OEA Reaches Tentative Agreement – Ratification Vote on Sunday March 3

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Talk about regress: When I was in California public schools in the 1950s-1960s, the genocide celebration week known as Thanksgiving lasted 2 days, as it does in the office worker world to this day. In the private sector, it lasts 1 day if at all. The schools, with now a majority minority student population, increased the genocide celebration days to 5! This, as well as the refusal to fund education by taxing the rich, is a sign of total contempt for education and increased support of racism. Since there is already a war celebration in November in the schools known as Veterans Day (but not in the private profit offices or in most profit-making businesses), there is no reason for any other November holiday. The November 5-day celebration of genocide plus 1 day for war support is followed in December by 2 weeks for the Money Season.

The union should be promoting 3 15-week sessions of school per year, with the students advancing per semester if they get at least a C in a course, at all grade levels from first through 12th grade. School should be mandatory at age 3, not age 6, as it is in many countries, including Venezuela. At age 3, they can learn letters and numbers, music, dance, art, writing and basic reading. That still leaves 7 weeks for final exams, new semester registration and all the phony baloney holidays. In an 80% urban society, there is no need for a 2 month summer break. The union should also promote immediate abolition of standardized tests which take up time for absolutely no benefit as all they do is measure poverty while enriching the testing companies.

Is the union going to promote taxing the rich, the 885,225 millionaires and 144 billionaires in California, by the super majority Democratic Legislature and the Democratic governor by increasing the progressive income tax? That is the best way to fund the public schools and is long overdue. The refusal to do so has resulted in 45 students per class in violation of the Fire Code, with students sitting on the floor as there are insufficient chairs, and all the other horrors we have heard about in these teacher strikes. Since these students do not come from homes with a high level of education, there should be no more than 20 students per class so the students can receive individual attention. Again, we have had a supermajority Democratic Legislature and a Democratic governor for decades in regard to the Legislature and years in regard to the governor, all members of a party promoting charter schools the same as the Republicans, and the schools are now worse than ever.

The most obvious item missing is the 30% pay raise for teachers to rent an apartment in Oakland. They need that right now. Also missing is the demand to abolish charter schools, hiring one nurse per 500 students, one counselor per 200 students, and limiting class size to 20 students per class. Lowering a 40 to 50 student class by 1 student does not work. There is no education going on among students in a 30-40-50 student class when they receive no help at home. The contract should be written so that in 1 year, all Oakland public school students will pass all tests with flying colors so that there is no such thing as a student who cannot do math or English at their grade level. PLEASE, if this ridiculous agreement is rejected, go for a general strike now. There should have been a general strike on DAY ONE.