Civil rights attorneys slam Oakland school board over alleged ‘backroom deals' to oust superintendent
Civil rights attorneys blasted the Oakland school board Thursday for what it said was a failure to follow state law during its closed-door process to replace the superintendent, saying 'such actions should not be held in secret or flow from backroom deals.'
The letter to the board from the ACLU of Northern California cited the April 9 meeting by the board during which a vote was taken in closed session regarding Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell's future with the district.
President Jennifer Brouhard, however, reported after the session that 'the board took no final action.'
Yet comments from other board members and subsequent actions by the board 'strongly suggests Brouhard failed to disclose what did happen: that the board took action to end her tenure early, negotiate a separation agreement and search for a new superintendent,' the ACLU letter said.
And failing to notify the public of those actions would violate the Brown Act, which ensures public access to government meetings, wrote Shaila Nathu, senior staff attorney, and Angélica Salceda, program director, of the ACLU, of Northern California.
Brouhard and district officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The legal admonishment by the the civil rights group adds to the growing strife in the district, with a bitterly split school board, a popular superintendent pushed out two years before the end of her contract, a teachers strike narrowly averted, a budget deficit and the administrators' union accusing the teachers union of harassment and threatening behavior.
Johnson-Trammell hasn't been seen at a school board meeting in more than a month.
Meanwhile, most students continue to struggle academically: One-third of Oakland students in 2024 met or exceeded English standards and a quarter met or exceeded grade-level standards in math.
The board had extended the superintendent's contract by two years in August, with Brouhard supporting the decision. Despite the extension, the school board has been meeting frequently in closed session to discuss her position, according to school board members.
Yet on April 23, following a closed session, the public was made aware that the superintendent was on her way out, with Brouhard announcing a 4-3 vote to approve the voluntary separation agreement with Johnson-Trammell.
The ACLU attorneys chastised the board for what they said was a secretive process.
'While a formal vote as to the terms of the separation was not taken until April 23, it seems clear that, by that date, the Board had already taken several steps in furtherance of the separation plan it had generated behind closed doors,' according to the ACLU letter.
The Brown Act should be interpreted in favor of "openness," the attorneys continued, to 'suppress the mischief at which it is directed.'
'Decisions regarding District leadership — particularly those concerning the Superintendent — are of vital public importance,' Nathu and Salceda wrote. 'Such decisions should not be kept in secret. The failure to disclose action taken in closed session undermines public confidence and may sow chaos if the Board's actions are ultimately nullified.'
The ACLU letter urged the board to 'change course,' citing a student who spoke at the April 9 meeting.
'I am (one of) the only teenagers in the room not because I'm the only student who cares but because there has been no meaningful work being done to inform us, let alone involve us, in decisions being made about us,' the student said during public comment. 'That is not just disappointing but (also) unjust.'
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