The Oakland Unified School District school year has closed on one hell of a note, with a superintendent dismissed with no explanation, and allegations that a teachers' union official threatened a principal by saying she would “fucking beat her ass.”

Thursday was the last day of the school year for the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD), and boy, probably every teacher and administrator in the district could use a little R&R right now. As we have been covering for months now, the district’s school board abruptly fired Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell with no explanation, despite Johnson-Trammell being a seemingly well-liked and capable administrator.

What appeared to be a simmering situation might instead be turning into an all-out bonfire. On that last day of school, the Chronicle reported Thursday that principals across the district are accusing teachers union officials of making violent threats against them, including threats to “fucking beat her ass.”

To be clear, that fucking ass that was threatened to be beaten was not that of departing Superintendent Johnson-Trammell. And given the temperature of things in the district right now, maybe Johnson-Trammell is getting out while the getting’s good.

Johnson-Trammell took the high road and said nothing but professional things in her final address to staff, giving gracious remarks at the district’s headquarters, which has just been renamed the Marcus A. Foster Leadership Center. Marcus Foster was the district's first Black superintendent.

“It’s a fitting tribute to a remarkable leader and a leader who definitely shaped my leadership journey here, both as an educator and as a superintendent,” Johnson-Trammell said in her remarks, as reported by Oaklandside. “It has been an honor to serve the district that has raised me, both as a student and an educator. Today is not an ending. It is simply a handoff grounded in gratitude and an unshakeable belief in what Oakland will accomplish next.”

Meanwhile, the cafeteria food was hitting the fan over the Chronicle report that had been published the same day.

That report unearths a March 17 incident at Fremont High School, in which security footage shows there was some manner of confrontation involving teachers union president Kampala Taiz-Rancifer and Principal Nidya Baez.

The Chron reviewed incident reports, spoke to witnesses, and reviewed video of Taiz-Rancifer on the scene. She allegedly showed up claiming to be a parent of a student there (which may be true?), though one incident report claims that she said if she saw Principal Baez, she would “fucking beat her ass.”

One school case manager told the Chronicle that Taiz-Rancifer was informed she needed a visitor’s pass. That case manager told the paper, “She said, ‘I understand your procedure, but if I go down there and I see your principal, I will mess her up.” That case manager added, “But it was more threatening. She said something more along the lines of, ‘I will fuck her up.’”

Taiz-Rancifer emphatically denies this. “I’ll just say unequivocally, I have not ever, ever, ever said any of that,” she said to the Chronicle. “It’s horrible and offensive.”

People who were with Taiz-Rancifer the whole time back up her version of events.

“Those are inaccurate statements,” union rep Vilma Serrano said to the Chronicle. “We were there too. That didn’t happen.”

The whole brouhaha is over a special education teacher. That teacher, Chris Jackson, is Black, active in the teachers union, and holding an interim credential, but was not rehired for next year at Fremont High. The union alleges race and union affiliation were factors in his being let go.

But the reality of school teaching is that if you are only holding an interim credential, then your job is among the least safe jobs in the building.

“We have to make these hard decisions,” Baez herself told the Chronicle. “What I did not expect was a threat.”

So to sum up the end-of-the-year situation at Oakland Unified School District, principals claim the teachers union is making violent threats against them, the union claims that their leaders are being picked off and fired for their union affiliation, and the superintendent just got fired with absolutely no explanation.

The school board hopes to name a new superintendent by July. But to point out the obvious, the headlines swirling around the district will not make this seem like a very attractive position.

Related: Oakland Unified School District Abruptly Fires Superintendent With No Explanation [SFist]

Image: Oakland Unified School District via Facebook