Oakland schools superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell was on the verge of being the longest-serving OUSD superintendent in 65 years. But Wednesday night, the school board removed her out of the blue, in a secret session, with no explanation whatsoever.
Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell’s current contract was poised to make her the longest-serving OUSD superintendent in 65 years. And yes the district is in bad financial shape (it was even worse and almost insolvent before she arrived in 2017), but Johnson-Trammell has guided the district through the horrorshow rollercoasters of a ten-day teacher strike in 2023, COVID-19 lockdowns, and some wildly controversial school closures.
But NBC Bay Area reports that the Oakland school board removed Johnson-Trammell with no explanation Wednesday night, and in a closed session out of the public eye at that. No school board members are giving any reason for the removal of a fairly well-liked superintendent, except for board member Mike Hutchinson, whose Facebook account has been on a real bender complaining about the secretive decision.
“President [Jennifer] Brouhard did not report out the action from closed session as required by law,” Hutchinson fumed after Wednesday night’s meeting. “I am very upset. I’ll have a lot more to say in the upcoming days. I intend to fight.”
"They haven't given any reason, that's why I'm furious right now. We just extended Superintendent Johnson-Trammell’s contract in August for three years," Hutchinson said in a Wednesday night interview with KTVU. “I know this superintendent doesn't want to leave, wants to finish out her contract so what we need now is the community and the OUSD family to stand up for our homegirl, who led us out of the darkness and let her finish the job of transitioning to a new superintendent."
This is particularly odd, given that the board gave Johnson-Trammell a new three-year contract just nine months ago. That contract ends in 2027, and to be fair, it did call on her to start phasing out of the job at the beginning of the 2025-26 school year. But now they’re forcing her out well before that (this coming June), and parents are both bewildered and furious.
"The public deserves transparency about why terminating our superintendent’s contract early is even being considered," district parent Lisa Rigby told KTVU.
Oaklandside seemed to know this was coming in a Tuesday report. They noted that Wednesday’s agenda had a secret-session item called “Public Employee Evaluation/Discipline/Dismissal/Release,” which did not disclose which employee that was.
That site asked board president Boruahard what the deal was, and she merely said, “It is on the agenda, but it’s to be discussed in closed session.”
So for the time being, Johnson-Trammell is being canned, with the search for a new superintendent slated to start July 1. Because they’re cutting her term off short, the district will be forced to pay her a pricey buyout. KTVU estimates the buyout may have to be as much as $250,000.
And that’s if attorneys, legal fees, and additional settlement demands don’t come in.
Image: OUSD.org
