The Abridged version:
The teacher strike in Twin Rivers Unified hit eight days Monday, tying the record for Sacramento County’s longest teacher strike in recent memory. Natomas Unified is entering day five of a districtwide teacher strike.
Despite the work stoppage, schools have remained open in both districts. Officials have acknowledged that daily routines will look different given the circumstances.
Parents and staff have raised concerns that the district is overpromising, saying that kids who do attend school are not getting any education.
As teacher strikes in two Sacramento districts approach record territory, parents and employees are questioning both districts’ decisions to keep schools open.
Twin Rivers United Educators began picketing March 5. Monday marks day eight of their strike, tying the record for Sacramento County’s longest teacher strike in recent memory.
The Natomas Teachers’ Association started its walkout last Tuesday, and has reached Day 5 on Monday. Union and district leaders returned to the table at the end of last week and met for 14 hours Sunday but did not reach agreement.
The longest teacher strike in California history occurred in Oakland in 1996 — 26 days. But Sacramento-area residents may recall more recently an 8-day standoff in 2022 between the Sacramento City Teachers Association and Sacramento City Unified School District.
Sign Up for the Morning Newsletter
The Abridged morning newsletter lands in your inbox every weekday morning with the latest news from the Sacramento region.
Officials in that case opted to close campuses. Four years later, Sacramento City Unified is still paying for those learning days lost in the form of extended school years and compensation for extra days.
Leaders in Twin Rivers Unified and Natomas assured parents that their schools would stay open.
“While teachers may be participating in strike activities near certain campuses, students will continue to have full access to their schools, and daily routines will move forward as planned,” Twin Rivers officials wrote in a message to families March 4, on the eve of the strike.
“We remain committed to keeping students’ education and well-being on track during this time.”
Business not as usual
District officials later said things were not normal that first day without teachers.
Twin Rivers Unified reported a 72% attendance rate and 88% staffing rate (including substitutes, administration and non-teachers) on day one of the strike. The district has not reported numbers for any day since, and a spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Districtwide in Natomas, about half of all students attended school the first few days of the strike, according to the district’s executive director of communications Deidra Powell. Messages to Natomas families similarly noted that the days “may feel unsettling for students and the community.”
‘It’s just babysitting’
The decision to keep schools open, leaders in both districts have said, was fueled by the fact that campuses offer services beyond classroom education.
Almost 90% of Twin Rivers Unified’s 25,000 students rely on free or reduced-price meals. Before and afterschool programs offer crucial childcare for working parents.
State funding for school districts is also based in part on their average daily attendance — a fact many parents and staff speculate is motivating Twin Rivers and Natomas to keep the doors open.
Normally, Marisa Lau is an instructional assistant at Heron School, an elementary campus in Natomas. But during the strike she has taken on teaching a kindergarten class. Lau said between fellow non-teaching staff and some district employees filling in, there is enough staff on campus to supervise students.
“They’re safe,” she said.
But, she added, “I think the biggest issue is the district telling parents kids are being taught.”
Lau, who also serves as communications officer for the district’s support staff union, is currently working to get her teaching credentials. That has helped her take on the temporary responsibilities of teaching 5-year-olds. But that is not the norm in classrooms around her, she said.
“It’s just babysitting,” Lau said.
Students face days without structure, routine
Jennifer Johnson’s son Scotty is a senior at Rio Linda High School in Twin Rivers Unified. He is autistic and does not do well with disrupted routine or crowds, she said.
When the strike began, Johnson said classmates told Scotty that the school day consisted of being corralled in a gymnasium with no lesson plans or structure.
Scotty has refused to go to school over the past eight days, Johnson said.
“My son may be high functioning but there are things put in place that are supposed to give him a small structured setting where he does not get overwhelmed or stressed out,” she told Abridged.
“I’m not okay as a parent with sending him into a situation that is going to make him uncomfortable.”
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.