Quotes from the Quad – “Why are you striking?”

By Alli Weseman, PHOTO EDITOR

“Why are you striking?”

“We don’t get a classroom budget, so many things in my classroom are donations or out of my pocket. I got a second job to live here.”

-Cristopher Bautista, Oakland Tech, English and History Teacher

 

 

“Most of these teachers give me love and support, coming from a kid that had a horrible childhood, teachers really support me.”

-Victoria Ochoa, 9th grader, Oakland Tech  

 

 

 

“If we don’t have great teachers then our students suffer and has a former Oakland student and someone that works with Oakland students, that is unacceptable.”

-Lukas Brekke-Miesner, Executive Director Oakland Kids First

 

 

“I cannot have my students going to high school or the next grade with class sizes of 33; students can’t learn in those environments and it’s not fair to students or teachers.”

-Quinn Ranahan, Roots Math Teacher

 

 

“The main reason I’m striking is for a livable wage, to get more resources for our students; we have teachers that are homeless who come out here to teach. I have textbooks that are over 10 years old, our students deserve to be up to date with Science and Technology.”

-Shannon Brandon, Oakland Tech Science Teacher

 

 

 

 

“I want teachers of color to be attracted to working for OUSD, and the fact is, what they are paying now is not an attractive salary, not a competitive salary, so we need to do more attract them and get teachers of color here, because our students deserve teachers who look like them.”

-Brenda Riveria, Oakland Tech English and History Teacher