Sacramento City schools could close Wednesday if teachers strike isn’t averted, district warns

Sacramento City Unified schools may be shuttered on Wednesday if a planned strike by teachers and other staffers isn’t averted, the district warned.

The warning, issued in a Friday night news release, said Sacramento City Unified School District officials would have no other choice but to close schools, meaning parents would not be able to bring their children to campus.

“We want to do everything possible to continue serving our students during the strike,” Jorge Aguilar, the district’s superintendent, said in the release. “However, our district operates under limitations that make it difficult for us to keep our schools open during a strike.”

Specifically, district officials say that substitute teachers, who are represented by the Sacramento City Teachers Association, would not be available. The district says it is “significantly limited in our ability to hire substitute teachers to fill in for those who strike.”

The closure would affect about 40,000 students in the district, who have been on campus since the start of the school year after spending months at home learning online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SCTA and SEIU Local 1021 — which represent teachers and classified staff, respectively, and announced the strike on Thursday — said there has been no progress in their months-long negotiations with district. The unions say they are at odds with the district over teacher staffing shortages and what they describe as a cut in educators’ take-home pay. The district counters that it can’t offer proposed employment incentives until the unions accept contract agreements.

SCUSD officials expect talks to resume Monday, but families have prepared for what they plan to do if a strike happens, even if it means staying home and teaching their own children.

“This is a painful and difficult decision to make, especially when our students have experienced so much trauma and disruption to their learning over the last two years and recognize the ripple effect that school closures have on our entire community,” Aguilar said in the statement.

District officials have declined to comment further.

SCTA president, David Fisher, said that teachers and the union were prepared to meet on Friday and throughout the weekend.

“The district was more focused on closing schools than doing everything in their power reach an agreement that would solve the staffing crisis and keep the schools open,” he said. “Our community has a right to expect better leadership from this school board.”

This story was originally published March 19, 2022 at 12:31 PM.