 “Oakland Teacher” is not the same as the usual Oakland Teacher who posts regularly. Hopefully people recognize that your angry tone is not usual for my postings.
Can’t you think of something to identify yourself as a different person?
Katy – do you have any way from keeping people from using the same names as are regularly used?
How about if I start using some of the teacher hater pen names and writing all kinds of loving thoughts? Hmmm… maybe not a bad idea!
November 2nd, 2011 at 8:53 pm
With respect, Mr. Flint, I’d like to check to see if I understand the situation correctly.
The clarification which was just put out to all district employees (via a phone call made to all teachers during instructional hours) notes that the ONLY individuals who, er, need to get into their email and archive things before they get destroyed are those who are currently definitionally UNABLE to get into their email and do anything.
Stuff like this, for the record, makes it exceptionally hard for folks like me to counter the perception of Oakland Unified School District as a place where some very weird stuff goes down.
November 2nd, 2011 at 8:54 pm
The system isn’t set up for that, I’m afraid. You could always use your real name, or create a more unique handle.
November 2nd, 2011 at 8:55 pm
And ps that URL links to a page which no longer exists.
November 2nd, 2011 at 9:04 pm
Hey Troy:
I never got any call or information to back up my email and wouldn’t it have made a LOT more sense to have asked people to do this before whatever tech work was done this past weekend? I am one of the 350 (as well as one of the 99%!) and I’m SO annoyed. I just can’t believe that I was told I’m going to lose hundreds of messages because I didn’t have Outlook on my computer. Why couldn’t we have been informed before this past weekend…?
As far as the protest, I’m someone who went to work today, but joined up with the Occupy Oakland this evening around 5:00 p.m. It’s definitely begin to take shape. I’m hopeful that it will last past these festivities and the soon-to-be-coming rain and colder temps, especially at night. This thing might have legs, and if it can effect change in the OUSD; that would be pretty amazing.
(Still ticked off as hell about the email. What an unnecesary nightmare that could have been avoided with a little forward thinking. For the record, I never got a phone call from Troy Flint (though I have gotten those robocalls in the past, about things like flu shots). Just really wonder what is going on with you guys!
November 3rd, 2011 at 11:03 am
I was proud to see on the news the OEA contingent out in force at Wednesday’s Occupy Oakland event, and sorely regret not being there to join the chorus for more money for teachers, classrooms and our kids’ education. My second-grader was among the few to stay at school, and watched a couple of movies. In retrospect, he would have learned a lot more at the march.
November 3rd, 2011 at 5:39 pm
Not the weightiest topic addressed on this blog, but since it does speak to larger systemic problems in OUSD, a few more points/response about the email outage:
• “The clarification which was just put out to all district employees (via a phone call made to all teachers during instructional hours) notes that the ONLY individuals who, er, need to get into their email and archive things before they get destroyed are those who are currently definitionally UNABLE to get into their email and do anything.”
I want to re-emphasize that among 372 employees who have been without email since Friday – the employees who need to archive recent messages in order to save them – there are very few teachers. Those employees affected by the extended outage are high-volume users on a separate server and are primarily principals and central office employees.
The list is here: http://publicportal.ousd.k12.ca.us/19941081118633307/site/default.asp
And here: http://tinyurl.com/65wlvo8 (You may have to scroll down)
The vast majority of these users have access to the desktop client version of Outlook – not just the webmail version which most teachers use. If you have the desktop client, you can perform the procedure necessary to archive your email, so these employees are not definitionally unable to do as Tech Services requested. If we were speaking primarily about teachers, it would be a different story.
• “Stuff like this, for the record, makes it exceptionally hard for folks like me to counter the perception of Oakland Unified School District as a place where some very weird stuff goes down.”
It makes it hard for me, too! A lot of strange developments take place at OUSD and I wouldn’t even try to deny that. I do think we are starting to address in, belatedly, some of the systemic failings that hinder performance and create those bizarre “only in OUSD” scenarios.
One of the hidden problems in the district is that we are trapped in some really troublesome legacy systems (student information, employee information, payroll, etc.) that we can’t afford to replace. This might seem like something that only matters to tunnel-vision central office employees but it really does have a tangible effect on our ability to serve school sites as well as students and families.
Fortunately, where email is concerned, we have the option of migrating from our current, outdated, overtaxed Microsft servers to Gmail. This process has already begun in incremental fashion as we try to avoid further disruptions like the one of the past week, and should be complete by January. My understanding is that the server that went down this week has a 40 gig capacity but handles 250 gigs today and that’s with much lower than normal email traffic than normal because of the outage and uncertainty over whether people are actually receiving mail. (I think I got that right).
We do have the option of accelerating the transition to Gmail, but it comes with an operational price. If we decide to go this route after discussing with school sites, I’ll expand on this tradeoff in another communication.
Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t note that Tech Services has been working around the clock since Saturday to correct this problem. On a couple occasions, they thought they might have found a less invasive solution to the problem, but that didn’t materialize.
• “I never got any call or information to back up my email and wouldn’t it have made a LOT more sense to have asked people to do this before whatever tech work was done this past weekend? I am one of the 350 (as well as one of the 99%!) and I’m SO annoyed. I just can’t believe that I was told I’m going to lose hundreds of messages because I didn’t have Outlook on my computer. Why couldn’t we have been informed before this past weekend…?”
I want to emphasize that this was not a planned outage. I acknowledge that it would have been beneficial to request that employees use good email practices like regular archiving (for those with desktop clients) and we could have provided more guidance in this area as a preventive measure. In reality, though, few people ever comply with these warnings until there’s a disaster and there was no special indicator to suggest there would be a system failure last Friday night/Saturday morning. Incidentally, since people started archiving, the pressure released from our mail servers has improved system performance greatly.
Finally, Tech Services has been working around the clock since Saturday to correct this problem. On a couple occasions, they thought they might have found a less invasive way to fix the problem, but that didn’t materialize. Part of the reason this problem has persisted for a week is because this disruptive solution was a last resort.
For those who are struggling to archive their email, Tech Services will be contacting you to walk you through the process. They’ve already done this for 70 percent of affected employees and expect to reach everyone by Monday at the latest
• “For the record, I never got a phone call from Troy Flint (though I have gotten those robocalls in the past, about things like flu shots)”
Autodialer messages are not sent through a manual process, so any variance is usually attributable to having the wrong number in the database, whether because of bad data entry at the information systems level or the recipient changing their primary number.
When I send an autodialer message via our SchoolMessenger tool, it calls the number listed as the primary contact number for each OUSD employee or family in our database systems. Schoolmessenger automatically updates by pulling data from these systems at the end of each day.
If you’re sure that there is no missed call in your log from 510.879.8242, please email me at troy.flint@ousd.k12.ca.us and we’ll search the database to make sure the correct number is on file.
November 4th, 2011 at 5:44 am
The teachers’ actions were irresponsible at best.
To encourage parents and families to go was dangerously irresponsible.
Why?
Teachers wrote this on the flyer:
“Because of the violent and unprovoked crackdown against the peaceful protest on Tuesday, October 25, Oakland has garnered worldwide publicity and attention.”
Think about this. The TEACHERS are saying they are responding to a crackdown. There was violence. So why on earth would you do anything to bring kids into a potentially dangerous situation. They don’t say, leave your kids at school and be back in time to pick them up. They ask parents to join them and it is …”all day”. When parents are there ALL DAY, guess who has to be with them. Kids. Thankfully there was no violence during the day, but they couldn’t have known that. And worse, they probably didn’t consider it.
Further, why did they do it… “Oakland has garnered worldwide publicity and attention.”
I don’t want worldwide publicity and attention, I want my kid to learn math every day. And don’t give me the crap about substitutes.
These teachers are an irresponsible joke. They put their ideology before their students well-being and they hide behind their contract to do it. Worse, they give the excuse that “other unions are going”.
Anybody remember the logic mom had, “If your friend jumped off a bridge, would you do it to.” I don’t care if some other union is doing it. Educate the kid. Were the teachers involved in blocking the port so the union truckers couldnt leave? Selective affiliation.
This is what happens when your teachers are not aligned with the culture of the communities.
Are there any schools where EVERY teacher and the principal showed up to work on Wednesday. Just a question. Call the roll.
We don’t want our kids to be hippies. If you take a personal day, don’t promote for parents and kids to do the same thing…not all of us can afford to leave out 99% jobs for a day.
But regardless how I think of the teachers joinng the strike. My main point is this:
If an OUSD child had gotten hurt, trampled, molested, run-over, or just been in the wrong place at the wrong time when they should have been in school – the teachers irresponsibility would have been publicized.
Thank God it didn’t happen. The teachers breached the public trust with their actions to keep child safety first on all their actions as agents of the district. This flyer breached that trust.
Who authorized them to put out a flyer? Can teachers do this when it potentially endangers children? They state in their flyer that there was a previous violent crackdown and encourage the parents to join them! Unbelievable. Are they over 21? Do they have kids of their own?
Do what you want, but trying to bring in (manipulate) kids and families for your cause and ideology is intolerable.
If you want to teach students a lesson – be in the classroom. You can’t have it both ways.
Tony Smith, where are you?
I have supported OEA in the past, but this is a joke. OEA should publicly condemn this flyer and the teachers’ actions. OEA must denounce this act as misguided and inappropriate in the service of children. OEA must publicly state (forum, blog, press release, SOMETHING) that their joining other unions for a day of action should never include placing children in potentially dangerous situations away from school. Without a strong response, they will have lost all credibility. Absolutely all and the organization should be ignored going forward on all matters relating to children. They will have forfeited their right to speak for our children.
This is that serious. Don’t wait for our children to get trampled to death before we protect them from irresponsible adults who would have them join potentially dangerous situations.
And if they say “we weren’t asking kids, only parents to join us” we will know that they are trying to double-talk us. Kids go with parents, especially when it’s ALL DAY.
Waiting for OEA response.
November 4th, 2011 at 6:05 am
Teacher flyer says:
“PARENTS!!! …
PLEASE JOIN US…!!!
We will not be in our classrooms that day, all day.”
Statement of OEA Executive Board:
“- Because of the violent and unprovoked crackdown against the peaceful protest on Tuesday, October 25, Oakland has garnered worldwide publicity and attention. Oakland educators need to be seen on the frontlines of the fight…”
They are putting our kids at risk because these “Oakland educators need to be seen…”
Need to be seen? Just think about that. For that you encourage parents to be downtown “all day”
You should have clearly said the children should stay somewhere safe because we don’t want to put them in a potentially dangerous situation. Instead, the kids make good photographs in your attempts to “be seen on the frontlines.”
I’m sick to my stomach. Protest all you want. But you do anything that puts kids at risk, you are an enemy. I don’t care what % of the population you are.
Here’s a more appropriate flyer:
“Parents we are going to be joining the protest and will be out on Wednesday. Please feel free to join us, but remember that there have been violent crackdowns. To ensure your kids are safe, the district will staff every classroom with a substitute while we are out. If you do decide to protest with us, please be sure to pick up your children from school by 3pm.”
The BEST flyer would have been none at all. Take your personal day. It’s not our business what you do on your personal time. Don’t try to suck us into your belief. Manipulation, even in the name of idealism, is still manipulation.
When we want to know why you’re out… we don’t have a right to know. When we DON’T want to know why you’re out, you pass out flyers.
Tony Smith, where are you?
Waiting for OEA response.
November 4th, 2011 at 7:15 pm
Don’t believe the hype. The Oakland children attending the protest (with full PARENT, not teacher, consent and supervision) were safer marching to the port than walking home from school. Police crackdowns happen, yes, but 99.9% of the thousands of people participating in the General Strike were absolutely adamant about avoiding the behaviors that can lead to them. And they tend to happen in the wee hours of night, after people smash things.
The difference between what actually happened and how you’re painting it here is literally the difference between night and day.
November 5th, 2011 at 7:57 am
1. OEA Executive Board said the protests had been the scene of a previous “violent and unprovoked crackdown”.
That’s their language, not mine.
2. The teachers at a school took personal days to join the protest and encouraged parents to come join them.
“Parents!!! Please Join Us!!”
That’s the first thing their flyer says. This is not conjecture.
3. Teachers informed parents they will be there “all day”. The flyer neither advises them to keep their kids away from the scene of potential danger or recommends a time to leave the protest (ie in time for school to pickup kids).
That’s a fact
4. The teachers sent the flyers home with kids. This means their poor decision happened while they were still on the OUSD clock and dime. Teachers, as long as they are on the OUSD clock, have a duty to protect the safety of children and in no way endanger them. They must act in loco parentis. In other words, they are the kids’ parents until they get to their parents or go somewhere off course on the way home.
They failed in their duty. They knowingly encouraged children to be put at risk. They did it on the company dime.
Where is Tony Smith?
The reason OEA wont say anything here is because they hope it just goes away. It won’t.
Because these flyers went out, the principal is responsible and should be immediately terminated for cause.
Where is Tony Smith?
Somebody will be held to account for this. OEA must denounce this flyer and the direct or indirect encouragement of children to be put at potential risk. Forget everything else. If they think they have enemies now, wait until certain organizations and news outlets get wind of this. And they will. I will see to it.
And hey, the protests were peaceful… until they were no longer peaceful.
“99.9% of the thousands of people participating in the General Strike were absolutely adamant about avoiding the behaviors that can lead to them. ”
These teachers encourage actions which led to children being exposed to the other .01% That’s the problem. That’s irresponsible. That’s dereliction of duty.
Thank God, no children got hurt. But wait, what if someone’s child WAS hurt, trampled, or touched…. and what if the parents soon realize, “Hey, the teacher encouraged us to go. I thought it was a school sanctioned event…. the flyer went out during school time.”
You need to step back and look at this clearly.
Nowhere on the flyer does it distinguish between individual teacher initiative and school initiative. Therefore, given the FACT that it went home with children… it is a school sanctioned flyer until stated otherwise.
The principal must be terminated for allowing the distribution of material that potentially endangered children. The district will likely investigate to see if the teachers were disciplined and if a corrective memo went out. But the teachers are too smart for that. They likely wont cop to anything… very 1%ish The principal is on an island and has to go.
Where is Tony Smith?
The OEA has to speak out on this flyer because this wont go away. I will see to it, and not just on this blog.
Put our kids at risk, intended or not, and you have to go.
That’s not hype
Personal Days should be personal, teachers, not a chance for you to flaunt your ideology in a way that puts kid at risk.
You don’t need racist people to produce entitled, racist, or dangerous results for kids. We don’t have time for these 20something year old teachers to grow up.
November 5th, 2011 at 8:14 am
Why would OUSD teachers encourage kids and parents to go to protests that had been the scene of earlier violent crackdowns
1. Because they know what’s best for your children
2. Cool way to show the administrations impotence
3. Kids with signs take great pictures
4. Because their ideology should be your ideology
5. They’re paid for the day, all else is irrelevent
6. Kids never get hurt or touched in big crowds!
7. Kids haven’t had a good protest since closure debate
8. They think OEA and OUSD support them
9. Powerless people follow anybody, even young teachers
10. Nothin better to do.
11. Tony Smith can’t tell me what to do.
12. We’ve got a 773 API score and we’re not on the stupid School Closure List, they can’t tell us a thing!
Wait, what if they were put on next year’s Sch… oh, nevermind
November 5th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
Turanga, Even the pieceful protests were against the law because they didn’t get permission or pay for permit fees. This is important both to pay for the [poor] City’s costs and because the City can’t make exceptions to the law only for groups it agrees with politically. Laws are equal for everyone and the City is opening itself up for groups it disagrees with to have the same, unpermitted rights. I sure hope some idiot gun nuts or right wing zealots don’t try the same thing).
Back to the permits, the Unions and others rightfully supporting the 99% should chip in and help pay the permit fees so taxpayers aren’t the only ones picking up the tab.
November 5th, 2011 at 4:51 pm
@Turanga:
This flyer appears to be school sanctioned. Kids are given tons of flyers to take home. We, parents, assume they come from the teacher and approved by the school.
There is NOTHING about this flyer that suggests it is not school approved.
Saying “We will not be in our classrooms all day” is not the same as saying we will not be acting as representatives of the district. This flyer was given to students in the classroom, by on-the-clock employees, right along with graded homework and progress report.
This was deceptive, irresponsible, and a gross violation of the public trust.
They even went so far as to tell the parents to MEET them in front of the school at 8:45am!!
This next statement by Turango is an incredible example of naivete, elitism, duplicity, and entitled snobbery.
>>The Oakland children attending the protest (with fusll PARENT, not teacher, consent and supervision) were safer marching to the port than walking home from school.<<
November 12th, 2011 at 5:22 am
someone recently died near the Occupy camp.
I wonder if the teachers at Melrose still think it is a good idea to encourage parents and children to be there “All Day” in solidarity.
Their poor judgment becomes more evident as the days go on.
I’m assuming the OEA will not denounce the actions or flyer distributed by the teachers? I wonder about CTA and the dept of ed. May need to give them a call.
This goes to the heart of what is wrong with our schools. Kids are not put first. Ideology and personal agenda are put before kids safety and education. Poor people and their kids are being used as pawns by teachers, principals, officials, and unions.
Anybody who thinks these teachers at Bridges Academy were justified to pass out flyers on school time to encourage parents and kids to Occupy Oakland – has truly lost perspective.
Nobody has been held accountable. Teachers still got paid, union made it’s soap-box statement, principal still in place. No sanctions, no firings. Business as usual.