Latest news with #Johnson-Trammell
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Oakland schools superintendent says farewell after her firing from OUSD
OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — On Thursday, the final day of the 2024-25 school year, superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell held a news conference before she departs from Oakland Unified School District. Johnson-Trammell was the longest-serving superintendent of OUSD in 55 years. Her tenure officially ends on June 30, marking eight years at the helm of the second largest school district in the San Francisco Bay Area. During the news conference, Dr. Johnson-Trammell highlighted accomplishments of her administration, including: Paying off $100 million in loans and exited a State Receivership after 22 years. Raising OUSD's graduation rate to its highest level in decades. Navigating schools through the COVID pandemic. Sparking public-private partnerships with Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, KABOOM!, and Trust for Public Land to improve nearly two dozen school yards. Launching an all-electric school district bus fleet. Following a tense school board meeting when tempers flared in April, board trustees narrowly voted 4-3 in favor of firing Johnson-Trammell. Trustees offered zero explanations for why they decided to get rid of their superintendent. Johnson-Trammell did not attend the April meeting. However, she published a thank you letter writing, 'The last eight years have brought some of the most challenging and most defining moments in our district's history. Through it all, Oakland has shown what's possible when we stay grounded in our mission and vision and work in partnership for our students.' OUSD officials have not yet announced who their next superintendent will be. Trustees held a closed-door meeting Wednesday night. The NAACP Education Committee Oakland Branch wrote a letter to the school board raising alarms that OUSD is entering the summer in a 'leadership vacuum.' The letter stated, 'We are deeply troubled by the Board's April 23rd vote to terminate Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell—an abrupt and destabilizing decision that has left a leadership vacuum in our district. Superintendent Johnson-Trammell's contributions were not only historic but stabilizing. She successfully led OUSD out of 22 years of state receivership and oversaw a $100 million state loan repayment—an extraordinary accomplishment for our district. Her removal, two years before her contract was set to end, was executed without a clear succession plan and has triggered widespread concern throughout our community for the past few weeks.' NAACP leaders questioned whether the board's decision was made in the best interests of students, or influenced by political agendas and 'behind-the-scenes union maneuvering.' Earlier this May, the school board voted fully reverse its plans to make sweeping cuts to afterschool, before-school, and summer programs. The planned cuts would have hacked expanded learning programs by up to 80% and impacted thousands of students who rely on the programs for academic support, mentorship, meals, and safety, advocates with Youth Together said. The board's reversal came after weeks of mounting public pressure. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
San Francisco Chronicle
02-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
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.'
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oakland Unified School District votes to remove superintendent
(KRON) — There were some tense moments at Wednesday night's school board meeting in Oakland, where board members voted to remove the superintendent, sparking a heated response from one member against the plan. San Jose's 'Christmas in the Park' needs money After years of serving as Oakland's school district superintendent, Kyla Johnson-Trammell is now on her way out. The school board voted to end her contract. The board did not explain why they're ousting the current superintendent. However, efforts to remove her started two weeks ago, during the meeting on April 9 when school board member Mike Hutchinson announced that after eight years on the job and a recent contract renewal, the board majority was trying to get rid of Johnson-Trammell. Other members of the board, including its president, refused to comment on what happened in closed session, citing a violation of the Brown Act. On Wednesday night, they only described the decision as a 'voluntary separation agreement.' The announcement prompted outrage from community members attending the meeting. Johnson-Trammell did not attend the meeting. However, she did publish a thank-you letter on the district's website which said, 'As I prepared to step away from my role as your superintendent on June 30, I do so with immense pride in what we've accomplished together. The last eight years have brought some of the most challenging and most defining moments in our district's history. Through it all, Oakland has shown what's possible when we stay grounded in our mission and vision and work in partnership for our students.' Watch the full report in the video player above. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
San Francisco Chronicle
24-04-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Union-backed Oakland school board majority ousts home-grown superintendent
The Oakland school board voted Wednesday to replace the district's long-time superintendent, giving her a payout to step aside at the end of this school year, officials confirmed, rather than wait until the end of her contract in the summer of 2027. The 4-3 decision to push out Kyla Johnson-Trammell was announced as a 'voluntary separation agreement,' although the board did not immediately provide details of the deal. Johnson-Trammell will remain with the district as 'superintendent emeritus' from July 1 through Jan. 15, 2026, according to a joint statement released by her and board President Jennifer Brouhard. It is unclear what Johnson-Trammell's role will be under the new title. An interim superintendent will be appointed by July 1, they said. The new agreement nullifies the superintendent's current contract, which was extended in August until the summer of 2027 by the previous school board to ensure a smooth transition of leadership. Brouhard voted for Johnson-Trammell's contract extension, but has recently led the effort to bring a new leader in as early as this summer. 'Superintendent Johnson-Trammell has done an extraordinary job over the past eight years, a historic tenure marked by stability, strong fiscal oversight, and improvements in student achievement,' Brouhard said in the statement, citing increased literacy, improved graduation rates and historic pay raises for educators, among other accomplishments. Johnson-Trammell was not available for additional comment. Board members were not immediately available for comment given their ongoing presence at the public meeting. The announcement regarding the superintendent at the beginning of the meeting, however, was met with loud boos in the La Escuelita auditorium where the school board meeting was held. Several parents and community members challenged board members to explain the decision, but were given no explanation. Oakland parent Vivica Ycoy-Walton said the community was kept in the dark, without the opportunity for any input. 'I'm outraged because we were given no forward warning, no reasons, no anything,' she said, adding that Johnson-Trammell is a native Oaklander who has the trust of the community. 'We love her. She's done a lot of great things. I trust her,' she said. 'Somebody who was born, raised, went to school and went through every level of leadership to get to the position she is right now — that is somebody the city trusts. And she looks like us and she supports all of us.' This was the third closed-door session over the last month about the fate of the superintendent, with the Oakland branch of the NAACP, district administrators and some board members speaking out in opposition to Johnson-Trammell's possible ouster. Others criticized a process that appeared to be an effort to remove the superintendent in secret without any public input. 'While it is normal for new boards to provide new direction, I want to be very clear: what matters is how we pursue that vision,' said board member Patrice Berry in an April 13 letter to the community. 'What matters is that we lead with a process that is structured, careful, and transparent. Unfortunately, that has not been our path in this process so far.' The board's vote, made behind closed doors, comes at a pivotal time for the district, which has faced significant declining enrollment and a persistent deficit, backfilled in recent years by pandemic recovery funds and other one-time funding sources. That money is nearly gone. The district has about 40% fewer students than in the 1990s, but has not shrunk its footprint to address the decline, leaving many schools with fewer than 200 students. Johnson-Trammell, the superintendent since 2017, has pushed the board to spend within its means and confront the thousands of empty seats spread across a large number of schools. She was expected to recommend a plan to reduce the number of schools in June, as mandated by the previous board. It's unclear if that will happen now. The board majority has the support of the teachers union, which has opposed school closures and budget cuts. The union, the Oakland Education Association, has called for a strike authorization vote to protest what its leadership has said is a lack of transparency over district finances. If approved by voting members, the union has said it will be able to call a one-day strike on May 1. When Johnson-Trammell took over, after working for 18 years as a teacher and administrator in the district, Oakland Unified was already facing a budget crisis, with mid-year cuts required. During her tenure, she has led through three teachers strikes, the COVID pandemic, divisive school closure battles and the ongoing fiscal oversight given the ongoing debt from a $100 million state loan required after the district ran out of money in 2003. The district announced this week that it will make the final payments on the loan in June and it has a final audit report in hand, which is also required before the state returns all local control. The audit found that the district is 'in the best fiscal condition in 22 years,' officials said in a statement posted on the website, citing stable leadership as a primary reason for that. But at the same time, there are big challenges ahead, district officials said. That includes facing the fact that attendance is below 85% in some settings and the city's schools lose 700 students every year during the elementary-to-middle school transition. In addition, the public school system has 30 more schools than fiscally sustainable and only 6 of 77 schools are within sustainable size ranges, officials added. 'The report warns that without continued action to reduce costs and improve attendance, the District is at risk of needing another state bailout,' according to the statement posted on the Oakland Unified web site.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oakland schools in turmoil over reported board battle to oust superintendent
OAKLAND - The Oakland Unified School District was in turmoil on Thursday, in the wake of Wednesday's board meeting, when board member Mike Hutchinson said the board president failed to report in open session, the results of a closed-door session vote to end Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell's contact at the end of the year. "Out of the blue, this was a decision to break the superintendent's contract," Mike Hutchinson, an OUSD board member, said, adding that four board members indicated they wanted to oust the superintendent. "President Brouhard, Vice-President Bachelor, and Director Latta and Director Williams," Hutchinson said, naming the board members he said voted in favor of ousting Johnson-Trammell by July 1st. Hutchinson said he's upset that the vote was not reported to the public during the open session, and there was no cause given for a loss of faith in Johnson-Trammell, who has led the district since 2017. She was just approved last August for a contract extension through the 2026-2027 school year, to help with the transition as the board searched for a new superintendent to replace her. On Thursday, OUSD issued a statement saying, in part, "After each closed session, the legislative body must report in open session certain actions related to public employees taken in closed session, and the vote of each member. This includes: Action to appoint, employ, dismiss, release, accept resignation of, or affect the status of any employee." Board President Jennifer Brouhard told KTVU Thursday that Kyla Johnson-Trammell is still the district's superintendent. Dig deeper Brouhard repeatedly said she was unable to discuss the closed-session due to the Brown Act. She did say that Hutchinson is spreading misinformation. She said there was no final vote on the personnel matter regarding the superintendent that required any public report. Brouhard also said she consulted with outside counsel, not the school district's own general counsel Jenine Lindsey, to confirm that there was no need to report on any action in the closed-door meeting. "That is a closed-session matter," Brouhard said. "That discussion has not had a vote, and I'm not able to report on that discussion. It is not uncommon for a board to work with a superintendent to decide to give direction to look at the contract again. These are not uncommon things." KTVU asked Brouhard whether Johnson-Trammell had done anything illegal or in violation of her contract, to which Brouhard said no. "We all have respect for Dr. Johnson-Trammell," Brouhard said. "She's done a tremendous amount and I want whatever happens to give dignity and respect to her. " Brouhard also said any calls for budget cuts from the top, or suggestions that Johnson-Trammell was being ousted to coincide with the Oakland Educators Association's contract expiration June 30th, are untrue. "I've heard people say cut from the top. We wouldn't cut the superintendent to balance the budget," Brouhard said. Parents say they just want transparency, and assurances that the decision are not ultimately going to hurt students. "There's nobody that cares about the students," said one parent named Normita, "And I don't know if it's the lack of money, the lack of funding, but students aren't getting cared about." "I just want them to have a good the classes are managed, so the children learn, so there's not chaos," Claire Quiter, a grandparent of an OUSD student, said. KTVU reached out directly to Johnson-Trammell, but was told she has no comment at this time. The next OUSD Board meeting is scheduled for April 23rd.
