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San Francisco Chronicle
6 days ago
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
The ugly battle between principals and teachers taking over Oakland schools
Students had settled into their first class of the day when the president of the Oakland teachers union walked up to the entry gate at Fremont High School on March 17. What school staff say happened next has sparked an ugly public spat pitting the district principals and their union against the teachers' labor leaders, with administrators accusing the teachers union of harassment, physical threats and bullying. Multiple staff members reported to district officials and told the Chronicle that the teachers union president, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, threatened to beat up the principal, Nidya Baez. Taiz-Rancifer denied the allegations, telling the Chronicle that 'as a mother and a teacher that's not how I approach the world.' School leaders said Taiz-Rancifer and two other union officials came to the school to meet with a special education teacher, who was teaching on an interim credential, and who the principal had decided not to rehire for the upcoming school year. Taiz-Rancifer said she was on campus that day to defend one of the union's members, who is Black. She called out what she said was 'the disproportionate way that Black people are treated' by the district. 'That we have had to do this kind of advocacy in this district around these real harmful things that happen but go unnoticed,' she said, without specifying what she meant. 'It is unfair. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.' The Chronicle interviewed several witnesses to the interaction between Taiz-Rancifer and staff at Fremont High, viewed copies of four witness statements and obtained exclusive access to a school security video showing some of the incident. The United Administrators of Oakland Schools, which represents 368 principals, supervisors, managers and others, has called on district officials and the school board to intervene. Spokesman John Sasaki said the district takes all reports of threats seriously, does not comment on personnel matters and would not say if the district was investigating the incident. The labor clash adds significant tilt to an already unsteady ship. The district's leadership is in flux after the teachers union-backed school board majority forced an early exit of the homegrown superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell, in a divisive process in April — just eight months after extending her contract through June 2027. At public meetings, officials from the administrators union have referenced the Fremont incident as well as what they said was persistent intimidation of and retaliation against principals across the district by the teachers union leadership, often over the termination or release of a teacher. The teachers union, the Oakland Education Association, represents the district's 3,000 teachers, counselors, aides and other educators. 'Our members have been targeted with such language such as, 'I'm going to kick her ass,' 'We will find you in the community,' 'We control the board, we got Kyla fired, we can get you fired,'' said the president of the administrators union, Cary Kaufman, at the April 23 school board meeting. 'Our members don't feel safe walking to their cars. It happens over and over and over again.' According to a staff member who spoke with the Chronicle and two witness statements, Taiz-Rancifer identified herself as a parent at the Fremont High gate, saying she was heading to a classroom to see a teacher on that day in mid-March. The staff member told the Chronicle they informed Taiz-Rancifer that she needed to get a visitor pass first. Taiz-Rancifer refused, said the staff member, who requested anonymity for fear of retribution. The staff member, who said they didn't know who the visitor was at the time, said they couldn't remember the exact words used by Taiz-Rancifer, but that the union leader threatened to beat up the principal. 'She said, I'm going to hit her or I'm going to do something to her,' the person said. One witness, in the signed statement, said Taiz-Rancifer said that if she went to the office, the principal 'was going to get it.' Another wrote that she said 'something along the lines of, 'If I see Ms. Baez, I'm going to go off.'' As Taiz-Rancifer proceeded to the classroom, the two staff members wrote in their statements, they notified other staff and administrators via walkie talkie that a person was on campus proceeding to a classroom without checking in at the office. Both said they didn't know who she was at the time. A case manager at the school, Amado Rosas, told the Chronicle he heard the transmission in his office and headed to intercept the person. By then, Taiz-Rancifer had met up with another union official. The video shows the other member of the union going into a classroom and Taiz-Rancifer remaining in the hallway with Rosas as the door shuts. Rosas said he told Taiz-Rancifer that the procedure was to check in at the main office. 'She said, 'I understand your procedure, but if I go down there and I see your principal, I will mess her up,'' Rosas said. 'But it was more threatening. She said something more along the lines of, 'I will f— her up.'' Taiz-Rancifer denied using such language. 'I'll just say unequivocally, I have not ever, ever, ever said any of that,' she told the Chronicle. 'It's horrible and offensive.' Rosas, who said he was among those who signed a witness statement, told the Chronicle that the situation felt 'very dangerous,' because the threat of physical violence appeared sincere. 'When you throw those words around it creates a hostile environment,' he said. Taiz-Rancifer also said several times that Fremont High had an anti-Black atmosphere, Rosas said. Assistant Principal Derek Boyd told the Chronicle he also heard the walkie talkie reports of a person making threats against Baez, who was teaching a leadership class at the time. Boyd ensured staff members were following procedures for a threat on campus, and then stood outside Baez's classroom to guard the door, he said. When Baez finished teaching, Boyd said, he escorted her to his office, where she remained until the union leaders left sometime around noon. Boyd, who said he was one of six staff members to submit a witness statement as part of an incident report, said a few staff members reported that Taiz-Rancifer threatened to harm Baez, saying she was going to 'f—ing beat her ass.' The Chronicle was able to view copies of four of the witness statements, with names redacted. The content reflected largely what staff said, although in one case, the time of Taiz-Rancifer's arrival was described as between 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. rather than during the first hour of classes or closer to 8:45 a.m. The district declined to immediately provide the statements or the report to the Chronicle and requested that the Chronicle file a public records act request, which it did. 'I've never had a union president act this way,' Boyd said. Two of the union leaders at Fremont with Taiz-Rancifer, Vilma Serrano and Carrie Anderson, said the union president did not threaten anyone or make the profanity-laden statements. 'Those are inaccurate statements,' Serrano said. 'We were there too. That didn't happen.' They said they were with Taiz-Rancifer the entire time at the school, though Fremont High staff members disputed that and a security video of Taiz-Rancifer's interaction with Rosas, which does not include audio, shows she was not with the two union officials when they spoke in the hallway. Taiz-Rancifer denied issuing the specific threats described by staff or any other threats of physical harm. 'None of the phrases you included are things that sound like anything I would say,' she said. She did not respond to requests to clarify whether she made any type of verbal threat. Since the encounter, the teachers union has launched a campaign to get the special education teacher rehired, saying in a flyer that Baez has 'led a disturbing campaign of retaliation' against teacher Chris Jackson since his election to union leadership. 'Chris has also been a powerful voice in defense of Black educators and students, confronting racial epithets and longstanding anti-Blackness at Fremont High,' according to the flyer. So far, 1,008 letters have been sent. Baez said that making staffing decisions is part of a principal's job. 'We have to make these hard decisions,' she said, adding she expected to get a grievance or a phone call from the teachers union. 'What I did not expect was a threat.' She said that her team filed an incident report after the March 17 encounter, and that the district's legal department issued a 'stay away letter.' But Taiz-Rancifer has returned since, citing union business, and the district did not remove her from campus, Baez said. Baez and staff, including Boyd, the assistant principal, who is Black, said the accusations based on one staffing decision were unfair. Data shows the school has an 88% graduation rate for Black seniors, one of the highest in the district. Other principals told the Chronicle they've also been harassed for personnel decisions in recent years, but with more frequency this year, allegations they also made at public meetings. 'I have been one of the principals targeted,' said Shalonda Gregory, principal at MetWest High School, adding the union painted a picture of her as an 'angry Black lady.' 'Their goal is to intimidate us to the point where we don't do our jobs.' School board President Jennifer Brouhard did not respond to requests for comment about the issue. At Fremont High, Baez readied for the end of her 18th year as an educator. The last few months have been 'unacceptable,' she said. 'I worry about how we're going to move forward after all of this is done.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Former BYU golfer Patrick Fishburn savoring first chance to play in a major tournament
Patrick Fishburn from Ogden watches for his ball to land after hitting a drive during the Utah Open at Riverside Country Club in Provo on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024. | Brice Tucker, Deseret News The way Patrick Fishburn sees it, not making the cut at the PGA Tour's Myrtle Beach Classic last week was a blessing in disguise, even if it was his third-straight missed cut in as many weeks. Shortly after shooting 73-74 at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club in South Carolina to miss the cut by a bunch, Fishburn packed his bags, jumped into a car with his caddy, Alex 'Big Al' Riddell, and made the three-hour drive to Charlotte, North Carolina, for this week's 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Golf Club. Advertisement Fishburn, the former Fremont High and BYU golf star from Ogden, is playing in his first major golf championship, beginning Thursday at a course he was unfamiliar with until getting in a practice round Sunday when he could have still been playing back in Myrtle Beach if he had made the cut there. 'It's not a golf course that you would want to play blindly,' he said, noting that it was so rainy Monday that he couldn't get out on the course. In his second season on the PGA Tour, Fishburn is 71st on the PGA Championship Points List, but only the top 70 players are guaranteed spots in the second major of the season. However, he got in when Billy Horschel had to withdraw after having hip surgery. 'Obviously, you grow up in golf dreaming of playing in the majors, so this is a dream come true,' Fishburn said. Advertisement Fishburn, 32, is one of two Utahns in the 156-player field, joining former Salt Lake City resident Tony Finau, who will be playing in his 36th major and 11th PGA Championship. Fishburn and Finau, 35, played a practice round together on Tuesday. Fishburn tees off on No. 10 Thursday at 5:16 a.m. MDT with Andre Chi and Seamus Power. Finau, who tied for 18th in last year's PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, tees off on No. 10 Thursday at 6:33 a.m. MDT with Nicolai Hojgaard and Max Greyserman. 'I am so excited to play,' Fishburn told the Deseret News on Tuesday. 'I think this golf course sets up well for me. It lends itself to some of the strengths I have and allows me to play the way I like to play.' Advertisement Obviously, the 6-foot-4 Fishburn, who grew up on a horse farm outside of Ogden and was a high school basketball star at Fremont High before serving a two-year church mission in Nashville, Tennessee, loves the monstrous 7,626-yard layout at Quail Hollow because he's one of the longest hitters on the PGA Tour. 'It is an unbelievable venue, probably the biggest property I have played a tournament on. It is massive,' he said. 'I have heard multiple people say this is the closest thing to Augusta National that they have played. I believe them, from what I have seen. It is a really impressive place.' Fishburn won the Utah State Amateur in 2016 and the Utah Open in 2017 before turning pro in 2018. He earned his PGA Tour card prior to the 2023-24 season and is currently 107th in the FedEx Cup standings and 114th in the Official World Golf Rankings. He's had two top-10 finishes in the 14 events he's played in 2025, tying for sixth at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January and tying for fifth at the Valero Texas Open a month ago. Just making the cut at par-71 Quail Hollow would be a big accomplishment, but he's not focusing on any particular results this week. Advertisement 'I am more caught up in the process of things than the results. I just know that if I do certain things with each shot, I have a good feeling it will lead to something good,' he said. Fishburn said he's had some issues with his putting the past few weeks, but believes he figured out the problem on the practice green the other day: a putter that has the wrong loft and the wrong lie angle. 'So that was kind of a big thing to discover,' he said. 'Some little tweaks I have made around the greens, just chipping and putting and just scoring the ball the last two days have really helped. 'So I think I have the game to be in the hunt. You never really think of winning or what place you are going to take,' he continued. 'I just know if I play the way I am capable of playing, it will be good enough to be involved on Sunday, even though I have no experience playing in majors and I have no idea what to expect.' Advertisement To make up for his inexperience in majors, Fishburn has leaned on his three best friends in golf: Finau, Zurich Classic teammate Zac Blair and veteran PGA Tour player Daniel Summerhays, who, like, Fishburn and Blair, also played for BYU. Summerhays is rehabbing this season and will be in Charlotte this weekend to provide more advice and mentoring. He placed third in the 2016 PGA Championship. 'I lean a lot on all those guys. They have been huge mentors for me,' Fishburn said. 'Asking questions and getting advice is something I have done for a lot of years. I haven't been afraid to learn from really everyone. There is so much to learn in golf and I try to pay attention to how guys are approaching shots and puling them off. Those guys have always been extremely good to me in providing information and being mentors for me. I am lucky to have those three guys to look up to.' Advertisement Along with Summerhays, Fishburn will have his parents — Steve and Peggy — and some old high school friends cheering him on in North Carolina, as well as his agent, Rob Despain, and former Ogden Golf & Country Club pro Craig Sarlo. His wife of eight years, Madison, won't be able to make the trip because she is eight months pregnant with the couple's third child. 'What a proud moment for Utah and the Fishburn family,' Despain said on his Fishin' for Birdies podcast recently. 'It is definitely a milestone in Patrick's career.'
