WCCUSD strike: No deal announced. School board member hints resolution may be near

After two days of strikes that left West Contra Costa Unified School District classrooms mostly empty while teachers picketed and community members rallied, bargaining meetings between the district and the two striking unions were held Saturday.

The teachers union’s meeting at Alvarado school came first, after a spirited gathering of an estimated 1,000 district employees and supporters. The Teamsters union meeting began around 7 p.m.

At about 7 p.m., the crowd had dwindled to just a handful of supporters waiting in the cold. They were advised to head home, Richmondside observed.

WCCUSD school board member Demetrio Gonzales-Hoy told Richmondside earlier Saturday he was hopeful they were close to reaching a contract deal. He, along with board members Guadalupe Ellana and Cinthia Hernandez, attended the rally.

“Yesterday, we (the school board) met for seven hours in closed session and the majority of the board directed staff with what we hope is a positive settlement,” Gonzalez-Hoy told Richmondside ahead of the candlelight vigil. “Any negotiation, there is some give and take, but I’m hoping it’ll be close enough to end the strike.”

During the candlelight vigil, the crowd sang songs such as “We Shall Overcome” to keep morale up. The group also made its own rendition of “All I Want for Christmas,” saying, “All I want for Christmas is a fair contract, so I can afford to live in California.”

When the rally began at 3 p.m., among the attendees was Myrna Conway, 80, who works in the cafeteria at Cesar Chavez Elementary School in Richmond.

Despite just getting out the hospital yesterday, the 18-year district employee was there to fight for a better contract.

“I hope (district officials) realize how really, really big this is, and that the teachers really are not going to go anywhere until they get what they deserve and what their students deserve,” Conway said.

She said she loves working at Chavez but said it’s not what it used to be.

“I can’t pinpoint one thing that made it shift, but it’s been a lack of respect … lack of resources,” she said.

Each union represents about 1,500 employees, including classroom teachers, special education aides, speech therapists, school security, food management and custodial staff. 

Student shares what it was like going to school during strike

On Thursday, WCCUSD attendance was estimated at roughly 11% of the 25,000-student population. Friday it was even lower, officials said.

Students who crossed the picket lines were supervised by non-union employees, including principals, substitute teachers and some remaining district staff, including a former Richmond mayoral and city council candidate.

Richmond High School sophomore Valeria Barahona was on campus both days, saying she went to school to be with friends but that she supports the teachers strike. 

 Sources say an estimated 100 to 150 students were at the high school.

“It was weird. It felt like we were in a bubble,” Barahona told Richmondside after school on Friday. “It was empty … I only saw one of my teachers.” 

She said on Thursday students who came to school were assigned to one of three groups, each identified by a colored wristband. She was in the green group. Her first period teacher, Assistant Principal Michael Hatcher, taught a philosophy lesson in the theater. In the second period students received coloring books and were supervised by a substitute teacher. Her third period was physical education.

“But you could really do anything. I stayed on my phone and talked to my friends,” Barahona said. “They didn’t really care what you did.”

She said on Friday she saw no more than 40 students on campus and the day was similarly organized. However, instead of drawing, the same substitute teacher facilitated a debate between students. Students could collect tickets for paying attention and win prizes such as chips, drinks, Oreos, or fidget spinners — the hardest prize to get at a cost of 40 tickets.  

“Honestly, they didn’t really care about us paying attention, they just gave (tickets) to everyone,” Barahona said. “We need our teachers. We really need them. It’s already impacting our education.” 

Barahona, who moved to Richmond three years ago from El Salvador, said she relies on school to learn and practice English. Since the strike started, she has been able to get away with only speaking Spanish. 

“I feel unproductive, like I’m not using my brain. I’m also kind of lazy with English. I haven’t spoken English in these two days,” Barahona said. “Honestly, we haven’t learned anything.” 

Why one familiar Richmond political figure crossed the picket line

In addition to non-union administrators teaching classes, there were an estimated 200 substitute teachers on campuses districtwide, with many assigned to elementary schools, and nearly that many district employees who crossed the picket line.

Shawn Dunning, who lost his mayoral and Richmond City Council bids in 2022 and 2024, respectively, said he crossed the picket line at Michelle Obama School, where he’s been a temporarily-credentialed sixth-grade teacher for the past year, because he believes teachers are “essential personnel,” and strikes should be a last resort.

“You can imagine how I felt when the strike was called. ‘What?! Abandon our students? Now?’ ” Dunning told Richmondside, explaining that many of his students are only reading at a third-grade level. 

But he acknowledged that if the teachers’ demands are met, WCCUSD could improve its recruitment and retention rates, resulting in fewer vacancies such as the one he filled. 

Still, he said he thinks the strike was unnecessary.

“In the cost analysis that I see, sacrificing our students’ progress — even if only for a day — is too high of a price to pay,” Dunning said. “I would much rather continue the annoying, frustrating, and seemingly futile effort of negotiating with the district for better pay, benefits, etc. — as long as the district is willing to communicate, and it appears they are.”

He said one person called him a “scab,” a derogatory term for a worker who crosses a picket line during a strike, but he said most of his colleagues are discussing his decision to keep working in a thoughtful and respectful way.

“I’m well aware of how things can be taken out of context and I’m quite sure this is very, very damaging to my reputation but that’s the price that I have to pay to maintain my integrity,” Dunning said.

Strike creates tensions while district faces budget cuts

The strike could potentially be devastating for the cash-strapped district, with an estimated $1 million lost per day, one district official told Richmondside on the condition of anonymity. 

The district receives revenue based on average daily attendance. On Thursday about 2,815 students attended. The district gave students the option of enrolling in independent study, which it’s allowed to count as attendance, and 1,300 students chose that option. 

The district has saved some money because it does not pay those who are on strike, but other strike expenses negate that, the district official said, because it has had to contract out for a lot of services, including substitute teachers, meal delivery, security and special education services that are legally mandated. 

On Friday, attendance numbers were even lower, several educators told Richmondside. The district’s union that represents certain supervisory roles, at least 60 positions, also began a sympathy strike.

While about 2,500 staff and community members rallied at Marina Bay Park on Friday, WCCUSD’s leadership, including school board members, met for six hours in a closed-session emergency meeting. 

The school board meeting ended at 3:30 p.m. and at 5:40 p.m. district officials sent an email informing the community that negotiations are continuing. 

While the strikes have overall been peaceful, tensions between staff and district officials were evident.

The first morning the district claimed that picketers were blocking access to campuses, which isn’t allowed. And on one picket line, educators could be heard chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, Dr. Moses has got to go,” referring to Kim Moses, the district’s associate superintendent of business services, who recently served as interim superintendent, and “Cotton Cotton you’re the worst. Pay the teachers what they are worth.”

Cheryl Cotton, a former educator and principal in the district, was appointed superintendent last summer, and her salary is adding fuel to the teachers’ fire, with teachers pointing out that her salary (the position was advertised at being $310,000 to $340,000) is more than California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s salary of $242,000. (However, WCCUSD pays its superintendents slightly below the state average, $357,064, for a unified school district of WCCUSD’s size, according to the 2023-24 average educators’ salaries report card posted by the state Department of Education.)

“We are spending more on a person (Cotton) who is not supporting us than the person in charge of our own state!!! Make this make SENSE!” said an email shared with Richmondside that encouraged teachers to attend Saturday’s rally.

According to the most recent teacher salary schedule (2023-24), WCCUSD teachers make anywhere from $58,000 a year to about $123,000, depending upon a variety of factors, including level of education and years of experience.

A day before the strike, teachers were asked to turn in their badges and computers. On Thursday, they were locked out of an internal communications platform, ParentSquare. This meant they couldn’t see messages from the district to families or any messages parents may have been sending them. 

“Getting locked out of a key communication platform while you’re on strike speaks volumes,” Masa Peterson, first-grade teacher at Nystrom Elementary told Richmondside. “I think (this is one of many) tactics to try to divide teachers. It also contributes to all of this misinformation, right?

“We don’t have access to what the district is communicating to families. We’re doing our best to communicate in the relevant ways to families, and if we can’t see what they’re receiving, we can’t communicate the truth from our perspective,” Peterson said. 

One example of differing “truths” was when Cotton sent a video to the community Thursday evening that said they were making progress in negotiations. 

“I know our school community joins me in learning that it was a productive discussion, and we are making our way forward,” Cotton said. “We have more to discuss, and the district has requested to reconvene tomorrow (Friday). We will keep you posted.” 

However, UTR officials said there was “no meaningful movement” in that meeting.

The community has rallied behind the teachers. Many parents and students joined them on the picket lines, and Richmond City Council members voiced their support and attended gatherings.

Doria Robinson, Richmond City Council District 3 representative, spoke at Friday’s rally,  saying the city stands firmly behind the teachers because it secures a better education for students and benefits the city.

“If we’re not here supporting the teachers, which is the backbone where all the real education happens, then what are we doing?” Robinson said to Richmondside as she marched along with striking employees. “From our own (budgeting) experience, usually there are ways to reorganize, ways to reprioritize, ways to think about long term, reserves and other things so you can invest in the things that matter most.” 

Depending on the costs associated with the two unions’ contracts, WCCUSD will have to make some difficult decisions as it already has a $16.9 million structural deficit. If it meets the teachers union’s demand of a 10% raise over two years, it will cost them $20.8 million a year, according to Moses.

The district already has to cut $7.7 million this year to balance its budget, and the financial impacts of the strike itself are still unclear. UTR officials argue that the district has more money in reserves that it could use to balance budgets. Union members also say if teachers were paid more, the district could recruit and retain educators, eliminating the need to contract out positions, a practice that almost doubles the cost for the district, one study showed.

Richmondside reporter Joel Umanzor contributed to this report.