Oakland schools superintendent says farewell after her firing from OUSD

OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — On the final day of the 2024-25 school year, superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell held a news conference before she departs from Oakland Unified School District. Johnson-Trammell was the longest-serving superintendent of OUSD in 55 years.

Her tenure officially ends on June 30, marking eight years at the helm of the second largest school district in the San Francisco Bay Area.

During Thursday’s news conference, Johnson-Trammell highlighted accomplishments of her administration, including:

• Paying off $100 million in loans and exited a State Receivership after two decades. “Next month, we will fully repay the state loan, ending 22 years of state oversight,” Johnson-Trammell said.
• Raising OUSD’s graduation rate to its highest level in recent history.
• Navigating schools through the COVID pandemic.
• Sparking public-private partnerships with Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, KABOOM!, and Trust for Public Land to improve nearly two dozen school yards.
• Launching an all-electric school district bus fleet.

In her farewell message, the superintendent told students, “Keep pushing forward. Your commitment to your studies, to your hobbies, to your sports, and to your friends and family is so important. Keep working hard. Keep having fun. Keep going. The future is yours.”

Johnson-Trammell’s message continued by telling Oakland community members, “Don’t stop loving, supporting, and investing in our students.”

Following a tense school board meeting when tempers flared in April, board trustees narrowly voted 4-3 in favor of firing Johnson-Trammell. Trustees offered zero explanations for why they decided to get rid of their superintendent.

Johnson-Trammell did not attend the April meeting. When reporters asked her Thursday about why her time in OUSD is ending, the superintendent replied, “If we’re not on the same page, then it’s time to respectfully part ways. I’m not going to answer any more questions about that. Employment is not something that I’m worried about. I’m focused on rest, reflecting, and really thinking about what I want to do next.”

OUSD officials have not yet announced who their next superintendent will be. Trustees held a closed-door meeting Wednesday night.

The NAACP Education Committee Oakland Branch wrote a letter to the school board raising alarms that OUSD is entering the summer in a “leadership vacuum.”

The letter stated, “We are deeply troubled by the Board’s April 23rd vote to terminate Superintendent Kyla Johnson-Trammell—an abrupt and destabilizing decision that has left a leadership vacuum in our district. Superintendent Johnson-Trammell’s contributions were not only historic but stabilizing. She successfully led OUSD out of 22 years of state receivership and oversaw a $100 million state loan repayment—an extraordinary accomplishment for our district. Her removal, two years before her contract was set to end, was executed without a clear succession plan and has triggered widespread concern throughout our community for the past few weeks.”

NAACP leaders questioned whether the board’s decision was made in the best interests of students, or influenced by political agendas and “behind-the-scenes union maneuvering.”

Earlier this May, the school board voted fully reverse its plans to make sweeping cuts to afterschool, before-school, and summer programs. The planned cuts would have hacked expanded learning programs by up to 80% and impacted thousands of students who rely on the programs for academic support, mentorship, meals, and safety, advocates with Youth Together said. The board’s reversal came after weeks of mounting public pressure.