Oakland teachers and district agree on tentative deal, classes to resume Tuesday.

The Oakland Education Association union has reached a tentative agreement with the Oakland Unified School District regarding all negotiation points. Following this agreement, classes are expected to resume on Tuesday, as confirmed by officials early Monday morning.

While schools remained open on Monday, some teachers may be present on campus for what the district described as a “transition day.” On Sunday evening, union members demanded that a corrected document be signed before the strike could be called off. It was stated that if a correction was not made by the given deadline of 11 p.m., the OEA vowed to resume the strike on Monday.

At around 11 p.m., a union representative responded to NBC Bay Area’s reports, stating, “We finally received a document and we are reviewing now.” The deal was signed early Monday morning.

Over the weekend, both parties made significant progress in their negotiations, settling on the “common good” items such as resources for unhoused students, reparations for Black students, and efforts to bring shared governance to Community Schools.

The union noted a high level of frustration as documents containing glaring errors and agreed-upon items were forthcoming from the district. Ismael Armendariz, the union president, stated, “We’re just waiting for the final document that we already have an agreement on to be sent accurately so we can sign it; that’s what we’ve been waiting for the last six hours.”

Oakland teachers on the OEA bargaining team had been working around the clock, hoping that an agreement would be reached soon. Some teachers even spent their Mother’s Day weekend sleeping inside the union building, sleeping on the floor in anticipation of the potential end of these negotiations, which have stretched over several months.

Monday would have been the eighth day of the teachers’ strike, had the picketing continued. As Oakland schools now plan to reopen, the city can breathe a sigh of relief as students and teachers can return to a school environment.

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