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"content": "\u003cp>Last week, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055977/ousd-just-got-control-of-its-finances-back-from-the-state-its-already-in-major-trouble\">tensions in Oakland’s school district\u003c/a> over how to stave off a massive budget shortfall came to a head when the district’s top financial officer abruptly resigned, and its chief of staff was terminated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lisa Grant-Dawson, who was brought into the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/oakland-unified-school-district\">Oakland Unified School District\u003c/a> in 2020 to lead it out of two decades under state oversight, submitted her resignation on Friday, she told KQED. That same day, Chief of Staff Dan Bellino, who’s been with the district since July, was released by interim Superintendent Denise Saddler without warning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While Bellino confirmed he’d not been given cause for the termination, Grant-Dawson said her decision to leave came after she and Bellino, with other colleagues, led a weekslong budget planning effort to right a $102 million budget deficit projected next year, and planned to present last Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But two days before the presentation, she said, Saddler revealed a different plan, crafted without the budget chief’s knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I learned on Monday morning that the superintendent sought to lead in a different direction with the budget scenarios that were ultimately presented to the board. And opted to not inform me and other colleagues in advance of her decision,” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I don’t participate in is side-swiping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12029339 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One parent comforts another as she becomes emotional while making a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement shared with OUSD families, Saddler said she planned to bring on a team of external fiscal experts as the district prepares next year’s budget. Former Oakland City Councilmember Lynette McElhaney will take over as chief of staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As superintendent, it is my job to ensure the district has the right leadership structure, alignment and urgency to meet the work that lies ahead of us,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement on social media, Board Vice President Valarie Bachelor said she supported Saddler’s decision, and “her need to develop a Senior Leadership Team that can support our district through the next phase of the work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major leadership shakeup comes after months of tension between Oakland’s school leaders.[aside postID=news_12064579 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/10/241009-OAKLAND-YOUTH-VOTE-MD-11-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Earlier this year, a teachers union-backed board majority overrode adopted budget cuts in favor of a proposal that was ultimately reversed after it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">threatened to cancel some after-school programs\u003c/a>. In April, the same cohort \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">ousted longtime Superintendent\u003c/a> Kyla Johnson-Trammel. And throughout the year, the board majority has sparred with district staff about how to address a structural funding shortfall and years of declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That conflict \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059238/alameda-county-to-oakland-schools-reduce-costs-or-lose-financial-independence-again\">escalated in October\u003c/a>, when the board requested staff bring forward two budget proposals to cut $100 million in ongoing expenditures without closing or merging schools, or directly affecting students at school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An initial proposal presented by Grant-Dawson last month identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">$21 million in cuts\u003c/a> within those bounds. To reach the $100 million figure, though, she said campuses would need to be impacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a school district. And a school district’s majority of its funds are in schools,” Grant-Dawson said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that initial proposal, Grant-Dawson said the senior leadership team had spent many long days developing two plans to realize the other $80 million in cuts necessary to stay solvent next year. She and Bellino had been the main editors of those documents, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and supporters attend a board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We submitted the version we were working on. The whole team saw it and knew it was being submitted,” she told KQED. “I was notified that there was a change made the next day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal that Saddler ultimately presented on Wednesday promises $102 million in cuts through major school site and administrative reductions. But Grant-Dawson said it lacks a roadmap that proves it can be implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no math or evidence behind it,” she said, adding that she believes ultimately, the superintendent presented a plan that “she felt the board wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It accounts for a $20 million boost in revenue from growing attendance in each of the next two years. While the district has seen a 1.8% growth this year so far, it can’t guarantee efforts to recruit students will yield those results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the $21 million in administrative cuts laid out last month, the proposal also recommends slashing another 15-20% of central office spending, and between 7.5-10% from each campus budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12056738 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified students and parents make signs to support teachers at a ‘solidarity school’ in Diamond Park, Oakland, on May 11, 2023, during an Oakland Unified School District teachers’ strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To make such large reductions at school sites would likely require cutting programs or staff funded by restricted sources earmarked for specific purposes, which wouldn’t yield savings that can be reappropriated wherever the district sees fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another line item reduces special education funding by “restructuring and reducing outside contracts, management, and programmatic elements,” but there is no description of what services and contracts OUSD could reduce while meeting its legal mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality,” Grant-Dawson said, is “you don’t have a list of $100 million that’s legit[imate].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make such large cuts to school site budgets, both Saddler and Grant-Dawson have said the district will have to rethink how many schools it operates.[aside postID=news_12040189 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/Photo3_qed-1020x680.jpg']“From where I sit, there is no feasible or reasonable alternative,” Saddler wrote in her proposal. “The District must be restructured — schools and central offices. If the Board makes a commitment to truly restructure OUSD, it must see it through this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not clear that savings from that effort could be realized by next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t just flip a switch, especially when you’re trying to drive that magnitude of the change, in one year,” Grant-Dawson said. “We’ve said that if we’re going to do any restructuring work, it takes at least a year to even plan, engage and all those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal Grant-Dawson said her team had submitted, which was not presented on Wednesday, but was included in the documents given to the board ahead of the vote, suggested that the district might need to borrow money from an external source to bridge the gap as it does that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also remains to be seen whether the school board will follow through on a plan to close schools. In recent years, OUSD’s board has made \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">multiple commitments to do so\u003c/a> that haven’t come to fruition. In 2022, the board approved 11 campus consolidations, but reversed them before they took effect the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said she doesn’t believe the board has the appetite to take up that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reading the tea leaves, what I said to the district was, ‘You asked me to help support leading you out of receivership, but I don’t lead people back in,’” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But two days before the presentation, she said, Saddler revealed a different plan, crafted without the budget chief’s knowledge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I learned on Monday morning that the superintendent sought to lead in a different direction with the budget scenarios that were ultimately presented to the board. And opted to not inform me and other colleagues in advance of her decision,” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I don’t participate in is side-swiping.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12029339\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12029339 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/02/20241211-OUSDMergerVote-JY-013_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">One parent comforts another as she becomes emotional while making a public comment to the Oakland Unified School District Board about a proposed merger during a meeting at La Escuelita Elementary School in Oakland, California, on Dec. 11, 2024. \u003ccite>(Juliana Yamada/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In a statement shared with OUSD families, Saddler said she planned to bring on a team of external fiscal experts as the district prepares next year’s budget. Former Oakland City Councilmember Lynette McElhaney will take over as chief of staff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As superintendent, it is my job to ensure the district has the right leadership structure, alignment and urgency to meet the work that lies ahead of us,” she wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement on social media, Board Vice President Valarie Bachelor said she supported Saddler’s decision, and “her need to develop a Senior Leadership Team that can support our district through the next phase of the work.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The major leadership shakeup comes after months of tension between Oakland’s school leaders.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Earlier this year, a teachers union-backed board majority overrode adopted budget cuts in favor of a proposal that was ultimately reversed after it \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12041279/ousd-cancels-controversial-after-school-cuts-but-deep-divisions-within-school-board-remain\">threatened to cancel some after-school programs\u003c/a>. In April, the same cohort \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12037315/oakland-school-board-votes-remove-superintendent-sparking-worries-instability\">ousted longtime Superintendent\u003c/a> Kyla Johnson-Trammel. And throughout the year, the board majority has sparred with district staff about how to address a structural funding shortfall and years of declining enrollment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That conflict \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059238/alameda-county-to-oakland-schools-reduce-costs-or-lose-financial-independence-again\">escalated in October\u003c/a>, when the board requested staff bring forward two budget proposals to cut $100 million in ongoing expenditures without closing or merging schools, or directly affecting students at school sites.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An initial proposal presented by Grant-Dawson last month identified \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064579/oaklands-school-district-must-cut-100-million-its-proposed-plan-doesnt-get-close\">$21 million in cuts\u003c/a> within those bounds. To reach the $100 million figure, though, she said campuses would need to be impacted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re a school district. And a school district’s majority of its funds are in schools,” Grant-Dawson said at the time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since that initial proposal, Grant-Dawson said the senior leadership team had spent many long days developing two plans to realize the other $80 million in cuts necessary to stay solvent next year. She and Bellino had been the main editors of those documents, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12037460\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12037460\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/20250423_OUSDSupe_GC-17_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified School District parents, students and supporters attend a board meeting at Metwest High School in Oakland on April 23, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“We submitted the version we were working on. The whole team saw it and knew it was being submitted,” she told KQED. “I was notified that there was a change made the next day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal that Saddler ultimately presented on Wednesday promises $102 million in cuts through major school site and administrative reductions. But Grant-Dawson said it lacks a roadmap that proves it can be implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no math or evidence behind it,” she said, adding that she believes ultimately, the superintendent presented a plan that “she felt the board wanted.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It accounts for a $20 million boost in revenue from growing attendance in each of the next two years. While the district has seen a 1.8% growth this year so far, it can’t guarantee efforts to recruit students will yield those results.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the $21 million in administrative cuts laid out last month, the proposal also recommends slashing another 15-20% of central office spending, and between 7.5-10% from each campus budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12056738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12056738 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/007_KQED_OUSDSolidaritySchool_05112023_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Unified students and parents make signs to support teachers at a ‘solidarity school’ in Diamond Park, Oakland, on May 11, 2023, during an Oakland Unified School District teachers’ strike. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>To make such large reductions at school sites would likely require cutting programs or staff funded by restricted sources earmarked for specific purposes, which wouldn’t yield savings that can be reappropriated wherever the district sees fit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another line item reduces special education funding by “restructuring and reducing outside contracts, management, and programmatic elements,” but there is no description of what services and contracts OUSD could reduce while meeting its legal mandate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The reality,” Grant-Dawson said, is “you don’t have a list of $100 million that’s legit[imate].”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To make such large cuts to school site budgets, both Saddler and Grant-Dawson have said the district will have to rethink how many schools it operates.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“From where I sit, there is no feasible or reasonable alternative,” Saddler wrote in her proposal. “The District must be restructured — schools and central offices. If the Board makes a commitment to truly restructure OUSD, it must see it through this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it’s not clear that savings from that effort could be realized by next fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can’t just flip a switch, especially when you’re trying to drive that magnitude of the change, in one year,” Grant-Dawson said. “We’ve said that if we’re going to do any restructuring work, it takes at least a year to even plan, engage and all those things.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal Grant-Dawson said her team had submitted, which was not presented on Wednesday, but was included in the documents given to the board ahead of the vote, suggested that the district might need to borrow money from an external source to bridge the gap as it does that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also remains to be seen whether the school board will follow through on a plan to close schools. In recent years, OUSD’s board has made \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12017719/oaklands-school-merger-plan-stalled-districts-huge-deficit-remains\">multiple commitments to do so\u003c/a> that haven’t come to fruition. In 2022, the board approved 11 campus consolidations, but reversed them before they took effect the following year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Grant-Dawson said she doesn’t believe the board has the appetite to take up that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Reading the tea leaves, what I said to the district was, ‘You asked me to help support leading you out of receivership, but I don’t lead people back in,’” Grant-Dawson told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11:05 a.m. Saturday: \u003c/strong>After this story was published, the California Department of Motor Vehicles \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068027/california-delays-plan-to-reissue-commercial-licenses-drivers-mired-in-uncertainty\">announced it has paused its plan\u003c/a> to resume issuing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses under pressure from the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 3:39 p.m. Wednesday \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067524/sikh-truck-drivers-have-a-second-chance-in-california\">Thousands of immigrant truck drivers\u003c/a> are breathing a sigh of relief after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> said Tuesday it’s preparing to reissue commercial licences it planned to revoke after federal pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State transportation officials confirmed that the Department of Motor Vehicles will start reissuing the contested licences to 17,000 immigrant drivers who were sent 60-day cancellation notices on Nov. 6. The agency has yet to clarify how that process will work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so happy,” said Amarjit Singh, a 41-year-old truck owner and driver who worried he wouldn’t be able to support his two young children or afford the $4,000 monthly payments on his truck if the state canceled his license on Jan. 6. “This is a very big relief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh, a Livermore resident whose work authorization is valid through 2029, first heard the news while making an afternoon delivery 90 miles away in Santa Rosa. He took a moment in his yellow sleeper truck cabin, with a 53-foot trailer, to pray in gratitude. When he made it home and told his wife, Zoraida, she cried, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s great news,” said Singh, who invested all his savings and borrowed money from relatives to purchase his truck in 2022 for $160,000. “It’s going to save my life, and it’s going to save my business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The view from inside Amarjit Singh’s truck in Livermore, on Dec. 16, 2025. Advocates are calling on California officials to halt the planned license revocations. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Transportation threatened to pull more than $150 million in highway funding from California unless the state addressed non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, in which the driver’s work permit ended before the license expired, due to a DMV clerical error. A state review found at least 17,000 licenses with mismatched expiration dates, many of them held by Sikh men like Singh who fled persecution in India and sought asylum in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation and logistics industry is a major source of employment for Sikhs, a community with roots in Punjab, India, that has its largest U.S. population in California. About 150,000 Sikhs work in the trucking industry nationwide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sikhcoalition.org/our-work/ending-employment-discrimination/resources-for-sikh-truck-drivers/\">estimates\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Non-domiciled CDLs, issued to noncitizens without permanent U.S. residency (or a green card), became a political flashpoint after incidents of fatal crashes involving immigrant truck drivers in Florida and other states.[aside postID=news_12067098 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/IMG_6628-2000x1500.jpg']President Donald Trump signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/enforcing-commonsense-rules-of-the-road-for-americas-truck-drivers/\">executive order\u003c/a> in April, reinforcing English requirements for commercial vehicle drivers. In September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced an emergency rule to exclude asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants from holding these licenses, arguing it would \u003ca href=\"https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-takes-emergency-action-protect-americas-roads\">improve safety\u003c/a> on the roads. About 200,000 commercial drivers with valid work permits were expected to lose their licenses and jobs as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a vulnerable workforce here that [has] become a political football,” said Steve Viscelli, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the trucking industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viscelli questioned whether any reliable evidence links safe driving with immigration status. He recommended the administration focus instead on enhancing job conditions and wages in the industry, especially in long-haul trucking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The best thing we can do for safety is to retain experienced, well-compensated professional drivers,” he said. “Experienced drivers are more knowledgeable, just more ready to handle those unexpected situations. And the problem is we can’t retain them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 700,000 drivers have commercial licenses in California to operate large vehicles ranging from semi-trailers to oil tankers and school buses, according to the DMV. A federal court in Washington, D.C. halted the FMCSA rule in November after unions, drivers and others sued. The administration is preparing a permanent regulation and reviewing public comments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067539\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sleeping area inside Amarjit Singh’s truck is seen on Dec. 16, 2025, in Livermore. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The California DMV’s Nov. 6 cancellation letters said that only drivers who met the new FMCSA rule requirements may keep their commercial licenses. But the court’s decision putting that rule on hold meant the state could reissue CDLs with correct expiration dates to those who have valid work authorization and pass knowledge, skills and medical tests, according to several unions, elected officials and nonprofits that called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene. Groups such as United Sikhs and the Sikh Coalition said \u003ca href=\"https://www.sikhcoalition.org/blog/2025/fateh-solution-for-truck-drivers-targeted-in-california/\">they met\u003c/a> with state officials seeking a resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the California State Transportation Agency, which oversees the DMV, maintained as of early Tuesday that the agency could not issue or renew non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses due to the FMCSA findings of mismatched dates. Members of WhatsApp driver chat groups, however, and several sources not authorized to speak with the media said they expected a good outcome for drivers would be announced soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/california-immigrant-truck-drivers-21235419.php\">first reported\u003c/a> California’s plans to start reissuing non-domiciled CDLs for drivers, the transportation agency spokesperson confirmed to KQED the news but declined to provide more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068050\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amarjit Singh holds a letter from the California Department of Motor Vehicles notifying him of the cancellation of his commercial driver’s license on Dec. 16, 2025, in Livermore, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As of Wednesday afternoon, the DMV’s website had not posted updates on the issue and drivers said they had not yet received emailed notifications of any changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how federal officials will react if the state moves to reissue these licenses. The U.S. Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bhupinder Kaur, director of operations of advocacy group United Sikhs, said many drivers have contacted the \u003ca href=\"https://unitedsikhs.org/umeed-our-247-helpline-is-a-potential-lifeline-you-are-helping-sustain-it/\">nonprofit’s helpline\u003c/a> with questions about what steps they should follow to keep their licenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some reported that DMV offices they’d flocked to on Wednesday morning were still not sharing updated information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, Kaur said the ordeal left her and several relatives in the trucking business “on edge,” fearing that these licenses could still be taken away, which would threaten families’ livelihoods. She added that some Sikh drivers and logistics businesses had already lost income as a result of the uncertainty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immigrant truck drivers were turned into collateral damage in a federal power struggle,” Kaur said. “It should never have happened, and we hope it doesn’t happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "California Plans to Reissue Contested Driver’s Licenses to Thousands of Immigrants",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, 11:05 a.m. Saturday: \u003c/strong>After this story was published, the California Department of Motor Vehicles \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12068027/california-delays-plan-to-reissue-commercial-licenses-drivers-mired-in-uncertainty\">announced it has paused its plan\u003c/a> to resume issuing non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses under pressure from the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 3:39 p.m. Wednesday \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12067524/sikh-truck-drivers-have-a-second-chance-in-california\">Thousands of immigrant truck drivers\u003c/a> are breathing a sigh of relief after \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a> said Tuesday it’s preparing to reissue commercial licences it planned to revoke after federal pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State transportation officials confirmed that the Department of Motor Vehicles will start reissuing the contested licences to 17,000 immigrant drivers who were sent 60-day cancellation notices on Nov. 6. The agency has yet to clarify how that process will work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was so happy,” said Amarjit Singh, a 41-year-old truck owner and driver who worried he wouldn’t be able to support his two young children or afford the $4,000 monthly payments on his truck if the state canceled his license on Jan. 6. “This is a very big relief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Singh, a Livermore resident whose work authorization is valid through 2029, first heard the news while making an afternoon delivery 90 miles away in Santa Rosa. He took a moment in his yellow sleeper truck cabin, with a 53-foot trailer, to pray in gratitude. When he made it home and told his wife, Zoraida, she cried, he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s great news,” said Singh, who invested all his savings and borrowed money from relatives to purchase his truck in 2022 for $160,000. “It’s going to save my life, and it’s going to save my business.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067538\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-9-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The view from inside Amarjit Singh’s truck in Livermore, on Dec. 16, 2025. Advocates are calling on California officials to halt the planned license revocations. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The U.S. Department of Transportation threatened to pull more than $150 million in highway funding from California unless the state addressed non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses, in which the driver’s work permit ended before the license expired, due to a DMV clerical error. A state review found at least 17,000 licenses with mismatched expiration dates, many of them held by Sikh men like Singh who fled persecution in India and sought asylum in the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The transportation and logistics industry is a major source of employment for Sikhs, a community with roots in Punjab, India, that has its largest U.S. population in California. About 150,000 Sikhs work in the trucking industry nationwide, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sikhcoalition.org/our-work/ending-employment-discrimination/resources-for-sikh-truck-drivers/\">estimates\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Non-domiciled CDLs, issued to noncitizens without permanent U.S. residency (or a green card), became a political flashpoint after incidents of fatal crashes involving immigrant truck drivers in Florida and other states.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>President Donald Trump signed an \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/04/enforcing-commonsense-rules-of-the-road-for-americas-truck-drivers/\">executive order\u003c/a> in April, reinforcing English requirements for commercial vehicle drivers. In September, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced an emergency rule to exclude asylum seekers, refugees and other immigrants from holding these licenses, arguing it would \u003ca href=\"https://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/newsroom/trumps-transportation-secretary-sean-p-duffy-takes-emergency-action-protect-americas-roads\">improve safety\u003c/a> on the roads. About 200,000 commercial drivers with valid work permits were expected to lose their licenses and jobs as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We have a vulnerable workforce here that [has] become a political football,” said Steve Viscelli, a sociology professor at the University of Pennsylvania who studies the trucking industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Viscelli questioned whether any reliable evidence links safe driving with immigration status. He recommended the administration focus instead on enhancing job conditions and wages in the industry, especially in long-haul trucking.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The best thing we can do for safety is to retain experienced, well-compensated professional drivers,” he said. “Experienced drivers are more knowledgeable, just more ready to handle those unexpected situations. And the problem is we can’t retain them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 700,000 drivers have commercial licenses in California to operate large vehicles ranging from semi-trailers to oil tankers and school buses, according to the DMV. A federal court in Washington, D.C. halted the FMCSA rule in November after unions, drivers and others sued. The administration is preparing a permanent regulation and reviewing public comments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12067539\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12067539\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_REVOKE-OF-COMMERCIAL-DRIVERS-LICENSES_DECEMBER_GH-13-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The sleeping area inside Amarjit Singh’s truck is seen on Dec. 16, 2025, in Livermore. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The California DMV’s Nov. 6 cancellation letters said that only drivers who met the new FMCSA rule requirements may keep their commercial licenses. But the court’s decision putting that rule on hold meant the state could reissue CDLs with correct expiration dates to those who have valid work authorization and pass knowledge, skills and medical tests, according to several unions, elected officials and nonprofits that called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene. Groups such as United Sikhs and the Sikh Coalition said \u003ca href=\"https://www.sikhcoalition.org/blog/2025/fateh-solution-for-truck-drivers-targeted-in-california/\">they met\u003c/a> with state officials seeking a resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson with the California State Transportation Agency, which oversees the DMV, maintained as of early Tuesday that the agency could not issue or renew non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses due to the FMCSA findings of mismatched dates. Members of WhatsApp driver chat groups, however, and several sources not authorized to speak with the media said they expected a good outcome for drivers would be announced soon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shortly after the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em> \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/california-immigrant-truck-drivers-21235419.php\">first reported\u003c/a> California’s plans to start reissuing non-domiciled CDLs for drivers, the transportation agency spokesperson confirmed to KQED the news but declined to provide more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12068050\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12068050\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251216_revoke-of-commercial-drivers-licenses_December_GH-16_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Amarjit Singh holds a letter from the California Department of Motor Vehicles notifying him of the cancellation of his commercial driver’s license on Dec. 16, 2025, in Livermore, California. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As of Wednesday afternoon, the DMV’s website had not posted updates on the issue and drivers said they had not yet received emailed notifications of any changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s unclear how federal officials will react if the state moves to reissue these licenses. The U.S. Department of Transportation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bhupinder Kaur, director of operations of advocacy group United Sikhs, said many drivers have contacted the \u003ca href=\"https://unitedsikhs.org/umeed-our-247-helpline-is-a-potential-lifeline-you-are-helping-sustain-it/\">nonprofit’s helpline\u003c/a> with questions about what steps they should follow to keep their licenses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some reported that DMV offices they’d flocked to on Wednesday morning were still not sharing updated information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Overall, Kaur said the ordeal left her and several relatives in the trucking business “on edge,” fearing that these licenses could still be taken away, which would threaten families’ livelihoods. She added that some Sikh drivers and logistics businesses had already lost income as a result of the uncertainty.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Immigrant truck drivers were turned into collateral damage in a federal power struggle,” Kaur said. “It should never have happened, and we hope it doesn’t happen again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "as-teacher-strike-looms-san-franciscos-school-board-set-to-review-proposed-funding-cuts",
"title": "As Teacher Strike Looms, San Francisco’s School Board Set to Review Proposed Funding Cuts",
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"headTitle": "As Teacher Strike Looms, San Francisco’s School Board Set to Review Proposed Funding Cuts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-board-of-education\">school board\u003c/a> on Tuesday will get a first look at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066271/sfusd-has-overspent-for-years-major-cuts-could-have-it-on-the-path-to-stability\">district leaders’ plan to slash spending\u003c/a> by more than $100 million for the second year in a row.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed cuts include deeper staffing reductions, changes to middle school schedules and school consolidations as soon as 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su said earlier this month that the reductions aim to pull the district out of state oversight, but parents and teachers are worried about the impact further classroom reductions could have, especially on already vulnerable students and schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is definitely some misalignment … in the sense that … our recommendations are calling out for sustainability in staffing, for mental health, and we’re cutting significant apportionments of positions,” said Vanessa Marrero, who heads Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD cut $114 million in ongoing expenses through hundreds of early retirement buy-outs, a strict staffing model and administrative cuts. This year, it needs to identify another $102 million to cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The superintendent’s draft plan — which won’t be finalized until the spring — totals about $70 million in savings by 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under an updated staffing model, only Title I eligible schools will be allocated a social worker. Previously, non-Title I campuses that met specific enrollment criteria were eligible for at least a half-time position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal cuts 45 full-time roles, which could be spread across as many as 90 campuses. The district said it was looking to identify other restricted funding sources to pay for these roles, and to provide flexibility in schools’ discretionary spending to “prioritize investments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major personnel reductions will come from a change to middle school schedules: campuses will transition from a seven-period block schedule rolled out over the last few years back to six-period school days.[aside postID=news_12066271 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250421-SFUSDCentralCuts-06-BL_qed-1.jpg']In 2018, the district introduced its “\u003ca href=\"https://mgredesign.sfusd.edu/\">Middle Grades Redesign\u003c/a>” initiative, which created longer class periods and aimed to add elective course opportunities for students. Presidio Middle School transitioned to the seven-period schedule in 2022, and allows students to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/presidio-middle-school/departments/electives#:~:text=Presidio%2022%2D23%20Electives,%2C%20Dance%2C%20Music%2C%20Computers)\">choose\u003c/a> four quarter-long arts, computer science, language, health or other advanced courses throughout the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district, returning to a standard six-period day will prioritize core classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new schedule would cut 56 classroom teaching positions, and another eight in health. That course material would be folded into other classes, like physical education or science, according to the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Security aide roles across campuses would also be cut in half, as well as 18 assistant principal jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliminating transportation for 2,500 non-special education students would save another $5 million. Marrero said the current funding serves students in neighborhoods with historically lower average test scores who attend schools further from their homes. Cutting that service could create an additional barrier for some to go to a school of their choice, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039959 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meredith Willa Dodson speaks during a rally to reopen San Francisco Unified Schools at City Hall in San Francisco on March 13, 2021, on the first anniversary of school buildings being closed. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another $14.6 million could come from central office personnel and service reductions, an area that the teachers’ union has long said keeps funds away from students. The district made significant reductions by restructuring the office last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that [the district] needs to make cuts, but we don’t yet understand, are these really the best cuts for our students or is there some other way?” said Meredith Dodson, who runs the advocacy group SF Parents. She said families want to know what other cuts were considered and how the ones identified in the fiscal stabilization plan were determined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re just looking for that information from the district to understand that that level of analysis was done [to determine] that these are the solutions that bring the minimal amount of harm to kids. I just don’t see it yet,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the fall of 2027, the district is also suggesting savings of more than $3 million thanks to a “consolidation of [its] educational program portfolio.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent weeks, SFUSD leadership has begun to discuss reconsidering school closures, after a controversial plan to shutter 11 schools was shelved last fall. Su took over in the wake of the closure crisis, and has prioritized the district’s budget before addressing its footprint, but she said last month that after the fiscal stabilization plan is complete this year, it would be time to take back up the initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12064757 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teachers, K-5 students, and their families at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2024, to protest against the potential closure of the school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD, like many districts in the state, faces declining enrollment, and campuses across the city have hundreds of empty seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While shuttering schools alone won’t save the district significant amounts of money, the district has said that having fewer schools could allow for more robust staffing and make room for more specialized programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said showing families those potential benefits will be key to garnering community support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a parent to be told that their school is going to be closed, and to be okay with it, I think they would have to believe that there’s better education on the other side of that for their kid,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reductions planned so far are still about $30 million shy of what the district will need to cut to avoid deficit spending. And, SFUSD currently faces an escalating threat of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">teacher strike after months\u003c/a> of halting negotiations over a new two-year contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While SFUSD has said it cannot meet the educators’ demands due to the budget crisis, the union has signaled that members are prepared to strike over wages, staffing demands and more subsidized health care benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "San Francisco Unified School District leaders’ proposed cuts include staffing reductions, shortened middle school schedules and school consolidations as soon as 2027. ",
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"title": "As Teacher Strike Looms, San Francisco’s School Board Set to Review Proposed Funding Cuts | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>San Francisco’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-board-of-education\">school board\u003c/a> on Tuesday will get a first look at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066271/sfusd-has-overspent-for-years-major-cuts-could-have-it-on-the-path-to-stability\">district leaders’ plan to slash spending\u003c/a> by more than $100 million for the second year in a row.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposed cuts include deeper staffing reductions, changes to middle school schedules and school consolidations as soon as 2027.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Unified School District Superintendent Maria Su said earlier this month that the reductions aim to pull the district out of state oversight, but parents and teachers are worried about the impact further classroom reductions could have, especially on already vulnerable students and schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is definitely some misalignment … in the sense that … our recommendations are calling out for sustainability in staffing, for mental health, and we’re cutting significant apportionments of positions,” said Vanessa Marrero, who heads Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year, SFUSD cut $114 million in ongoing expenses through hundreds of early retirement buy-outs, a strict staffing model and administrative cuts. This year, it needs to identify another $102 million to cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The superintendent’s draft plan — which won’t be finalized until the spring — totals about $70 million in savings by 2028.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12046126\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12046126\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/06/250418-SFUSD-01-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Unified School District Administrative Offices in San Francisco on April 18, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Under an updated staffing model, only Title I eligible schools will be allocated a social worker. Previously, non-Title I campuses that met specific enrollment criteria were eligible for at least a half-time position.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal cuts 45 full-time roles, which could be spread across as many as 90 campuses. The district said it was looking to identify other restricted funding sources to pay for these roles, and to provide flexibility in schools’ discretionary spending to “prioritize investments.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other major personnel reductions will come from a change to middle school schedules: campuses will transition from a seven-period block schedule rolled out over the last few years back to six-period school days.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2018, the district introduced its “\u003ca href=\"https://mgredesign.sfusd.edu/\">Middle Grades Redesign\u003c/a>” initiative, which created longer class periods and aimed to add elective course opportunities for students. Presidio Middle School transitioned to the seven-period schedule in 2022, and allows students to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfusd.edu/school/presidio-middle-school/departments/electives#:~:text=Presidio%2022%2D23%20Electives,%2C%20Dance%2C%20Music%2C%20Computers)\">choose\u003c/a> four quarter-long arts, computer science, language, health or other advanced courses throughout the year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to the district, returning to a standard six-period day will prioritize core classes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The new schedule would cut 56 classroom teaching positions, and another eight in health. That course material would be folded into other classes, like physical education or science, according to the plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Security aide roles across campuses would also be cut in half, as well as 18 assistant principal jobs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eliminating transportation for 2,500 non-special education students would save another $5 million. Marrero said the current funding serves students in neighborhoods with historically lower average test scores who attend schools further from their homes. Cutting that service could create an additional barrier for some to go to a school of their choice, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12039959\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12039959 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1331\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/05/052_SanFrancisco_ReopenSchoolsMarch_03132021_qed-1920x1278.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Meredith Willa Dodson speaks during a rally to reopen San Francisco Unified Schools at City Hall in San Francisco on March 13, 2021, on the first anniversary of school buildings being closed. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Another $14.6 million could come from central office personnel and service reductions, an area that the teachers’ union has long said keeps funds away from students. The district made significant reductions by restructuring the office last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We understand that [the district] needs to make cuts, but we don’t yet understand, are these really the best cuts for our students or is there some other way?” said Meredith Dodson, who runs the advocacy group SF Parents. She said families want to know what other cuts were considered and how the ones identified in the fiscal stabilization plan were determined.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re just looking for that information from the district to understand that that level of analysis was done [to determine] that these are the solutions that bring the minimal amount of harm to kids. I just don’t see it yet,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beginning in the fall of 2027, the district is also suggesting savings of more than $3 million thanks to a “consolidation of [its] educational program portfolio.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In recent weeks, SFUSD leadership has begun to discuss reconsidering school closures, after a controversial plan to shutter 11 schools was shelved last fall. Su took over in the wake of the closure crisis, and has prioritized the district’s budget before addressing its footprint, but she said last month that after the fiscal stabilization plan is complete this year, it would be time to take back up the initiative.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12064757\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12064757 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/241009-SFUSDClosuresMarch-30-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teachers, K-5 students, and their families at Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy rally at Harvey Milk Plaza in the Castro neighborhood of San Francisco on Oct. 9, 2024, to protest against the potential closure of the school. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>SFUSD, like many districts in the state, faces declining enrollment, and campuses across the city have hundreds of empty seats.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While shuttering schools alone won’t save the district significant amounts of money, the district has said that having fewer schools could allow for more robust staffing and make room for more specialized programs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dodson said showing families those potential benefits will be key to garnering community support.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For a parent to be told that their school is going to be closed, and to be okay with it, I think they would have to believe that there’s better education on the other side of that for their kid,” she told KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The reductions planned so far are still about $30 million shy of what the district will need to cut to avoid deficit spending. And, SFUSD currently faces an escalating threat of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066097/sfusd-teachers-overwhelmingly-vote-to-authorize-the-first-strike-in-49-years\">teacher strike after months\u003c/a> of halting negotiations over a new two-year contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While SFUSD has said it cannot meet the educators’ demands due to the budget crisis, the union has signaled that members are prepared to strike over wages, staffing demands and more subsidized health care benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "health-emergency-california-doctors-urge-ban-of-countertop-material-linked-to-deadly-disease",
"title": "Doctors Petition California to Ban Countertop Material Linked to Deadly Disease",
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"headTitle": "Doctors Petition California to Ban Countertop Material Linked to Deadly Disease | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>A medical association has petitioned California to prohibit the use of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">popular countertop construction material\u003c/a> linked to an aggressive lung disease disabling and killing stoneworkers. The campaign escalated pressure on the state to follow Australia, which became the first country to ban engineered stone last year after facing a similar health crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has the U.S.’s strictest regulations to prevent workers from inhaling toxic silica dust — generated by the cutting, polishing and grinding of engineered stone slabs to make kitchen countertops, bathroom vanities, fireplace surfaces and other products. Most countertop fabrication shops, however, don’t have the money or capacity to comply with the rules, leaving thousands of stonecutters at risk of contracting silicosis, according to the Western Occupational & Environmental Medical Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The evidence is now clear that engineered stone containing crystalline silica is too toxic to fabricate and install safely, and education and enforcement alone will not be sufficient to curtail the escalating occupational health emergency caused by this product,” WOEMA’s Dec. 12 letter to regulators said. The association represents more than 600 occupational safety physicians and other experts in seven western states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The doctors requested that the state body that adopts new job safety rules to start the process to ban all fabrication and installation tasks on engineered stone containing more than 1% crystalline silica, similar to Australia’s policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, which declined to comment on WOEMA’s letter, has up to six months to review and decide. The proposal is likely to face stiff opposition from manufacturers, distributors and fabricators of engineered stone, also known as quartz or artificial stone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artificial stone represents a growing multibillion-dollar market in the U.S., with increasing demand expected in California due to the rebuilding effort in Los Angeles after the massive fires in January 2025. More than half of the silicosis cases in the state are located in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033047\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone fabricator places his hand on a table that he cut at his home in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Laurie Weber, who directs the International Surface Fabricators Association, said Australia’s model is not directly transferable to the U.S. economy, and that more research is needed to understand what would happen if hundreds of small and mid-size fabrication businesses suddenly had to stop working with their primary material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ISFA does not believe a ban is the answer. The problem is not the material. The problem is employers ignoring the law and a lack of enforcement resources to ensure compliance,” Weber said in a statement. “Before California considers a prohibition that would reshape an entire segment of the construction economy, we respectfully request clarity on how WOEMA determined that engineered stone cannot be fabricated safely — even in shops fully compliant with Cal/OSHA’s existing silica standard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ISFA and others in the industry instead support a licensing program, in which only shops certified to handle artificial stone following regulations have access to it. A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB20\">recent law\u003c/a> signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that addresses the rise of silicosis through education and enforcement initially included a certification system — but that component was removed from the final draft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 450 silicosis cases have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">confirmed\u003c/a> among stoneworkers in California since 2019, and regulators expect the numbers could rise to between 1,000 and 1,500 within the next decade. Nearly all of those sick are Latino men, many immigrants lacking permanent legal status, who didn’t know about the hazards of working on crystalline silica products. Twenty-five stoneworkers died, and dozens received lung transplants, according to the California Department of Public Health.[aside postID=news_12064693 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251115-DEADLY-LUNG-DISEASE-MD-01-KQED-1.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As long as this dangerous material remains available and is purchased and used in California, it’s inevitable that people will continue to be exposed and die,” Robert Blink, an occupational medicine doctor in San Francisco and former WOEMA president, told KQED. “There’s always resistance to change. But when you’ve got something this dangerous out there that’s literally killing people … we’ve got to stop this from going up. This is not a time for small measures, frankly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engineered stone can contain more than 90% crystalline silica, much more than natural stones such as marble. The factory-made material’s popularity has skyrocketed because it is stain-resistant, produced in attractive colors and designs and is often cheaper than natural stones. But many consumers are unaware of the hazards that artificial stone dust poses to the workers who shape and install their countertops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing scientific evidence has shown that the silica dust released by the material is so toxic that small amounts of exposure are enough to make workers sick. The tiny airborne particles can penetrate filter masks and lodge in the lungs, causing progressive scarring and injury in workers, some as young as their 20s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of silicosis cases have also been reported by doctors in Illinois, Utah, Colorado, Massachusetts, as well as other states that are not tracking the disease as systematically as California’s public health authorities. Those figures are widely believed to be underreported. Israel, Spain and other countries have also seen a surge in silicosis tied to engineered stone. Medical experts in the UK are urging authorities to prohibit the use of the material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Nevin, an attorney at Brayton Purcell, a firm that represents hundreds of sick workers suing major manufacturers and distributors of artificial stone, said clients are located in 16 other states, including New York, Nevada, Florida, Kentucky and Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033303\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033303\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator’s hands are covered in dust at a shop on Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. Inhaling fine particles can contribute to silicosis. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California currently bans the dry cutting of engineered stone and mandates the use of wet methods — machines that submerge or cover the material’s surface with water to suppress dust. Employers are also required to implement local exhaust ventilation, ensure employees wear powered air-purifying respirators and take other measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal/OSHA inspectors have found most of the 120 shops they’ve visited in the last two years were violating the rules, which fabricators and doctors consider too expensive and challenging for many employers to follow. California has about 4,600 countertop fabrication workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Major manufacturers, such as Israel-based Caesarstone, did not immediately return requests for comment on the California ban proposal, but publicly opposed a prohibition in Australia. A spokesperson for Cosentino, a company headquartered in Spain, also declined to comment, but told KQED last month that silicosis is preventable when proper safety and health measures are in place to protect workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both companies, which face hundreds of lawsuits by workers claiming silica-related injuries in the U.S. and other countries, have developed crystalline silica-free products for the Australian market but continue to sell high-silica engineered stone in the U.S.[aside postID=news_12066901 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251115-DEADLY-LUNG-DISEASE-MD-04-KQED-2.jpg']\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors who’ve followed the issue argue that the safer alternatives have similar qualities, appearance and cost to traditional engineered stone and could be made immediately available in California, without significant economic consequences for fabrication businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policymakers have publicly expressed dismay at the rising number of silicosis cases in the state, but have not favored a prohibition so far. Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board Chair Joseph Alioto Jr. said that the state should focus its resources on expanding Cal/OSHA enforcement of current silica regulations. Alioto recommended the agency partner with local public health departments and district attorneys to assist with investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We currently have a regulation to do stuff. We just need to get out into the field and do it,” said Alioto, an attorney in San Francisco, during a Nov. 20 meeting. “We just need boots on the ground to police this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office declined to comment on his stance on a ban on artificial stone, referring questions to the Public Health Department. An agency spokesperson said that they are tracking the silicosis situation closely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez, a 43-year-old former stonecutter who was diagnosed with silicosis last year, said he believes removing hazardous artificial stone from fabrication shops could save lives. The once-active father of four is now confined to his East Bay home, waiting for a double lung transplant, unable to work and reliant on an oxygen supply machine to breathe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I’d known about the seriousness of this disease from the beginning, I wouldn’t have worked in this field, in the stone industry, because I wouldn’t have wanted to get sick like I am now,” said Lopez, an immigrant who lacks permanent legal status, who cut countertops in California for decades. KQED is withholding his full name because he fears losing medical care if federal authorities arrest him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they have the possibility of selling other products that contain zero silica, that would be better, so that people don’t get sick,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Doctors Petition California to Ban Countertop Material Linked to Deadly Disease | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A medical association has petitioned California to prohibit the use of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">popular countertop construction material\u003c/a> linked to an aggressive lung disease disabling and killing stoneworkers. The campaign escalated pressure on the state to follow Australia, which became the first country to ban engineered stone last year after facing a similar health crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California has the U.S.’s strictest regulations to prevent workers from inhaling toxic silica dust — generated by the cutting, polishing and grinding of engineered stone slabs to make kitchen countertops, bathroom vanities, fireplace surfaces and other products. Most countertop fabrication shops, however, don’t have the money or capacity to comply with the rules, leaving thousands of stonecutters at risk of contracting silicosis, according to the Western Occupational & Environmental Medical Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The evidence is now clear that engineered stone containing crystalline silica is too toxic to fabricate and install safely, and education and enforcement alone will not be sufficient to curtail the escalating occupational health emergency caused by this product,” WOEMA’s Dec. 12 letter to regulators said. The association represents more than 600 occupational safety physicians and other experts in seven western states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The doctors requested that the state body that adopts new job safety rules to start the process to ban all fabrication and installation tasks on engineered stone containing more than 1% crystalline silica, similar to Australia’s policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, which declined to comment on WOEMA’s letter, has up to six months to review and decide. The proposal is likely to face stiff opposition from manufacturers, distributors and fabricators of engineered stone, also known as quartz or artificial stone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Artificial stone represents a growing multibillion-dollar market in the U.S., with increasing demand expected in California due to the rebuilding effort in Los Angeles after the massive fires in January 2025. More than half of the silicosis cases in the state are located in Los Angeles County.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033047\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033047\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/231017-StonecutterSilicosis-002-BL_qed-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone fabricator places his hand on a table that he cut at his home in San Francisco on Oct. 17, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Laurie Weber, who directs the International Surface Fabricators Association, said Australia’s model is not directly transferable to the U.S. economy, and that more research is needed to understand what would happen if hundreds of small and mid-size fabrication businesses suddenly had to stop working with their primary material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“ISFA does not believe a ban is the answer. The problem is not the material. The problem is employers ignoring the law and a lack of enforcement resources to ensure compliance,” Weber said in a statement. “Before California considers a prohibition that would reshape an entire segment of the construction economy, we respectfully request clarity on how WOEMA determined that engineered stone cannot be fabricated safely — even in shops fully compliant with Cal/OSHA’s existing silica standard.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>ISFA and others in the industry instead support a licensing program, in which only shops certified to handle artificial stone following regulations have access to it. A \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB20\">recent law\u003c/a> signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom that addresses the rise of silicosis through education and enforcement initially included a certification system — but that component was removed from the final draft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About 450 silicosis cases have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CCDPHP/DEODC/OHB/Pages/essdashboard.aspx\">confirmed\u003c/a> among stoneworkers in California since 2019, and regulators expect the numbers could rise to between 1,000 and 1,500 within the next decade. Nearly all of those sick are Latino men, many immigrants lacking permanent legal status, who didn’t know about the hazards of working on crystalline silica products. Twenty-five stoneworkers died, and dozens received lung transplants, according to the California Department of Public Health.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As long as this dangerous material remains available and is purchased and used in California, it’s inevitable that people will continue to be exposed and die,” Robert Blink, an occupational medicine doctor in San Francisco and former WOEMA president, told KQED. “There’s always resistance to change. But when you’ve got something this dangerous out there that’s literally killing people … we’ve got to stop this from going up. This is not a time for small measures, frankly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Engineered stone can contain more than 90% crystalline silica, much more than natural stones such as marble. The factory-made material’s popularity has skyrocketed because it is stain-resistant, produced in attractive colors and designs and is often cheaper than natural stones. But many consumers are unaware of the hazards that artificial stone dust poses to the workers who shape and install their countertops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Growing scientific evidence has shown that the silica dust released by the material is so toxic that small amounts of exposure are enough to make workers sick. The tiny airborne particles can penetrate filter masks and lodge in the lungs, causing progressive scarring and injury in workers, some as young as their 20s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dozens of silicosis cases have also been reported by doctors in Illinois, Utah, Colorado, Massachusetts, as well as other states that are not tracking the disease as systematically as California’s public health authorities. Those figures are widely believed to be underreported. Israel, Spain and other countries have also seen a surge in silicosis tied to engineered stone. Medical experts in the UK are urging authorities to prohibit the use of the material.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>James Nevin, an attorney at Brayton Purcell, a firm that represents hundreds of sick workers suing major manufacturers and distributors of artificial stone, said clients are located in 16 other states, including New York, Nevada, Florida, Kentucky and Hawaii.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12033303\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12033303\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/StonecutterGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A stone countertop fabricator’s hands are covered in dust at a shop on Oct. 31, 2023, in Sun Valley, California. Inhaling fine particles can contribute to silicosis. \u003ccite>(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>California currently bans the dry cutting of engineered stone and mandates the use of wet methods — machines that submerge or cover the material’s surface with water to suppress dust. Employers are also required to implement local exhaust ventilation, ensure employees wear powered air-purifying respirators and take other measures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Cal/OSHA inspectors have found most of the 120 shops they’ve visited in the last two years were violating the rules, which fabricators and doctors consider too expensive and challenging for many employers to follow. California has about 4,600 countertop fabrication workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Major manufacturers, such as Israel-based Caesarstone, did not immediately return requests for comment on the California ban proposal, but publicly opposed a prohibition in Australia. A spokesperson for Cosentino, a company headquartered in Spain, also declined to comment, but told KQED last month that silicosis is preventable when proper safety and health measures are in place to protect workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both companies, which face hundreds of lawsuits by workers claiming silica-related injuries in the U.S. and other countries, have developed crystalline silica-free products for the Australian market but continue to sell high-silica engineered stone in the U.S.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Doctors who’ve followed the issue argue that the safer alternatives have similar qualities, appearance and cost to traditional engineered stone and could be made immediately available in California, without significant economic consequences for fabrication businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Policymakers have publicly expressed dismay at the rising number of silicosis cases in the state, but have not favored a prohibition so far. Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board Chair Joseph Alioto Jr. said that the state should focus its resources on expanding Cal/OSHA enforcement of current silica regulations. Alioto recommended the agency partner with local public health departments and district attorneys to assist with investigations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We currently have a regulation to do stuff. We just need to get out into the field and do it,” said Alioto, an attorney in San Francisco, during a Nov. 20 meeting. “We just need boots on the ground to police this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Newsom’s office declined to comment on his stance on a ban on artificial stone, referring questions to the Public Health Department. An agency spokesperson said that they are tracking the silicosis situation closely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez, a 43-year-old former stonecutter who was diagnosed with silicosis last year, said he believes removing hazardous artificial stone from fabrication shops could save lives. The once-active father of four is now confined to his East Bay home, waiting for a double lung transplant, unable to work and reliant on an oxygen supply machine to breathe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If I’d known about the seriousness of this disease from the beginning, I wouldn’t have worked in this field, in the stone industry, because I wouldn’t have wanted to get sick like I am now,” said Lopez, an immigrant who lacks permanent legal status, who cut countertops in California for decades. KQED is withholding his full name because he fears losing medical care if federal authorities arrest him.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they have the possibility of selling other products that contain zero silica, that would be better, so that people don’t get sick,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "This Popular Kitchen Countertop Material Is Making Workers Sick",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Engineered stone, or quartz, is a man-made material made with high concentrations of silica that is commonly used to make kitchen countertops in the U.S. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But doctors are seeing more and more workers in the countertop industry developing silicosis, an often deadly lung disease linked to inhaling toxic dust the material releases when powercut. Even though California has safety rules in place to reduce the risk to workers, some say it’s time to ban the use of engineered stone altogether.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Links:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Doctors Urge Ban on Engineered Stone as Silicosis Cases Surge | KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4840843567&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:34] Before we really dive into this story, I wanna ask you how likely the average person is to come across the kind of countertops that we’re really talking about in this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:01:46] It’s super common. Go to a Home Depot or get this product through big box retail stores like Costco this has become one of the most popular or the most popular countertop material in the US. It’s made in a factory with different products like silica and resins and dyes that are baked together into these slabs by machines. They can add like different colors and designs, you know? So it’s very popular because it’s beautiful. It’s also very stain resistant. It can be a lot cheaper than natural stones like marble or granite. And so that’s why consumers have preferred it. Few people know, I think, among consumers, about the risks of this product. Workers who are cutting it and polishing it and grinding it are getting sick with silicosis, which is a disease that they get from breathing the dust released by the material when it’s cut. The dust has a lot of silica particles. Those particles get stuck in their lungs. And cause a lot of health problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:19] And Farida, I know you met one stone worker, actually here in the Bay Area, who now has silicosis because of his work. Can you tell me a little bit more about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:03:30] In his story. So we’re calling him Lopez because he’s an undocumented immigrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez\u003c/strong> \u003cem>\u003cstrong>[in Spanish]\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>[00:03:36] I’ve spent 20 years working in tile manufacturing, starting when I was 20 years old…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:03:45] Nearly all of the workers who’ve gotten sick with this kind of silicosis linked to engineer stone are Latino men. Lopez started working in this industry about two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:00] Was there a specific moment when his health really started to go south?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:04:07] Part of his job was also to unload these big slabs, you know, from trucks into the shop, or even when they’re gonna install the countertops in people’s homes or, you know businesses or hotels. He said he started noticing that it was really difficult for him to lift them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish] \u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:04:26] In that year, in 2023, that’s when I started to feel like I was out of breath. We used to carry loads, but I didn’t feel like that before. We got to the point where I didn´t like it anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:43] And then he was coughing a lot, trouble like breathing. So he ended up going to the doctor and he was diagnosed last year with silicosis. Now he’s confined in his home. He has to breathe 24-7 with the help of an oxygen supply machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish] \u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:05:05] Look, in fact, I’m not leaving my house anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:05:14] So when I met him, he was sitting next to this machine and he had these clear tubes pronged to his nostrils and he can’t really leave his house without one of these machines to give him oxygen. He also wore masks when he was working, but they were filter masks and him and his employers thought that they were protected in that way, but now doctors are finding that this. Silica dust that is released by artificial stone is so tiny that it can penetrate the filter masks and it still lodges in the lungs and causes scarring and over time the lungs can’t expand and contract to breathe like they normally do. And he of course can no longer work. He’s run out of state disability benefits and he is on a waiting list to receive a double lung transplant and he’s only 43.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish] \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>[00:06:24] Right now, I feel desperate. It’s a desperation to be sitting alone, without being able to do anything. It’s anguish to be here alone, waiting for the time for them to talk to me about the hospital, so that I can receive the transplant that I’m waiting for and be able to go out and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:53] I mean, Farida, how many people are there like Lopez in California now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:06:59] What we know so far in California and the California Department of Public Health is now tracking this is that there are 450 confirmed cases of silicosis among stone workers linked to artificial stone since 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Shephali Gandhi \u003c/strong>[00:07:18] I mean, the number of cases is exploding. I think many of us in the field expected it to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero\u003c/strong> [00:07:25] So one of the doctors I’ve spoken with is Dr. Shephali Gandhi. She’s a pulmonologist at the University of California San Francisco and she is seeing a lot of these cases be referred to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Shephali Gandhi \u003c/strong>[00:07:41] I have like 40 cases that are on my like waiting list right now to see and it’s just like every month my mailbox is just like full of more referrals of silicosis cases like it’s Just insane the number. 25 people have died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:07:58] And there are dozens more that have received lung transplants and more workers that are waiting for them or didn’t qualify for a lung transplant. Doctors tell me all the statistics and figures we have now are definitely an undercount. This disease takes a couple of years to show up with symptoms. People may be sick already, but they don’t know it yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:25] It’s so wild to hear just how, how much someone like Lopez’s life has been just irreversibly altered. What protections do stone workers have in California right now? I mean, even as it comes to safety gear, I mean is that, is that helpful at all? Or could that be helpful at for these workers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:08:50] The state is now requiring countertop fabrication shops that use stone with silica to cut it wet with machines that submerge the stone underwater when they’re cutting it and sawing it to suppress dust. They also need to be wearing protective gear, like these powered air purifying respirators, which sometimes cover the worker’s full face. There’s a lot of dust suppression. And so we’ve had those in place since 2023, but most of these shops are small and don’t have the money or the capacity or the willingness to put these in place. That’s why doctors are looking at what happened in Australia, where Australia ended up banning artificial stone with high silica last year. Dr. Gandhi and other doctors have spoken with, say, it’s time for the state to start facing these products with high silica out of fabrication shops to protect workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Shephali Gandhi \u003c/strong>[00:10:11] You know, substitution, which is where we like really go for safer alternatives to all artificial stone is really where I think we should be concentrating our efforts, which is essentially what they did in Australia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:29] California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or CalOSHA, has discussed whether the state should ban the use of engineered stone. And on Friday, doctors from the Western Occupation and Environmental Medical Association sent a letter urging the state to ban all fabrication and installation of engineered stone containing more than 1% silica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:01] I mean, what does the countertop industry think about that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:11:05] So I spoke with Laurie Weber, who heads the International Service Fabricators Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laurie Weber \u003c/strong>[00:11:12] Do we think there should be a product ban? Absolutely not. It’s not about the product. It is about the proper fabrication processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:11:21] She doesn’t believe that a ban is a solution. She thinks really the issue is having fabrication shops work on these products safely and following all the, you know, rules, is really important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laurie Weber \u003c/strong>[00:11:37] You know, I think that the easy answer for people is just to ban a product. But I mean, we want to talk about all the shops not in compliance. What about the shops that are in compliance?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:11:46] Especially because there may be other products produced in the future. You know, these companies are adapting and changing really fast, you know? And so there might be other toxic things that workers are exposed to. So they believe that the best thing to do is to have something like a licensing system in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laurie Weber \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] There are a lot of livelihoods around that, right? A lot of jobs around that. And I think it just sounds very doomsday when at the end of the day, there are ways that we can help them become compliant and help them be better business owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:12:24] I’ve talked to fabricators. Told me that starting a basic shop that is complying with all the California safety rules would cost around $250,000. So some fabricators do it, but many others don’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:40] Yeah, anyone you talk to from the companies themselves, you know, how are they responding to this crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:12:46] Well, so there’s major manufacturers of artificial stone, Caesarstone, which is based in Israel. Another one is Cosentino, based in Spain. And then there’s a third one called Cambria, which is base in the US. But what they say is that they believe that you can cut and work on engineered stone safely if you follow proper health and safety measures. But because of the ban in Australia, Caesarstone and Cosentino have started to develop and sell alternative products with a lot less silica than traditional engineered stone. I’ve heard from doctors in California that have gone to Australia that these alternatives look pretty much the same as traditional artificial stone, that they’re a similar cost. There’s still questions whether the newer products are actually really safe or if they have other metals or resins or things that could be making workers sick. But what we know so far, for manufacturers, they say to the workers that are cutting it, they just need to follow the rules and precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:13] I mean, Farida, I wanna go back to Lopez here. I mean how is he doing? How are his spirits at this point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:24] I’d say it’s an illness that has completely transformed his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish]\u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:14:30] Yes, in fact I’ve been having my appoints the same way for a year now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:35] Just in the span of my conversation with him, we started and he was very animated and you know engaged and sort of by the end he was just like exhausted and I feel like I got a glimpse of what life is like for him and his family now and it’s pretty bleak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez’s wife \u003cem>[in Spanish]\u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:15:00] Well, he’s always seen for us, he is the pillar. Now that we have it here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:15:14] His wife said, you know, he’s, he was a very hardworking, active person. We go to work every day, you know, was out of the house the whole day, um, you know, busy and, and now he’s just sitting at home thinking about this. It’s an incurable illness. Uh, and even when they get a lung transplant, doctors have told me that. You know, people still need to a lot of treatment, you know. And they can’t go back to life as normal. He’s one of hundreds of workers in California that are suing major manufacturers of artificial stone, like Caesarstone, claiming injuries. And so, Caesarstone is a public company, so I listened in to one of their earnings call recently, and they said there’s more than 500 lawsuits against them, from workers, not just in… The U.S., but in Australia, in Israel. So we’ll see what happens, but there’s definitely hundreds of cases in the pipeline against these companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:23] I mean, Farida, you’ve been reporting on this since 2023. What do you hope that people listening to this take away from your reporting?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:34] For me, you know, like I’m talking to workers, talking to fabricators, but I think the most candid conversations I have, you know are when I talk to friends. Once they find out about this, they’re like, wait, I just went to Home Depot and bought materials for a new countertop because I’m renovating my kitchen and it’s called Quartz. Is that the same thing as, you know, what you’re talking about? And I’ll be like, yes. And they’re, like, wow, I had no idea. For me, what was really striking is just how quickly this product became so popular. This stuff is everywhere. And then how quickly this public health crisis came, you know, as well. So I think that, you know we need to do this work so that more people know about it and can have a more informed decision when they’re buying these products.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Engineered stone, or quartz, is a man-made material made with high concentrations of silica that is commonly used to make kitchen countertops in the U.S. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But doctors are seeing more and more workers in the countertop industry developing silicosis, an often deadly lung disease linked to inhaling toxic dust the material releases when powercut. Even though California has safety rules in place to reduce the risk to workers, some say it’s time to ban the use of engineered stone altogether.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Links:\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064693/california-doctors-urge-ban-on-engineered-stone-as-silicosis-cases-surge\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California Doctors Urge Ban on Engineered Stone as Silicosis Cases Surge | KQED\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/span>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC4840843567&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:34] Before we really dive into this story, I wanna ask you how likely the average person is to come across the kind of countertops that we’re really talking about in this story.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:01:46] It’s super common. Go to a Home Depot or get this product through big box retail stores like Costco this has become one of the most popular or the most popular countertop material in the US. It’s made in a factory with different products like silica and resins and dyes that are baked together into these slabs by machines. They can add like different colors and designs, you know? So it’s very popular because it’s beautiful. It’s also very stain resistant. It can be a lot cheaper than natural stones like marble or granite. And so that’s why consumers have preferred it. Few people know, I think, among consumers, about the risks of this product. Workers who are cutting it and polishing it and grinding it are getting sick with silicosis, which is a disease that they get from breathing the dust released by the material when it’s cut. The dust has a lot of silica particles. Those particles get stuck in their lungs. And cause a lot of health problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:19] And Farida, I know you met one stone worker, actually here in the Bay Area, who now has silicosis because of his work. Can you tell me a little bit more about?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:03:30] In his story. So we’re calling him Lopez because he’s an undocumented immigrant.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez\u003c/strong> \u003cem>\u003cstrong>[in Spanish]\u003c/strong> \u003c/em>[00:03:36] I’ve spent 20 years working in tile manufacturing, starting when I was 20 years old…\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:03:45] Nearly all of the workers who’ve gotten sick with this kind of silicosis linked to engineer stone are Latino men. Lopez started working in this industry about two decades ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:00] Was there a specific moment when his health really started to go south?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:04:07] Part of his job was also to unload these big slabs, you know, from trucks into the shop, or even when they’re gonna install the countertops in people’s homes or, you know businesses or hotels. He said he started noticing that it was really difficult for him to lift them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish] \u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:04:26] In that year, in 2023, that’s when I started to feel like I was out of breath. We used to carry loads, but I didn’t feel like that before. We got to the point where I didn´t like it anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:43] And then he was coughing a lot, trouble like breathing. So he ended up going to the doctor and he was diagnosed last year with silicosis. Now he’s confined in his home. He has to breathe 24-7 with the help of an oxygen supply machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish] \u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:05:05] Look, in fact, I’m not leaving my house anymore.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:05:14] So when I met him, he was sitting next to this machine and he had these clear tubes pronged to his nostrils and he can’t really leave his house without one of these machines to give him oxygen. He also wore masks when he was working, but they were filter masks and him and his employers thought that they were protected in that way, but now doctors are finding that this. Silica dust that is released by artificial stone is so tiny that it can penetrate the filter masks and it still lodges in the lungs and causes scarring and over time the lungs can’t expand and contract to breathe like they normally do. And he of course can no longer work. He’s run out of state disability benefits and he is on a waiting list to receive a double lung transplant and he’s only 43.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish] \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>[00:06:24] Right now, I feel desperate. It’s a desperation to be sitting alone, without being able to do anything. It’s anguish to be here alone, waiting for the time for them to talk to me about the hospital, so that I can receive the transplant that I’m waiting for and be able to go out and work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:53] I mean, Farida, how many people are there like Lopez in California now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:06:59] What we know so far in California and the California Department of Public Health is now tracking this is that there are 450 confirmed cases of silicosis among stone workers linked to artificial stone since 2019.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Shephali Gandhi \u003c/strong>[00:07:18] I mean, the number of cases is exploding. I think many of us in the field expected it to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero\u003c/strong> [00:07:25] So one of the doctors I’ve spoken with is Dr. Shephali Gandhi. She’s a pulmonologist at the University of California San Francisco and she is seeing a lot of these cases be referred to her.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Shephali Gandhi \u003c/strong>[00:07:41] I have like 40 cases that are on my like waiting list right now to see and it’s just like every month my mailbox is just like full of more referrals of silicosis cases like it’s Just insane the number. 25 people have died.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:07:58] And there are dozens more that have received lung transplants and more workers that are waiting for them or didn’t qualify for a lung transplant. Doctors tell me all the statistics and figures we have now are definitely an undercount. This disease takes a couple of years to show up with symptoms. People may be sick already, but they don’t know it yet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:25] It’s so wild to hear just how, how much someone like Lopez’s life has been just irreversibly altered. What protections do stone workers have in California right now? I mean, even as it comes to safety gear, I mean is that, is that helpful at all? Or could that be helpful at for these workers?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:08:50] The state is now requiring countertop fabrication shops that use stone with silica to cut it wet with machines that submerge the stone underwater when they’re cutting it and sawing it to suppress dust. They also need to be wearing protective gear, like these powered air purifying respirators, which sometimes cover the worker’s full face. There’s a lot of dust suppression. And so we’ve had those in place since 2023, but most of these shops are small and don’t have the money or the capacity or the willingness to put these in place. That’s why doctors are looking at what happened in Australia, where Australia ended up banning artificial stone with high silica last year. Dr. Gandhi and other doctors have spoken with, say, it’s time for the state to start facing these products with high silica out of fabrication shops to protect workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Dr. Shephali Gandhi \u003c/strong>[00:10:11] You know, substitution, which is where we like really go for safer alternatives to all artificial stone is really where I think we should be concentrating our efforts, which is essentially what they did in Australia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:29] California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or CalOSHA, has discussed whether the state should ban the use of engineered stone. And on Friday, doctors from the Western Occupation and Environmental Medical Association sent a letter urging the state to ban all fabrication and installation of engineered stone containing more than 1% silica.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:11:01] I mean, what does the countertop industry think about that?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:11:05] So I spoke with Laurie Weber, who heads the International Service Fabricators Association.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laurie Weber \u003c/strong>[00:11:12] Do we think there should be a product ban? Absolutely not. It’s not about the product. It is about the proper fabrication processes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:11:21] She doesn’t believe that a ban is a solution. She thinks really the issue is having fabrication shops work on these products safely and following all the, you know, rules, is really important.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laurie Weber \u003c/strong>[00:11:37] You know, I think that the easy answer for people is just to ban a product. But I mean, we want to talk about all the shops not in compliance. What about the shops that are in compliance?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:11:46] Especially because there may be other products produced in the future. You know, these companies are adapting and changing really fast, you know? And so there might be other toxic things that workers are exposed to. So they believe that the best thing to do is to have something like a licensing system in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Laurie Weber \u003c/strong>[00:12:06] There are a lot of livelihoods around that, right? A lot of jobs around that. And I think it just sounds very doomsday when at the end of the day, there are ways that we can help them become compliant and help them be better business owners.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:12:24] I’ve talked to fabricators. Told me that starting a basic shop that is complying with all the California safety rules would cost around $250,000. So some fabricators do it, but many others don’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:12:40] Yeah, anyone you talk to from the companies themselves, you know, how are they responding to this crisis?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:12:46] Well, so there’s major manufacturers of artificial stone, Caesarstone, which is based in Israel. Another one is Cosentino, based in Spain. And then there’s a third one called Cambria, which is base in the US. But what they say is that they believe that you can cut and work on engineered stone safely if you follow proper health and safety measures. But because of the ban in Australia, Caesarstone and Cosentino have started to develop and sell alternative products with a lot less silica than traditional engineered stone. I’ve heard from doctors in California that have gone to Australia that these alternatives look pretty much the same as traditional artificial stone, that they’re a similar cost. There’s still questions whether the newer products are actually really safe or if they have other metals or resins or things that could be making workers sick. But what we know so far, for manufacturers, they say to the workers that are cutting it, they just need to follow the rules and precautions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:13] I mean, Farida, I wanna go back to Lopez here. I mean how is he doing? How are his spirits at this point?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:24] I’d say it’s an illness that has completely transformed his life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez \u003cem>[in Spanish]\u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:14:30] Yes, in fact I’ve been having my appoints the same way for a year now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:14:35] Just in the span of my conversation with him, we started and he was very animated and you know engaged and sort of by the end he was just like exhausted and I feel like I got a glimpse of what life is like for him and his family now and it’s pretty bleak.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Lopez’s wife \u003cem>[in Spanish]\u003c/em> \u003c/strong>[00:15:00] Well, he’s always seen for us, he is the pillar. Now that we have it here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Farida Jhabvala Romero \u003c/strong>[00:15:14] His wife said, you know, he’s, he was a very hardworking, active person. We go to work every day, you know, was out of the house the whole day, um, you know, busy and, and now he’s just sitting at home thinking about this. It’s an incurable illness. Uh, and even when they get a lung transplant, doctors have told me that. You know, people still need to a lot of treatment, you know. And they can’t go back to life as normal. He’s one of hundreds of workers in California that are suing major manufacturers of artificial stone, like Caesarstone, claiming injuries. And so, Caesarstone is a public company, so I listened in to one of their earnings call recently, and they said there’s more than 500 lawsuits against them, from workers, not just in… The U.S., but in Australia, in Israel. So we’ll see what happens, but there’s definitely hundreds of cases in the pipeline against these companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:23] I mean, Farida, you’ve been reporting on this since 2023. What do you hope that people listening to this take away from your reporting?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:16:34] For me, you know, like I’m talking to workers, talking to fabricators, but I think the most candid conversations I have, you know are when I talk to friends. Once they find out about this, they’re like, wait, I just went to Home Depot and bought materials for a new countertop because I’m renovating my kitchen and it’s called Quartz. Is that the same thing as, you know, what you’re talking about? And I’ll be like, yes. And they’re, like, wow, I had no idea. For me, what was really striking is just how quickly this product became so popular. This stuff is everywhere. And then how quickly this public health crisis came, you know, as well. So I think that, you know we need to do this work so that more people know about it and can have a more informed decision when they’re buying these products.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>As National Park Service leaders grapple with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054083/yosemite-sequoia-and-kings-canyon-workers-unionize-amid-fears-of-further-firings\"> reduced staffing\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065920/trump-orders-dei-out-of-national-park-bookstores\">restrictive, ideological policies\u003c/a>, maintenance workers at Yosemite National Park are now also facing a pay cut in 2026 that could reduce hourly wages by as much as $3.50 for some positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s after the National Park Service told its staff that pay for newly hired or promoted employees will now be based on rates for the Fresno area, instead of Stockton, as they have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2009/05/13/E9-11193/prevailing-rate-systems-redefinition-of-the-fresno-and-stockton-ca-appropriated-fund-federal-wage\">for the last 16 years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Federation of Federal Employees’ Local 465, which represents NPS employees at five national parks, including Yosemite, put out a press release this week saying workers were told of the wage change in late November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move comes as park service leaders nationwide say they’re being told to make changes to employee reviews and performance ratings that they worry could influence future potential layoffs they fear are coming in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former national park employee Elizabeth Villano, a spokesperson for advocacy group Resistance Rangers, called the changes to the review process a “morale bomb” for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to continue to push out qualified, passionate civil servants from their job,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12060933 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A National Park Service employee at Yosemite National Park, California, on March 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any wage-grade employee, like maintenance workers for park facilities and trails, hired, promoted or changing positions as of Jan. 1, 2026, will have their pay changed — “a reduction,” the NFFE release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One NPS employee who is also a NFFE union representative called the change a “slap in the face” for the hundreds of employees affected, many of whom commute one or even two hours into work and face steep costs of living in and around the Yosemite area. KQED has agreed not to publish the names of employees because they fear retribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National parks are still suffering from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npca.org/articles/9551-staffing-crisis-at-national-parks-reaches-breaking-point-new-data-shows-24\">24% reduction\u003c/a> in their workforce. While the Department of the Interior has technically \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/document-library/human-resources-policy/memo-2025-lifting-may-2-2025-personnel-actions-freeze\">lifted\u003c/a> its hiring freeze, the NFFE is continuing to raise concerns about the Trump administration’s ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-cost-efficiency-initiative/\">policies\u003c/a> promoting government efficiency, which have instructed parks to reduce their workforces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The loss in pay and the pressure to fill gaps will likely result in added stress to the Yosemite [wage-grade] workers, lower retention, fewer opportunities for workers to detail into different positions to gain career experience, and slower overall park operations,” the release states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management “created new locality areas for the Federal Wage System effective October 1,” which meant that “most wage system employees will see a pay increase under the new structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A small number of locations, including Yosemite, will see a decrease based on the updated OPM tables,” said the DOI spokesperson. “We are coordinating with the Office of Human Capital to understand the impacts and to identify options that may help affected employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regarding reviews within the parks system, the DOI said that “There is no percentage cap on [Employee Performance Appraisal Plan] ratings,” and that “consistent with OPM’s government-wide performance management guidance, we are working to normalize ratings across the agency. The goal of this effort is to ensure fair, consistent performance evaluations across all of our parks and programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reviews an ‘insult to injury’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Currently underway at parks nationwide is a wider discussion about employee performance plans, whose drafting and implementation have been delayed all year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to several national park employees from across the country, NPS leadership has instructed them to abide by a new “quota” or “cap” on high performance ratings — currently issued on a one-to-five scale. Under the revised system, the employees say they’ve been told, only around 30% of employees appear to be allowed to get high ratings. Different parks have been given different numbers over the past week, Villano said, only adding to the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11970738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11970738\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/GettyImages-1846156476-scaled-e1759449061670.jpg\" alt=\"state parks\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A welcome sign is seen at the Yosemite National Park on Dec. 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The NPS employees say this mandate has essentially forced park leaders to artificially deflate their employees’ performance reviews — a move Villano said is akin to “asking employees and supervisors to lie.” She also called the action “dubiously legal” and potentially in violation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-430/subpart-B/section-430.208\">federal code\u003c/a> that outlines how performance ratings must occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s them taking a dagger into the backs of everyone who’s been working overtime, crushing themselves just to keep the parks open, safe, accessible and the resources protected,” Villano said. “It feels like an insult to injury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park superintendents, she said, were “told explicitly that the management of their park, no matter how above and beyond they were going, was a three, except for if they were managing more than one park, then they could maybe get a four,” Villano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One park superintendent, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation or firing, said by the time they got the new instructions, they had already sent out their initial performance reviews. Now, they’re being told to rescind and resubmit them because they didn’t conform to the new requirements, they said.[aside postID=news_12065920 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251027-YosemiteShutdown-51-BL_qed.jpg']“Employees across the parks know what they would have gotten and are now going to get something different,” the superintendent said. “All of the park superintendents are having to carry the liability for this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also concerning is the potential “self-fulfilling prophecy” of giving mid-tier grades to most employees, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they know ahead of time that they’re gonna be rated as average … over time, that’s exactly what they’re gonna get,” Wade said. “It defies all good sense of leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villano said while there is no denying that the park service’s normal system of performance reviews is flawed, these changes have not been thought out or systematic, and she’s worried that low scores could be used to justify future layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/11/agency-layoff-rules-get-overhaul-under-nearly-finalized-trump-administration-proposal/409706/\">report \u003c/a>from \u003cem>Government Executive\u003c/em>, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is set to propose new formulas for federal layoffs that would base decisions on the weighted sum of their three most recent performance ratings — rather than their time of service at the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the ethical and legal questions, the anonymous NPS employee and NFFE union representative said the Yosemite wage and performance review changes create a major morale issue for current workers, and are likely to deter prospective ones, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t tell you how many people are looking for jobs actively outside the park,” they said. “It’s just not a winning deal right now to come work for the National Park Service, and that’s a sad thing to say about one of our most beloved institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A park ranger holds a map at the entrance to Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Oct. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wade agreed, saying that even with the hiring freeze now lifted, the loss of a quarter of permanent positions at the NPS since January 2025 – in addition to reduced numbers of applicants to federal jobs and continued restrictions on hiring – he’s most worried about a coming “experience gap” at parks, and what that would mean for the future of these treasured landmarks..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are being asked to do more with less,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the changes, Villano said park leaders and employees are organizing — the most coordination she’s seen since the February 2025 mass layoffs dubbed the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/national-parks/2025/02/25/national-park-service-layoffs-what-to-know/80234977007/\">Valentine’s Day massacre\u003c/a>.” She said some have even planned to unilaterally give out the same exact score to everyone so as not to deflate some and not others’ reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took it a step too far this time by asking by asking us to turn on each other and tell each other that we’re doing bad work when day in and day out we know how deeply untrue that is,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resistance Rangers, she said, is offering information and resources on how to respond, including instructions to help supervisors and employees create a paper trail of how their ratings may be changing and what options they may have, including refusing to sign new performance reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My message to rangers right now is that even just showing up to work when every single day you’re being told that your work doesn’t matter, and the agency you work for is slowly disintegrating around you — that in and of itself is heroic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a community of rangers who are fighting together to make sure that your work doesn’t go unappreciated and unrewarded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As National Park Service leaders grapple with\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12054083/yosemite-sequoia-and-kings-canyon-workers-unionize-amid-fears-of-further-firings\"> reduced staffing\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065920/trump-orders-dei-out-of-national-park-bookstores\">restrictive, ideological policies\u003c/a>, maintenance workers at Yosemite National Park are now also facing a pay cut in 2026 that could reduce hourly wages by as much as $3.50 for some positions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s after the National Park Service told its staff that pay for newly hired or promoted employees will now be based on rates for the Fresno area, instead of Stockton, as they have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2009/05/13/E9-11193/prevailing-rate-systems-redefinition-of-the-fresno-and-stockton-ca-appropriated-fund-federal-wage\">for the last 16 years\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The National Federation of Federal Employees’ Local 465, which represents NPS employees at five national parks, including Yosemite, put out a press release this week saying workers were told of the wage change in late November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The move comes as park service leaders nationwide say they’re being told to make changes to employee reviews and performance ratings that they worry could influence future potential layoffs they fear are coming in the near future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Former national park employee Elizabeth Villano, a spokesperson for advocacy group Resistance Rangers, called the changes to the review process a “morale bomb” for workers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re going to continue to push out qualified, passionate civil servants from their job,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12060933\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12060933 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1335\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/NationalParkServiceGetty-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A National Park Service employee at Yosemite National Park, California, on March 1, 2025. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Any wage-grade employee, like maintenance workers for park facilities and trails, hired, promoted or changing positions as of Jan. 1, 2026, will have their pay changed — “a reduction,” the NFFE release said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One NPS employee who is also a NFFE union representative called the change a “slap in the face” for the hundreds of employees affected, many of whom commute one or even two hours into work and face steep costs of living in and around the Yosemite area. KQED has agreed not to publish the names of employees because they fear retribution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>National parks are still suffering from a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npca.org/articles/9551-staffing-crisis-at-national-parks-reaches-breaking-point-new-data-shows-24\">24% reduction\u003c/a> in their workforce. While the Department of the Interior has technically \u003ca href=\"https://www.doi.gov/document-library/human-resources-policy/memo-2025-lifting-may-2-2025-personnel-actions-freeze\">lifted\u003c/a> its hiring freeze, the NFFE is continuing to raise concerns about the Trump administration’s ongoing \u003ca href=\"https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/implementing-the-presidents-department-of-government-efficiency-cost-efficiency-initiative/\">policies\u003c/a> promoting government efficiency, which have instructed parks to reduce their workforces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The loss in pay and the pressure to fill gaps will likely result in added stress to the Yosemite [wage-grade] workers, lower retention, fewer opportunities for workers to detail into different positions to gain career experience, and slower overall park operations,” the release states.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email to KQED, a spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, said that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management “created new locality areas for the Federal Wage System effective October 1,” which meant that “most wage system employees will see a pay increase under the new structure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“A small number of locations, including Yosemite, will see a decrease based on the updated OPM tables,” said the DOI spokesperson. “We are coordinating with the Office of Human Capital to understand the impacts and to identify options that may help affected employees.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Regarding reviews within the parks system, the DOI said that “There is no percentage cap on [Employee Performance Appraisal Plan] ratings,” and that “consistent with OPM’s government-wide performance management guidance, we are working to normalize ratings across the agency. The goal of this effort is to ensure fair, consistent performance evaluations across all of our parks and programs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Reviews an ‘insult to injury’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Currently underway at parks nationwide is a wider discussion about employee performance plans, whose drafting and implementation have been delayed all year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to several national park employees from across the country, NPS leadership has instructed them to abide by a new “quota” or “cap” on high performance ratings — currently issued on a one-to-five scale. Under the revised system, the employees say they’ve been told, only around 30% of employees appear to be allowed to get high ratings. Different parks have been given different numbers over the past week, Villano said, only adding to the confusion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11970738\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11970738\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/12/GettyImages-1846156476-scaled-e1759449061670.jpg\" alt=\"state parks\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A welcome sign is seen at the Yosemite National Park on Dec. 13, 2023. \u003ccite>(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The NPS employees say this mandate has essentially forced park leaders to artificially deflate their employees’ performance reviews — a move Villano said is akin to “asking employees and supervisors to lie.” She also called the action “dubiously legal” and potentially in violation of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-5/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-430/subpart-B/section-430.208\">federal code\u003c/a> that outlines how performance ratings must occur.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s them taking a dagger into the backs of everyone who’s been working overtime, crushing themselves just to keep the parks open, safe, accessible and the resources protected,” Villano said. “It feels like an insult to injury.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Park superintendents, she said, were “told explicitly that the management of their park, no matter how above and beyond they were going, was a three, except for if they were managing more than one park, then they could maybe get a four,” Villano said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One park superintendent, who also asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation or firing, said by the time they got the new instructions, they had already sent out their initial performance reviews. Now, they’re being told to rescind and resubmit them because they didn’t conform to the new requirements, they said.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Employees across the parks know what they would have gotten and are now going to get something different,” the superintendent said. “All of the park superintendents are having to carry the liability for this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also concerning is the potential “self-fulfilling prophecy” of giving mid-tier grades to most employees, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If they know ahead of time that they’re gonna be rated as average … over time, that’s exactly what they’re gonna get,” Wade said. “It defies all good sense of leadership.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Villano said while there is no denying that the park service’s normal system of performance reviews is flawed, these changes have not been thought out or systematic, and she’s worried that low scores could be used to justify future layoffs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, according to a \u003ca href=\"https://www.govexec.com/management/2025/11/agency-layoff-rules-get-overhaul-under-nearly-finalized-trump-administration-proposal/409706/\">report \u003c/a>from \u003cem>Government Executive\u003c/em>, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management is set to propose new formulas for federal layoffs that would base decisions on the weighted sum of their three most recent performance ratings — rather than their time of service at the agency.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In addition to the ethical and legal questions, the anonymous NPS employee and NFFE union representative said the Yosemite wage and performance review changes create a major morale issue for current workers, and are likely to deter prospective ones, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I can’t tell you how many people are looking for jobs actively outside the park,” they said. “It’s just not a winning deal right now to come work for the National Park Service, and that’s a sad thing to say about one of our most beloved institutions.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066876\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066876\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251028-YosemiteShutdown-123-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A park ranger holds a map at the entrance to Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on Oct. 28, 2025. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wade agreed, saying that even with the hiring freeze now lifted, the loss of a quarter of permanent positions at the NPS since January 2025 – in addition to reduced numbers of applicants to federal jobs and continued restrictions on hiring – he’s most worried about a coming “experience gap” at parks, and what that would mean for the future of these treasured landmarks..\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“People are being asked to do more with less,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response to the changes, Villano said park leaders and employees are organizing — the most coordination she’s seen since the February 2025 mass layoffs dubbed the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/experience/national-parks/2025/02/25/national-park-service-layoffs-what-to-know/80234977007/\">Valentine’s Day massacre\u003c/a>.” She said some have even planned to unilaterally give out the same exact score to everyone so as not to deflate some and not others’ reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They took it a step too far this time by asking by asking us to turn on each other and tell each other that we’re doing bad work when day in and day out we know how deeply untrue that is,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Resistance Rangers, she said, is offering information and resources on how to respond, including instructions to help supervisors and employees create a paper trail of how their ratings may be changing and what options they may have, including refusing to sign new performance reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My message to rangers right now is that even just showing up to work when every single day you’re being told that your work doesn’t matter, and the agency you work for is slowly disintegrating around you — that in and of itself is heroic,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a community of rangers who are fighting together to make sure that your work doesn’t go unappreciated and unrewarded.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "your-free-speech-does-not-apply-suspended-uc-berkeley-lecturer-speaks-out",
"title": "‘Your Free Speech Does Not Apply’: Suspended UC Berkeley Lecturer Speaks Out",
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"headTitle": "‘Your Free Speech Does Not Apply’: Suspended UC Berkeley Lecturer Speaks Out | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The suspension of a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059351/the-cal-lecturer-who-went-on-a-38-day-hunger-strike-for-gaza\">who went on a hunger strike over the war in Gaza\u003c/a> and made pro-Palestinian remarks in the classroom has raised questions about free speech and the scope of academic freedom on the Bay Area campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last week, UC Berkeley administrators notified Peyrin Kao, 26, of his six-month unpaid suspension, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The suspension, handed down at a time of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032030/uc-berkeley-faculty-rally-to-defend-free-speech-and-protest-cuts\">heightened tensions over free speech on campus\u003c/a>, drew criticism from groups and faculty advocates, who immediately called for his reinstatement and launched a hunger strike in solidarity on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some argued that the university’s decision was a blatant violation of Kao’s First Amendment rights and part of a broader effort to chill pro-Palestinian speech on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxdR0hTEkSqv4LcHqp3t7SNU1BcWbrI0/view\">an October letter\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin, Kao misused the classroom “by distorting the instructional process” and deviated from “the responsibilities inherent in academic freedom” during the spring 2024 and fall 2025 semesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintains that he followed university policy by making the comments outside of official class time. He said his suspension is part of what’s called “\u003ca href=\"https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-times/article/8/1/1/400618/Beyond-the-Palestine-Exception\">the Palestine exception\u003c/a>,” or the selective enforcement of rules to restrict Palestinian advocacy. Kao questioned whether he would have been suspended if he criticized the U.S. government or international issues that have drawn \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/23/with-3-million-gift-berkeley-prepares-to-build-premier-ukrainian-studies-program/\">condemnation\u003c/a> by the university, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066692\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12066692 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1200x675.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peyrin Kao speaking at a UC Regents meeting on Sept. 17, 2025, at UCSF Mission Bay. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Peyrin Kao )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s this gaping exception in this so-called free speech that our university and our country champions,” Kao told KQED. “The university loves to talk about how they are ‘the free speech university,’ ‘the home of the free speech movement,’ … but when it comes to Palestine: ‘Sorry, we’re drawing the line, your free speech does not apply.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore declined to comment, saying the university doesn’t comment on confidential personnel matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Hermalin’s report, Kao was accused of twice violating Regents’ Policy 2301, a \u003ca href=\"https://evcp.berkeley.edu/news/political-advocacy-academic-freedom-and-instruction\">rule\u003c/a> that explicitly prohibits “political indoctrination” as misuse of the classroom and has been frequently cited by the university to regulate campus protest in the wake of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent analysis by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062192/uc-berkeley-law-school-says-school-likely-violated-civil-rights-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">Berkeley law students found that the university’s administration\u003c/a> enforces the rule more harshly against faculty who speak in support of Palestinians, and Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Bay Area office, said the policy’s vague language lends itself to weaponization against Palestine advocacy.[aside postID=news_12062192 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/uc-berkeley-malak-afaneh-handout_qed-1020x680.jpg']“One very important question: Is the policy being enforced in an even-handed way?” said Eugene Volokh, a former First Amendment law scholar at UCLA. “I do think that people ought to be asking, well, are you doing this fairly with regard to all viewpoints?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Volokh and other free speech advocates, however, questioned whether an argument for pedagogical autonomy works in this case, and argued that Kao’s use of the classroom to advocate for his political beliefs may have gone a step too far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, the protection of free speech and academic freedom of students and faculty is essential to providing for the education of students and teaching them how to think — the university’s chief role, Volokh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the same time, we have to recognize that in order for the educational process to work, there have to be limits on what is said in the classroom,” he continued. “In a classroom, I’m talking to a captive audience of students who are there to learn a particular subject, presumably not for political indoctrination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suspension is not Kao’s first brush with the administration over his vocal support for Palestinian human rights: the letter notes a 2023 censure by a former chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences over the school’s anti-advocacy policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of the school year, Kao’s name appeared on a list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055827/uc-berkeley-gives-trump-administration-160-names-in-antisemitism-investigation\">160 staff and faculty members whose identities UC Berkeley disclosed to the federal Department of Education\u003c/a> as part of what the university described as an antisemitism investigation. Around the same time, Kao began a 38-day hunger strike to protest the war and “how our tech is being to fuel genocide in Gaza,” the lecturer told KQED’s The Bay in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058103\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sather Tower at UC Berkeley in Berkeley on Sept. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In April 2024, after dismissing students of an introductory computer science course at the end of his last lecture of the semester, Kao spoke for about four minutes about ethics in technology — using Google’s collaboration with the Israeli military as an example — and expressed solidarity with fellow educators in Gaza, according to the university’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao made those comments after the end of class, and prefaced his remarks by saying that students were free to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But again, if you want to go, then I don’t take any offense. It’s all good. And I will try not to waste too much of your time because it’s after 2 [pm],” Kao said, according to a transcription created by the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, Kao drew attention to his hunger strike in class, informing students that he was in poor health due to his activism — without explicitly stating that the act was in protest of the war in Gaza.[aside postID=news_12066592 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251209-STANFORDTRIAL-JG-9_qed.jpg']“Just a heads up that the lectures I give may be a little bit wobbly and poor quality,” Kao allegedly said during a class in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on these statements, the university determined that Kao “misused” his authority over students. Even without explicit acknowledgement of the advocacy during class time, the “visible toll” of the hunger strike, and Kao’s own admission that the strike may have affected his teaching, was enough for the university to determine it a violation of policy, Hermalin wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University Council–American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents lecturers, filed a grievance against the “wrongful discipline” of Kao, said field representative Jessica Conte. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.stem4pal.org/\">STEM 4 Palestine\u003c/a>, a campus group that Kao co-founded, announced a hunger strike beginning Wednesday, in solidarity with Kao and other “repressed academics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Peyrin is known as a committed educator. He is not just committed to students at Berkeley,” the group told KQED by email. “Putting his own body on the line, he demonstrated public commitment to the students of Palestine, whose universities have been bombed into rubble using technology our university builds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintained that all of the discussions in question took place outside of official class time, during an optional lecture that many students elected not to attend, and that the hunger strike took place entirely outside of the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were very careful not to talk about it in class with any of our students or any of my students or my staff. And it was something that I think is totally protected by the First Amendment, because I’m doing it in my own capacity,” Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-800x543.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1020x693.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1536x1043.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1920x1304.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024, in Berkeley, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He also pushed back against the university’s claims that his ethics discussion — and his presentation on cloud-computing contracts between Google and Amazon with Israel — was not germane to the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are companies that our students are going to work for. We’re giving our students the tools that they’re then going to use to go and work for these companies and others that are complicit in this ongoing American-Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Kao said. “When you don’t talk about this, that is also making a political decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic freedom enshrined in the First Amendment protects a professor’s right to discuss pedagogically relevant material during class, and allows some breathing room — as long as it’s furthering the purpose of the course, said Zach Greenberg, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.thefire.org/defending-your-rights/legal-support/faculty-legal-defense-fund\">Faculty Legal Defense Fund\u003c/a> at advocacy group FIRE. However, the university has some leeway to limit free speech of faculty within the bounds of the institution’s own academic freedom and, ultimately, to make the judgment call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question that we always ask when it comes to political speech is, what’s related to the class and what were they speaking as a professor or as a private citizen?” Greenberg said. “And if you’re going on tangents during class or expressing a political advocacy to students during class as a professor, you’re on company time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a California state employee, Kao was entitled to a Skelly hearing, in which the proposed disciplinary action is reviewed by a third party. The lecturer met with Eric Meyer, the dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Information, but his appeal was denied, Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s currently working to \u003ca href=\"https://chuffed.org/project/157643-make-back-peyrins-salary\">fundraise\u003c/a> the salary he will lose for the next semester, about $68,000, Kao said, which he vowed to donate to mutual-aid efforts in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/tgoldberg\">\u003cem>Ted Goldberg\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The suspension of a UC Berkeley computer science lecturer \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12059351/the-cal-lecturer-who-went-on-a-38-day-hunger-strike-for-gaza\">who went on a hunger strike over the war in Gaza\u003c/a> and made pro-Palestinian remarks in the classroom has raised questions about free speech and the scope of academic freedom on the Bay Area campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Late last week, UC Berkeley administrators notified Peyrin Kao, 26, of his six-month unpaid suspension, effective Jan. 1, 2026. The suspension, handed down at a time of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12032030/uc-berkeley-faculty-rally-to-defend-free-speech-and-protest-cuts\">heightened tensions over free speech on campus\u003c/a>, drew criticism from groups and faculty advocates, who immediately called for his reinstatement and launched a hunger strike in solidarity on Wednesday.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some argued that the university’s decision was a blatant violation of Kao’s First Amendment rights and part of a broader effort to chill pro-Palestinian speech on campus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nxdR0hTEkSqv4LcHqp3t7SNU1BcWbrI0/view\">an October letter\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Benjamin Hermalin, Kao misused the classroom “by distorting the instructional process” and deviated from “the responsibilities inherent in academic freedom” during the spring 2024 and fall 2025 semesters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintains that he followed university policy by making the comments outside of official class time. He said his suspension is part of what’s called “\u003ca href=\"https://read.dukeupress.edu/critical-times/article/8/1/1/400618/Beyond-the-Palestine-Exception\">the Palestine exception\u003c/a>,” or the selective enforcement of rules to restrict Palestinian advocacy. Kao questioned whether he would have been suspended if he criticized the U.S. government or international issues that have drawn \u003ca href=\"https://news.berkeley.edu/2024/09/23/with-3-million-gift-berkeley-prepares-to-build-premier-ukrainian-studies-program/\">condemnation\u003c/a> by the university, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066692\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12066692 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still.png 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-160x90.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/Peyrin-at-Regents-meeting-still-1200x675.png 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peyrin Kao speaking at a UC Regents meeting on Sept. 17, 2025, at UCSF Mission Bay. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Peyrin Kao )\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“There’s this gaping exception in this so-called free speech that our university and our country champions,” Kao told KQED. “The university loves to talk about how they are ‘the free speech university,’ ‘the home of the free speech movement,’ … but when it comes to Palestine: ‘Sorry, we’re drawing the line, your free speech does not apply.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UC Berkeley spokesperson Janet Gilmore declined to comment, saying the university doesn’t comment on confidential personnel matters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Hermalin’s report, Kao was accused of twice violating Regents’ Policy 2301, a \u003ca href=\"https://evcp.berkeley.edu/news/political-advocacy-academic-freedom-and-instruction\">rule\u003c/a> that explicitly prohibits “political indoctrination” as misuse of the classroom and has been frequently cited by the university to regulate campus protest in the wake of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A recent analysis by \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12062192/uc-berkeley-law-school-says-school-likely-violated-civil-rights-of-pro-palestinian-protesters\">Berkeley law students found that the university’s administration\u003c/a> enforces the rule more harshly against faculty who speak in support of Palestinians, and Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Bay Area office, said the policy’s vague language lends itself to weaponization against Palestine advocacy.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“One very important question: Is the policy being enforced in an even-handed way?” said Eugene Volokh, a former First Amendment law scholar at UCLA. “I do think that people ought to be asking, well, are you doing this fairly with regard to all viewpoints?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Volokh and other free speech advocates, however, questioned whether an argument for pedagogical autonomy works in this case, and argued that Kao’s use of the classroom to advocate for his political beliefs may have gone a step too far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In general, the protection of free speech and academic freedom of students and faculty is essential to providing for the education of students and teaching them how to think — the university’s chief role, Volokh said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“At the same time, we have to recognize that in order for the educational process to work, there have to be limits on what is said in the classroom,” he continued. “In a classroom, I’m talking to a captive audience of students who are there to learn a particular subject, presumably not for political indoctrination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The suspension is not Kao’s first brush with the administration over his vocal support for Palestinian human rights: the letter notes a 2023 censure by a former chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences over the school’s anti-advocacy policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the beginning of the school year, Kao’s name appeared on a list of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12055827/uc-berkeley-gives-trump-administration-160-names-in-antisemitism-investigation\">160 staff and faculty members whose identities UC Berkeley disclosed to the federal Department of Education\u003c/a> as part of what the university described as an antisemitism investigation. Around the same time, Kao began a 38-day hunger strike to protest the war and “how our tech is being to fuel genocide in Gaza,” the lecturer told KQED’s The Bay in October.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12058103\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12058103\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/09/20250929_UCBERKELEY_GC-11-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sather Tower at UC Berkeley in Berkeley on Sept. 29, 2025. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In April 2024, after dismissing students of an introductory computer science course at the end of his last lecture of the semester, Kao spoke for about four minutes about ethics in technology — using Google’s collaboration with the Israeli military as an example — and expressed solidarity with fellow educators in Gaza, according to the university’s report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao made those comments after the end of class, and prefaced his remarks by saying that students were free to leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But again, if you want to go, then I don’t take any offense. It’s all good. And I will try not to waste too much of your time because it’s after 2 [pm],” Kao said, according to a transcription created by the university.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More recently, Kao drew attention to his hunger strike in class, informing students that he was in poor health due to his activism — without explicitly stating that the act was in protest of the war in Gaza.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Just a heads up that the lectures I give may be a little bit wobbly and poor quality,” Kao allegedly said during a class in the fall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Based on these statements, the university determined that Kao “misused” his authority over students. Even without explicit acknowledgement of the advocacy during class time, the “visible toll” of the hunger strike, and Kao’s own admission that the strike may have affected his teaching, was enough for the university to determine it a violation of policy, Hermalin wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The University Council–American Federation of Teachers, the union that represents lecturers, filed a grievance against the “wrongful discipline” of Kao, said field representative Jessica Conte. And \u003ca href=\"https://www.stem4pal.org/\">STEM 4 Palestine\u003c/a>, a campus group that Kao co-founded, announced a hunger strike beginning Wednesday, in solidarity with Kao and other “repressed academics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Peyrin is known as a committed educator. He is not just committed to students at Berkeley,” the group told KQED by email. “Putting his own body on the line, he demonstrated public commitment to the students of Palestine, whose universities have been bombed into rubble using technology our university builds.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kao maintained that all of the discussions in question took place outside of official class time, during an optional lecture that many students elected not to attend, and that the hunger strike took place entirely outside of the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We were very careful not to talk about it in class with any of our students or any of my students or my staff. And it was something that I think is totally protected by the First Amendment, because I’m doing it in my own capacity,” Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12030970\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12030970\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1358\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-800x543.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1020x693.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-160x109.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1536x1043.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/03/GettyImages-2149730456-1920x1304.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pro-Palestinian protesters set up a tent encampment in front of Sproul Hall on the UC Berkeley campus on April 22, 2024, in Berkeley, California. \u003ccite>(Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He also pushed back against the university’s claims that his ethics discussion — and his presentation on cloud-computing contracts between Google and Amazon with Israel — was not germane to the classroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are companies that our students are going to work for. We’re giving our students the tools that they’re then going to use to go and work for these companies and others that are complicit in this ongoing American-Israeli genocide in Gaza,” Kao said. “When you don’t talk about this, that is also making a political decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Academic freedom enshrined in the First Amendment protects a professor’s right to discuss pedagogically relevant material during class, and allows some breathing room — as long as it’s furthering the purpose of the course, said Zach Greenberg, director of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.thefire.org/defending-your-rights/legal-support/faculty-legal-defense-fund\">Faculty Legal Defense Fund\u003c/a> at advocacy group FIRE. However, the university has some leeway to limit free speech of faculty within the bounds of the institution’s own academic freedom and, ultimately, to make the judgment call.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The question that we always ask when it comes to political speech is, what’s related to the class and what were they speaking as a professor or as a private citizen?” Greenberg said. “And if you’re going on tangents during class or expressing a political advocacy to students during class as a professor, you’re on company time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As a California state employee, Kao was entitled to a Skelly hearing, in which the proposed disciplinary action is reviewed by a third party. The lecturer met with Eric Meyer, the dean of UC Berkeley’s School of Information, but his appeal was denied, Kao said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s currently working to \u003ca href=\"https://chuffed.org/project/157643-make-back-peyrins-salary\">fundraise\u003c/a> the salary he will lose for the next semester, about $68,000, Kao said, which he vowed to donate to mutual-aid efforts in Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/tgoldberg\">\u003cem>Ted Goldberg\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "west-contra-costa-teachers-agree-to-end-strike-and-return-to-class-after-a-week",
"title": "West Contra Costa Teachers Agree to End Strike and Return to Class After a Week",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/west-contra-costa-unified-school-district\">West Contra Costa County teachers\u003c/a> agreed to end their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066054/after-west-contra-costa-teachers-launch-strike-both-sides-will-return-to-the-table\">first-ever strike\u003c/a> early Wednesday, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with the school district overnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators will return to regular classroom instruction on Thursday, a week after they first walked off the job, according to the United Teachers of Richmond and the school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our fight for stability and respect was not easy and is not over. But make no mistake, our historic strike has broken a vicious cycle of neglect and disinvestment,” union president Francisco Ortiz said in a statement. “We are committed now, more than ever, to improving learning conditions for our students, because when they thrive, our communities thrive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two-year agreement includes 8% raises over that period for all members, and additional wage increases for special education teachers. The West Contra Costa Unified School District will offer a 100% employer-paid family health care benefit by June 2027 and commit to other provisions that improve classroom conditions and protect international teachers from the threat of changing immigration regulations, such as new high price tags for H-1B visas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tentative agreement, which the district said is framed around a proposal from the school board, still needs to be ratified by the union and formally ratified by the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers and families play with a parachute as children run under during a strike rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on December 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This contract is a strong foundation for us to continue to build the learning environments our students deserve,” said Gabrielle Micheletti, union vice president and co-bargaining chair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz told KQED that the union was “encouraged and excited” that the board was aligning with their vision for district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UTR and the school district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">began negotiating for a contract\u003c/a> to span the current and next school year eight months ago. Over more than a dozen bargaining sessions, the parties failed to reach a consensus on wages and health care coverage, among other issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union’s initial ask was a 10% raise over two years and full benefit coverage, while the district’s final offer came out to just a 3% salary increase during that time and some additional benefit coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WCCUSD said it made that offer despite a budget shortfall. The union said it could, and must, offer more, prompting the work stoppage that began last week.[aside postID=news_12066401 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00616_TV-KQED.jpg']The strike disrupted instruction across WCCUSD’s 56 schools as many families kept their students home. On the first day of the strike, more than 1,300 of the district’s 28,000 students registered for an independent study curriculum they could complete for attendance credit as an alternative to coming in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the first two days of the strike, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066401/west-contra-costa-teachers-strike-continues-as-support-staff-return-to-work\">teachers were joined\u003c/a> by 1,400 district custodians, food service workers and bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 856, who had also been in unfruitful contract negotiations with the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract over the weekend, allowing some school operations to resume on Monday, but classroom interruptions continued through the start of this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the strike, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton said that schools would “provide safe and supportive classrooms and learning activities” and continue to provide meals for students. She noted, though, that it would not feel like normal days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Ortiz said on the picket lines, the union received strong support from families and elected leaders. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond urged the parties to return to the negotiating table Sunday, offering to convene bargaining teams the following day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They see our students go disinvested in for far too long, and they know that change is necessary,” Ortiz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066311\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francisco Ortiz speaks at a rally during the West Contra Costa United School District rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He said the union will continue to push for smaller class sizes and improvements to special education programs in the future. According to Ortiz, the district’s special education director and superintendent were not present in bargaining sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that that’s a bigger fight ahead for special education, when we have leadership that is actually engaged in these processes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since bargaining continued past 2 a.m., Wednesday, the day will be an optional classroom preparation day for teachers before classes resume on Thursday. Schools will remain open, as they have throughout the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are relieved that the strike is over and our students and teachers will be reunited,” the district said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/aaliahmad\">\u003cem>Ayah Ali-Ahmad\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/west-contra-costa-unified-school-district\">West Contra Costa County teachers\u003c/a> agreed to end their \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066054/after-west-contra-costa-teachers-launch-strike-both-sides-will-return-to-the-table\">first-ever strike\u003c/a> early Wednesday, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with the school district overnight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators will return to regular classroom instruction on Thursday, a week after they first walked off the job, according to the United Teachers of Richmond and the school district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our fight for stability and respect was not easy and is not over. But make no mistake, our historic strike has broken a vicious cycle of neglect and disinvestment,” union president Francisco Ortiz said in a statement. “We are committed now, more than ever, to improving learning conditions for our students, because when they thrive, our communities thrive.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The two-year agreement includes 8% raises over that period for all members, and additional wage increases for special education teachers. The West Contra Costa Unified School District will offer a 100% employer-paid family health care benefit by June 2027 and commit to other provisions that improve classroom conditions and protect international teachers from the threat of changing immigration regulations, such as new high price tags for H-1B visas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tentative agreement, which the district said is framed around a proposal from the school board, still needs to be ratified by the union and formally ratified by the board.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers and families play with a parachute as children run under during a strike rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on December 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“This contract is a strong foundation for us to continue to build the learning environments our students deserve,” said Gabrielle Micheletti, union vice president and co-bargaining chair.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ortiz told KQED that the union was “encouraged and excited” that the board was aligning with their vision for district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>UTR and the school district \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">began negotiating for a contract\u003c/a> to span the current and next school year eight months ago. Over more than a dozen bargaining sessions, the parties failed to reach a consensus on wages and health care coverage, among other issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The union’s initial ask was a 10% raise over two years and full benefit coverage, while the district’s final offer came out to just a 3% salary increase during that time and some additional benefit coverage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>WCCUSD said it made that offer despite a budget shortfall. The union said it could, and must, offer more, prompting the work stoppage that began last week.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The strike disrupted instruction across WCCUSD’s 56 schools as many families kept their students home. On the first day of the strike, more than 1,300 of the district’s 28,000 students registered for an independent study curriculum they could complete for attendance credit as an alternative to coming in person.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the first two days of the strike, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12066401/west-contra-costa-teachers-strike-continues-as-support-staff-return-to-work\">teachers were joined\u003c/a> by 1,400 district custodians, food service workers and bus drivers represented by Teamsters Local 856, who had also been in unfruitful contract negotiations with the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract over the weekend, allowing some school operations to resume on Monday, but classroom interruptions continued through the start of this week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Throughout the strike, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton said that schools would “provide safe and supportive classrooms and learning activities” and continue to provide meals for students. She noted, though, that it would not feel like normal days.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, Ortiz said on the picket lines, the union received strong support from families and elected leaders. State Superintendent Tony Thurmond urged the parties to return to the negotiating table Sunday, offering to convene bargaining teams the following day.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They see our students go disinvested in for far too long, and they know that change is necessary,” Ortiz said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066311\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francisco Ortiz speaks at a rally during the West Contra Costa United School District rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He said the union will continue to push for smaller class sizes and improvements to special education programs in the future. According to Ortiz, the district’s special education director and superintendent were not present in bargaining sessions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We know that that’s a bigger fight ahead for special education, when we have leadership that is actually engaged in these processes,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since bargaining continued past 2 a.m., Wednesday, the day will be an optional classroom preparation day for teachers before classes resume on Thursday. Schools will remain open, as they have throughout the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are relieved that the strike is over and our students and teachers will be reunited,” the district said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/aaliahmad\">\u003cem>Ayah Ali-Ahmad\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem> contributed to this report.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "west-contra-costa-teachers-strike-continues-as-support-staff-return-to-work",
"title": "West Contra Costa Teachers Strike Continues as Support Staff Return to Work",
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"headTitle": "West Contra Costa Teachers Strike Continues as Support Staff Return to Work | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>Teachers in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/west-contra-costa-unified-school-district\">West Contra Costa Unified School District\u003c/a> entered their third day of a strike on Monday, with some maintenance and service workers returning to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While teachers rallied at the Richmond Civic Center, calling for higher wages, smaller class sizes and better benefit coverage, the union representing custodians, food service workers and bus drivers reached a tentative agreement with the district over the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The split marked a significant development in the 10-month-long labor dispute simmering in the district’s 56 school sites. Teamsters Local 856 \u003ca href=\"https://teamsters856.org/wccusd/\">announced\u003c/a> Sunday evening that they had secured a three-year contract that includes a 3% retroactive raise for 2025, a 4% raise for 2026, and fully paid medical benefits starting in January 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With support staff back on the job, some school operations resumed Monday, even as instruction remained disrupted by the absence of the United Teachers of Richmond, which represents roughly 1,500 educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the community rally, Christina Baronian, a teacher at Lake Elementary and a member of the bargaining team, told the crowd that UTR worked late into Saturday night to provide a comprehensive counterproposal, only to be met with silence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be back in our classrooms right now,” Baronian said. “But because the district decided that they didn’t need to show up yesterday and continue negotiating with us, here we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066308\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066308\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers and families continue their strike at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In particular, staff expressed frustrations over the timeline of negotiations, with both sides offering conflicting narratives about the schedule. In a statement issued Monday morning, UTR leadership claimed they were notified that the district was “refusing to return to the bargaining table until sometime next week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The District’s lack of urgency and refusal to bargain in good faith is the wrong message to send to our community,” the union said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, WCCUSD officials said the district had explicitly invited the union to continue negotiations on Dec. 9.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The District’s fiscal team, with the assistance of statewide fiscal experts, are thoroughly yet promptly evaluating the counterproposal,” the district said in a statement. “We are making some progress toward resolution and hope to return to regular school operations this week.”[aside postID=news_12066054 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01085_TV-KQED.jpg']The district has argued it is facing tight budget constraints and must ensure it can meet long-term financial obligations while maintaining core services. But the union said the district can afford its ask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Richmond’s Civic Center, educators and students spoke passionately about the daily realities of the classroom, describing a “staffing crisis” caused by low retention. They argued this has resulted in overcrowded classes, a reliance on long-term substitutes and poor facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students described having to sometimes sit on classroom floors due to a lack of desks or endure classrooms that are freezing cold or overheating due to crumbling infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re here one more day because the district has failed to provide our teachers with an offer that respects their work,” said Sasha Hahn, a student at El Cerrito High School and the student member of the Board of Education. “Every day that the district doesn’t negotiate with our teachers is another day that us as students are being neglected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally drew support from local politicians and labor leaders from across the state. Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, told the crowd that districts rely on “fear, uncertainty and doubt” to break strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066164\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Jackie Reyes and her daughter Adelina join other West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers on strike at El Cerrito High School in Richmond on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Xavier Zamora for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Local officials, including Richmond City Councilmember Soheila Bana and Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, also urged the district and WCCUSD Superintendent Cheryl Cotton to act faster to work out a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had a chance this morning to reach out and communicate with the superintendent to encourage her to encourage the district bargaining team to get back to the table today,” Gioia said. “There is nothing more important than getting schools back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eryka Cheval, a parent of two daughters at Montalvin Manor Elementary, questioned the district’s budgeting priorities and echoed the union’s sentiment that money is being mismanaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our teachers want to be back with our students. And the district is the only thing getting in the way,” Cheval said to the crowd. “Enough is enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he is monitoring the situation. According to the district, Thurmond has “urged the Parties to continue working toward a resolution that will end the strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"headline": "West Contra Costa Teachers Strike Continues as Support Staff Return to Work",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Teachers in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/west-contra-costa-unified-school-district\">West Contra Costa Unified School District\u003c/a> entered their third day of a strike on Monday, with some maintenance and service workers returning to work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While teachers rallied at the Richmond Civic Center, calling for higher wages, smaller class sizes and better benefit coverage, the union representing custodians, food service workers and bus drivers reached a tentative agreement with the district over the weekend.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The split marked a significant development in the 10-month-long labor dispute simmering in the district’s 56 school sites. Teamsters Local 856 \u003ca href=\"https://teamsters856.org/wccusd/\">announced\u003c/a> Sunday evening that they had secured a three-year contract that includes a 3% retroactive raise for 2025, a 4% raise for 2026, and fully paid medical benefits starting in January 2026.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With support staff back on the job, some school operations resumed Monday, even as instruction remained disrupted by the absence of the United Teachers of Richmond, which represents roughly 1,500 educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the community rally, Christina Baronian, a teacher at Lake Elementary and a member of the bargaining team, told the crowd that UTR worked late into Saturday night to provide a comprehensive counterproposal, only to be met with silence.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We should be back in our classrooms right now,” Baronian said. “But because the district decided that they didn’t need to show up yesterday and continue negotiating with us, here we are.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066308\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066308\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00960_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers and families continue their strike at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In particular, staff expressed frustrations over the timeline of negotiations, with both sides offering conflicting narratives about the schedule. In a statement issued Monday morning, UTR leadership claimed they were notified that the district was “refusing to return to the bargaining table until sometime next week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The District’s lack of urgency and refusal to bargain in good faith is the wrong message to send to our community,” the union said in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, WCCUSD officials said the district had explicitly invited the union to continue negotiations on Dec. 9.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The District’s fiscal team, with the assistance of statewide fiscal experts, are thoroughly yet promptly evaluating the counterproposal,” the district said in a statement. “We are making some progress toward resolution and hope to return to regular school operations this week.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The district has argued it is facing tight budget constraints and must ensure it can meet long-term financial obligations while maintaining core services. But the union said the district can afford its ask.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At Richmond’s Civic Center, educators and students spoke passionately about the daily realities of the classroom, describing a “staffing crisis” caused by low retention. They argued this has resulted in overcrowded classes, a reliance on long-term substitutes and poor facilities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Students described having to sometimes sit on classroom floors due to a lack of desks or endure classrooms that are freezing cold or overheating due to crumbling infrastructure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re here one more day because the district has failed to provide our teachers with an offer that respects their work,” said Sasha Hahn, a student at El Cerrito High School and the student member of the Board of Education. “Every day that the district doesn’t negotiate with our teachers is another day that us as students are being neglected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The rally drew support from local politicians and labor leaders from across the state. Cecily Myart-Cruz, president of United Teachers Los Angeles, told the crowd that districts rely on “fear, uncertainty and doubt” to break strikes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066164\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Jackie Reyes and her daughter Adelina join other West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers on strike at El Cerrito High School in Richmond on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Xavier Zamora for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Local officials, including Richmond City Councilmember Soheila Bana and Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia, also urged the district and WCCUSD Superintendent Cheryl Cotton to act faster to work out a solution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had a chance this morning to reach out and communicate with the superintendent to encourage her to encourage the district bargaining team to get back to the table today,” Gioia said. “There is nothing more important than getting schools back.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Eryka Cheval, a parent of two daughters at Montalvin Manor Elementary, questioned the district’s budgeting priorities and echoed the union’s sentiment that money is being mismanaged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our teachers want to be back with our students. And the district is the only thing getting in the way,” Cheval said to the crowd. “Enough is enough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he is monitoring the situation. According to the district, Thurmond has “urged the Parties to continue working toward a resolution that will end the strike.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "As West Contra Costa Teachers Strike, Negotiations Seem to Show Little Progress",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Dec. 5:\u003c/strong> Striking teachers and West Contra Costa Unified School District officials reunited for bargaining Thursday afternoon after the first day of the walkout, but the two sides came away with strikingly contradictory descriptions of the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am pleased to share that the district and UTR negotiations teams met this afternoon, and we are making progress on our negotiations,” Superintendent Cheryl Cotton said in a video message Thursday night. “It was a productive discussion, and we are making our way forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, during a Friday morning rally, union president Francisco Ortiz said the meeting was brief, district officials were 30 minutes late and they had no written proposals to offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We let them know that we’re prepared to negotiate with them when they have something written down that we can consider,” Ortiz said. “Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency regarding the settling of the contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district did not respond to questions about the conflicting messaging or attendance figures for the first day of the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides have said they’re open to continued negotiations in the hopes of reaching a deal and ending the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066311\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francisco Ortiz speaks at a rally during the West Contra Costa United School District rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, Dec. 4 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bundled against the morning cold, teachers marched outside the Nystrom Elementary School entrance in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/richmond\">Richmond\u003c/a> early Thursday, cheering as passing cars honked, and carrying yellow and red picket signs reading “We Can’t Wait.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators at all 56 West Contra Costa Unified School District sites picketed before and during school drop-off on the first day of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">an open-ended strike\u003c/a>, marching for higher pay, smaller class sizes and a reduction of the use of long-term substitute teachers and outside contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Months of negotiations and a mediation process have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065486/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-near-a-pivotal-moment-in-their-potential-strike\">failed to yield an agreement\u003c/a> on a new three-year teaching contract. But Thursday afternoon, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton announced that the district and union had agreed to renegotiate and would meet at 4 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066164\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Jackie Reyes and her daughter Adelina join other West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers on strike at El Cerrito High School in Richmond on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Xavier Zamora for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My hope is that we can reach agreement on salary and benefits and then turn our attention to collaboratively outline an action plan to address the deep-rooted, systemic issues that exist in our organization,” Cotton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is facing a projected deficit and has maintained that its budget cannot support additional raises for teachers without risking a state takeover. Union members have argued that the district overspends on outside contractors rather than investing in district educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside Nystrom Elementary on Thursday morning, striking teachers chanted slogans such as “Education is a right, that is why we have to fight.”[aside postID=news_12065732 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/07/250723-WEST-CO-CO-ICE-MD-04-KQED.jpg']“I’ve been here for 13 years and seen a lot of teachers come and go and the impact that has on our kids,” said Jocelyn Rohan, a sixth-grade teacher at Nystrom Elementary. “It’s hard to want to stay somewhere when you’re not being paid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many families chose to keep their children home as the strike began. Of about 440 students enrolled at Nystrom Elementary, just 87 attended class on Thursday, according to the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missing school to support the strike is not considered an excused absence by the district. For families that did not want to come to school, the district offered an alternative independent study curriculum that students could do at home and still receive school attendance credit. About 1,300 students registered for the curriculum out of the 28,000 in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When people work, they ask for raises so they can support their families,” Nystrom Elementary parent Nidia Lopez said in Spanish, through a teacher interpreter. “If they don’t get a raise, they’ll find work somewhere else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez brought her children to school, but she decided to take them home once she realized there was a strike, saying that there wasn’t a point to having her children in school if the teachers weren’t there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066163\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nedea Lopez walks her children to school as West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers strike outside Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Xavier Zamora for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other parents brought their children to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harrishiana Lee, parent of three children in the district, told KQED over a phone call as her children were being dropped off by their father that she supported the union but was frustrated with the strike. All of her children have special needs, she said, and she didn’t have an alternative for the services they needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the strike, my baby can’t go to school,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For weeks, the district has been planning to keep schools open in the case of a strike. In October, the school board voted to pay up to $550 per day for substitute teachers during the strike period, up from the regular day rate of up to $280.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers and families play with a parachute as children run under during a strike rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on December 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In an email to parents and the school community on Wednesday, Superintendent Cotton said that schools would “provide safe and supportive classrooms and learning activities” and that meals would continue to be served to students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cotton has expressed empathy for the union’s demands, but she has maintained that the district’s budget cannot afford them and that the strike is harmful to students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strike will not fix these problems,” Cotton said in an email statement on Wednesday. “A strike takes teachers out of classrooms, harms relationships, and makes it harder to recruit and retain strong educators. … We are heartbroken for our students. They deserve stability, care, and a learning environment where adults work together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Meghan Crebbin-Coates is a student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a contributor to KQED.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Update, Dec. 5:\u003c/strong> Striking teachers and West Contra Costa Unified School District officials reunited for bargaining Thursday afternoon after the first day of the walkout, but the two sides came away with strikingly contradictory descriptions of the meeting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am pleased to share that the district and UTR negotiations teams met this afternoon, and we are making progress on our negotiations,” Superintendent Cheryl Cotton said in a video message Thursday night. “It was a productive discussion, and we are making our way forward.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, during a Friday morning rally, union president Francisco Ortiz said the meeting was brief, district officials were 30 minutes late and they had no written proposals to offer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We let them know that we’re prepared to negotiate with them when they have something written down that we can consider,” Ortiz said. “Right now, there doesn’t seem to be any urgency regarding the settling of the contract.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district did not respond to questions about the conflicting messaging or attendance figures for the first day of the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Both sides have said they’re open to continued negotiations in the hopes of reaching a deal and ending the strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066311\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066311\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY01296_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Francisco Ortiz speaks at a rally during the West Contra Costa United School District rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on Dec. 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, Dec. 4 \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bundled against the morning cold, teachers marched outside the Nystrom Elementary School entrance in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/richmond\">Richmond\u003c/a> early Thursday, cheering as passing cars honked, and carrying yellow and red picket signs reading “We Can’t Wait.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Educators at all 56 West Contra Costa Unified School District sites picketed before and during school drop-off on the first day of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065732/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-set-to-strike-across-the-bay-area-more-could-follow\">an open-ended strike\u003c/a>, marching for higher pay, smaller class sizes and a reduction of the use of long-term substitute teachers and outside contractors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Months of negotiations and a mediation process have \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12065486/west-contra-costa-teachers-are-near-a-pivotal-moment-in-their-potential-strike\">failed to yield an agreement\u003c/a> on a new three-year teaching contract. But Thursday afternoon, Superintendent Cheryl Cotton announced that the district and union had agreed to renegotiate and would meet at 4 p.m.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066164\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_09-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Teacher Jackie Reyes and her daughter Adelina join other West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers on strike at El Cerrito High School in Richmond on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Xavier Zamora for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“My hope is that we can reach agreement on salary and benefits and then turn our attention to collaboratively outline an action plan to address the deep-rooted, systemic issues that exist in our organization,” Cotton said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The district is facing a projected deficit and has maintained that its budget cannot support additional raises for teachers without risking a state takeover. Union members have argued that the district overspends on outside contractors rather than investing in district educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Outside Nystrom Elementary on Thursday morning, striking teachers chanted slogans such as “Education is a right, that is why we have to fight.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“I’ve been here for 13 years and seen a lot of teachers come and go and the impact that has on our kids,” said Jocelyn Rohan, a sixth-grade teacher at Nystrom Elementary. “It’s hard to want to stay somewhere when you’re not being paid.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many families chose to keep their children home as the strike began. Of about 440 students enrolled at Nystrom Elementary, just 87 attended class on Thursday, according to the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Missing school to support the strike is not considered an excused absence by the district. For families that did not want to come to school, the district offered an alternative independent study curriculum that students could do at home and still receive school attendance credit. About 1,300 students registered for the curriculum out of the 28,000 in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When people work, they ask for raises so they can support their families,” Nystrom Elementary parent Nidia Lopez said in Spanish, through a teacher interpreter. “If they don’t get a raise, they’ll find work somewhere else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lopez brought her children to school, but she decided to take them home once she realized there was a strike, saying that there wasn’t a point to having her children in school if the teachers weren’t there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066163\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066163\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/20251204_RT_STRIKE_XZ_05-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nedea Lopez walks her children to school as West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers strike outside Nystrom Elementary School in Richmond on Dec. 4, 2025. \u003ccite>(Xavier Zamora for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Other parents brought their children to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harrishiana Lee, parent of three children in the district, told KQED over a phone call as her children were being dropped off by their father that she supported the union but was frustrated with the strike. All of her children have special needs, she said, and she didn’t have an alternative for the services they needed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“With the strike, my baby can’t go to school,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For weeks, the district has been planning to keep schools open in the case of a strike. In October, the school board voted to pay up to $550 per day for substitute teachers during the strike period, up from the regular day rate of up to $280.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12066306\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12066306\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/12/251205-WCCUSDSTRIKERALLY00410_TV-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">West Contra Costa Unified School District teachers and families play with a parachute as children run under during a strike rally at Marina Bay Park in Richmond on December 5, 2025. \u003ccite>(Tâm Vũ/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In an email to parents and the school community on Wednesday, Superintendent Cotton said that schools would “provide safe and supportive classrooms and learning activities” and that meals would continue to be served to students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cotton has expressed empathy for the union’s demands, but she has maintained that the district’s budget cannot afford them and that the strike is harmful to students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The strike will not fix these problems,” Cotton said in an email statement on Wednesday. “A strike takes teachers out of classrooms, harms relationships, and makes it harder to recruit and retain strong educators. … We are heartbroken for our students. They deserve stability, care, and a learning environment where adults work together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Meghan Crebbin-Coates is a student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism and a contributor to KQED.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>A social worker at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/san-francisco-general-hospital\">San Francisco General Hospital\u003c/a> is in critical condition after being stabbed repeatedly by a patient Thursday afternoon, according to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A 35-year-old patient who was at the medical center for an appointment had reportedly threatened a doctor before stabbing the 31-year-old social worker multiple times in the neck and shoulder, sheriff’s officials said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He was arrested at the scene and taken into custody. Deputies recovered a five-inch kitchen knife they believe he used in the attack.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Sheriff’s Department said additional security personnel were called around 1:30 p.m. to the sixth floor of San Francisco General Hospital after a doctor received threats from a patient in Ward 86, an HIV resource and treatment center.[aside postID=science_1996726 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2025/03/20250310_DANI-GOLOMB_DMB_00070-KQED-1020x680.jpg']Officials said they were providing security at the door when they heard a disturbance in the hallway. A deputy found the suspect attacking the social worker, intervened and restrained the man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medical staff on site performed CPR and lifesaving care to the social worker before they were taken to an operating room. As of Thursday evening, the victim was still receiving care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their condition as of Friday is unknown. UCSF, which is a partner at Ward 86 and San Francisco General, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s deeply upsetting to have a frontline worker injured while doing their job serving our city,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement. “Our social workers spend every day helping struggling San Franciscans — they should never have to fear for their safety while doing that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will stay vigilant and ensure our hospitals are safe for everyone,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a developing story, and it will be updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Officials said they were providing security at the door when they heard a disturbance in the hallway. A deputy found the suspect attacking the social worker, intervened and restrained the man.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Medical staff on site performed CPR and lifesaving care to the social worker before they were taken to an operating room. As of Thursday evening, the victim was still receiving care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Their condition as of Friday is unknown. UCSF, which is a partner at Ward 86 and San Francisco General, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s deeply upsetting to have a frontline worker injured while doing their job serving our city,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a statement. “Our social workers spend every day helping struggling San Franciscans — they should never have to fear for their safety while doing that work.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We will stay vigilant and ensure our hospitals are safe for everyone,” he continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This is a developing story, and it will be updated.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Nearly 3,000 teachers and staff from the West Contra Costa Unified School district went on strike Thursday morning after negotiations with the district broke down. It’s the latest in a series of labor disputes between educators and districts \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-teachers-strike/745896?amp=1\">across California\u003c/a>. Today, Jana Kadah, education reporter with Richmondside, talks to us from the field about why West Contra Costa educators walked off the job for the first time in the district’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://richmondside.org/2025/12/02/wccusd-strike-guide-faq-for-parents/\">Richmondside: Is your family prepared for WCCUSD teachers strike? Here’s what to know\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8523906778\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay, local news to keep you rooted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chanting \u003c/strong>[00:00:09] When I say union, you say power, union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:14] Three thousand teachers and school staff began a strike at the West Contra Costa Unified School District yesterday morning. And it’s the first time that teachers at this district have gone on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teacher \u003c/strong>[00:00:30] We are united, we are strong when we’re together, and we’re gonna get this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:36] West Contra Costa has struggled for years with its budget, and teachers say they’ve been sounding the alarm about a staffing crisis made worse by low wages. Today, why West Contra Costa teachers are on strike and what it means for the district’s roughly 25,000 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:08] Jana, can you tell us where you are right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:01:11] Yeah, I’m standing right outside of El Cerrito High School, where there are more than 150 people picketing from staff, educators to a lot of students and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:25] Jana Kadah, she’s an education reporter for Richmondside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:01:30] It is very lively. It is loud. People are chanting. It has a really kind of community neighborhood feel. There are kids in the neighborhood coming, passing out snacks to those who are picketing. Overall, I think like a excited, passionate energy from the people there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:49] Jana, you cover this district. Can you tell me a little bit more about it? I mean, it it covers quite a a range of cities. Tell me a little bit more about this district that you cover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:02:00] Yeah, West Contra Costa is a pretty big district, 56 different campuses, around 25,000 students all across West Contra Costa. So Richmond, El Sobrante, all the way to Hercules, Pinol, and El Cerrito. So it’s a pretty diverse community from ethnicity to languages and income levels. But what seems to be consistent are the frustrations from the community around the quality of education that they are receiving. The teachers and the Teamsters are striking right now because of pay concerns, but it’s not just about whether or not they can afford to live here. It’s about if they can re recruit and retain teachers. They say the pay is just too low for people to stay in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:00] And give me a brief timeline, Jana. They’ve been in negotiations for several months now. When did things really break down?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:03:07] From my understanding, actually, this has been a years long issue. I mean, in 2022, the teachers union did authorize a strike and the district came back with an offer, so it they averted a strike. But the bigger issues that they’ve been trying to resolve have not been sorted out in in their perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:30] And what have the biggest sticking points been leading up to this strike? I understand that these two sides are pretty far apart on wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:03:40] The teachers were originally asking for 10% over two years. The district in October offered them two percent. They declined it. The state recommended that the district offer them six percent over two years. After that, the district came back and offered them three percent. 99% of the teachers’ union voted, more than 98% basically said yes, we’re ready to strike. Aside from salary increases, some of the biggest concerns are reducing class sizes, addressing the issues in special education staffing. There’s also facility upgrades and security for their international educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:32] I mean, what does the school district say about all of this and w and where things stand right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:04:37] They have gone on a tour throughout the community to basically break down their finances and show that they cannot afford to meet the union’s demands. The superintendent has repeatedly said that she understands the concerns of the teachers and the community members, but that the financial situation that the district is in makes it impossible. This year alone they have to make seven point seven million dollars of cuts and there are more cuts coming in the years ahead to try to balance their budget. And so she has kind of centered this message of like we are one, let’s stick together, let’s unify, let’s let’s solve these problems together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:23] I I mean, it’s interesting, you say that the the superintendent is on a a sort of tour to to really show the financial situation that the district is in. Why is the district in such financial trouble right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:05:37] That’s a great question. And a lot of people would tell you a lot of different things. One is that the state funding is not enough. West Contra Costa is a district that does serve a lot more students with special education needs. And they also have a huge immigrant community. At Richmond High School, for example, 50% of the students are English language learners. And so you can imagine that this requires more resources. On the other hand, you know, some would point to mismanagement of funds. The district has contracted out a lot of its services. It has contracted out a lot of special education positions, primarily. And it comes at a higher cost to the district. So it’s issues like that where the money in the in the teachers union’s perspective, it’s not used properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:36] And as I understand it as well, this is a district that is also, like many others across the state, dealing with under enrollment, which also has an impact on on its budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:06:48] Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. I think in the last three years the enrollment has gone down from 28,000 to 25,000. And a lot of families are choosing to go to charter schools and there are a lot nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:06] Well I do want to ask you, Jenna, what this means for families and students. Are people still sending their kids to school? I mean, what are you hearing from the school communities out there right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:07:18] Yeah. So I went to two high schools so far. And the students are telling me that the only kids who are in school are there because their families are forcing them to be there, right? They’re worried about what this means for their education. But at El Cerrito, for example, a student told me that there were only 20 seniors who showed up, 20 juniors who showed up, and then couldn’t give a number for freshmen and sophomores. But the last update I got, the district was able to hire 200 substitute teachers, but there are 1500 teachers going on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:53] Right. And what about school services? Are are those still running?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:07:59] The district did hire a company to provide meals. Students have access to free breakfast and lunch. And so the district is trying to maintain that. Special education transportation is still going. The district has also hired companies for security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:16] I mean, is this ending any time soon, you think, or or what do you think it’s gonna take for this strike to end?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:08:22] It’s hard to say how long it’s going to last. The the sense from the teachers is they are willing to go as long as they need to. One teacher is hopeful that, you know, the district and the union will meet over the weekend and the strike can be called off by next week. But really, it needs to be an offer that addresses their compensation concerns and moves the needle to address the issues that they’re they’re bringing up. And the primarily it is recruiting and retaining educators. I think it’s been really interesting to be to be where the picket lines are happening and seeing the community support. People are driving by, everyone is honking, they’re cheering. The students at Kennedy High School walked out on Tuesday in support of their teachers in solidarity to the district office, a two mile walk that they did. Every single person along the way cheered them on, right? Whether it’s people standing at a gas station or a fire truck passing them by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:29] I mean, West Contra Costa is not the only school district that has been struggling in the Bay Area in the last year. I mean, you know, there’s news of San Francisco unified teachers possibly walking out soon. Berkeley Unified District as well just announced an impasse. I mean, how do you think what’s happening in West Contra Costa, how does that fit into to what’s happening just across the region when it comes to schools and and even the state?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:09:57] Yeah, I mean it’s expensive to live here and the cost of living has increased far more than salaries have increased. This represents a larger issue. We were seeing this across the state, but it seems like the Bay Area is feeling it more. And it’s I think it’s just because it’s so expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:18] Well, Jana, thank you so so much for stepping aside for a little bit. I know you’ve had a really, really busy morning, so thank you so much for your time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:10:27] Yeah, thank you so much for having me.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Nearly 3,000 teachers and staff from the West Contra Costa Unified School district went on strike Thursday morning after negotiations with the district broke down. It’s the latest in a series of labor disputes between educators and districts \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2025/west-contra-costa-teachers-strike/745896?amp=1\">across California\u003c/a>. Today, Jana Kadah, education reporter with Richmondside, talks to us from the field about why West Contra Costa educators walked off the job for the first time in the district’s history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://richmondside.org/2025/12/02/wccusd-strike-guide-faq-for-parents/\">Richmondside: Is your family prepared for WCCUSD teachers strike? Here’s what to know\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm?e=KQINC8523906778\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>\u003cem>This is a computer-generated transcript. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:00] I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to the Bay, local news to keep you rooted.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Chanting \u003c/strong>[00:00:09] When I say union, you say power, union.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:14] Three thousand teachers and school staff began a strike at the West Contra Costa Unified School District yesterday morning. And it’s the first time that teachers at this district have gone on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Teacher \u003c/strong>[00:00:30] We are united, we are strong when we’re together, and we’re gonna get this.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:00:36] West Contra Costa has struggled for years with its budget, and teachers say they’ve been sounding the alarm about a staffing crisis made worse by low wages. Today, why West Contra Costa teachers are on strike and what it means for the district’s roughly 25,000 students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:08] Jana, can you tell us where you are right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:01:11] Yeah, I’m standing right outside of El Cerrito High School, where there are more than 150 people picketing from staff, educators to a lot of students and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:25] Jana Kadah, she’s an education reporter for Richmondside.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:01:30] It is very lively. It is loud. People are chanting. It has a really kind of community neighborhood feel. There are kids in the neighborhood coming, passing out snacks to those who are picketing. Overall, I think like a excited, passionate energy from the people there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:01:49] Jana, you cover this district. Can you tell me a little bit more about it? I mean, it it covers quite a a range of cities. Tell me a little bit more about this district that you cover.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:02:00] Yeah, West Contra Costa is a pretty big district, 56 different campuses, around 25,000 students all across West Contra Costa. So Richmond, El Sobrante, all the way to Hercules, Pinol, and El Cerrito. So it’s a pretty diverse community from ethnicity to languages and income levels. But what seems to be consistent are the frustrations from the community around the quality of education that they are receiving. The teachers and the Teamsters are striking right now because of pay concerns, but it’s not just about whether or not they can afford to live here. It’s about if they can re recruit and retain teachers. They say the pay is just too low for people to stay in the district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:00] And give me a brief timeline, Jana. They’ve been in negotiations for several months now. When did things really break down?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:03:07] From my understanding, actually, this has been a years long issue. I mean, in 2022, the teachers union did authorize a strike and the district came back with an offer, so it they averted a strike. But the bigger issues that they’ve been trying to resolve have not been sorted out in in their perspective.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:03:30] And what have the biggest sticking points been leading up to this strike? I understand that these two sides are pretty far apart on wages.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:03:40] The teachers were originally asking for 10% over two years. The district in October offered them two percent. They declined it. The state recommended that the district offer them six percent over two years. After that, the district came back and offered them three percent. 99% of the teachers’ union voted, more than 98% basically said yes, we’re ready to strike. Aside from salary increases, some of the biggest concerns are reducing class sizes, addressing the issues in special education staffing. There’s also facility upgrades and security for their international educators.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:04:32] I mean, what does the school district say about all of this and w and where things stand right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:04:37] They have gone on a tour throughout the community to basically break down their finances and show that they cannot afford to meet the union’s demands. The superintendent has repeatedly said that she understands the concerns of the teachers and the community members, but that the financial situation that the district is in makes it impossible. This year alone they have to make seven point seven million dollars of cuts and there are more cuts coming in the years ahead to try to balance their budget. And so she has kind of centered this message of like we are one, let’s stick together, let’s unify, let’s let’s solve these problems together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:05:23] I I mean, it’s interesting, you say that the the superintendent is on a a sort of tour to to really show the financial situation that the district is in. Why is the district in such financial trouble right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:05:37] That’s a great question. And a lot of people would tell you a lot of different things. One is that the state funding is not enough. West Contra Costa is a district that does serve a lot more students with special education needs. And they also have a huge immigrant community. At Richmond High School, for example, 50% of the students are English language learners. And so you can imagine that this requires more resources. On the other hand, you know, some would point to mismanagement of funds. The district has contracted out a lot of its services. It has contracted out a lot of special education positions, primarily. And it comes at a higher cost to the district. So it’s issues like that where the money in the in the teachers union’s perspective, it’s not used properly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:06:36] And as I understand it as well, this is a district that is also, like many others across the state, dealing with under enrollment, which also has an impact on on its budget.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:06:48] Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. I think in the last three years the enrollment has gone down from 28,000 to 25,000. And a lot of families are choosing to go to charter schools and there are a lot nearby.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:06] Well I do want to ask you, Jenna, what this means for families and students. Are people still sending their kids to school? I mean, what are you hearing from the school communities out there right now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:07:18] Yeah. So I went to two high schools so far. And the students are telling me that the only kids who are in school are there because their families are forcing them to be there, right? They’re worried about what this means for their education. But at El Cerrito, for example, a student told me that there were only 20 seniors who showed up, 20 juniors who showed up, and then couldn’t give a number for freshmen and sophomores. But the last update I got, the district was able to hire 200 substitute teachers, but there are 1500 teachers going on strike.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:07:53] Right. And what about school services? Are are those still running?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:07:59] The district did hire a company to provide meals. Students have access to free breakfast and lunch. And so the district is trying to maintain that. Special education transportation is still going. The district has also hired companies for security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:08:16] I mean, is this ending any time soon, you think, or or what do you think it’s gonna take for this strike to end?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:08:22] It’s hard to say how long it’s going to last. The the sense from the teachers is they are willing to go as long as they need to. One teacher is hopeful that, you know, the district and the union will meet over the weekend and the strike can be called off by next week. But really, it needs to be an offer that addresses their compensation concerns and moves the needle to address the issues that they’re they’re bringing up. And the primarily it is recruiting and retaining educators. I think it’s been really interesting to be to be where the picket lines are happening and seeing the community support. People are driving by, everyone is honking, they’re cheering. The students at Kennedy High School walked out on Tuesday in support of their teachers in solidarity to the district office, a two mile walk that they did. Every single person along the way cheered them on, right? Whether it’s people standing at a gas station or a fire truck passing them by.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:09:29] I mean, West Contra Costa is not the only school district that has been struggling in the Bay Area in the last year. I mean, you know, there’s news of San Francisco unified teachers possibly walking out soon. Berkeley Unified District as well just announced an impasse. I mean, how do you think what’s happening in West Contra Costa, how does that fit into to what’s happening just across the region when it comes to schools and and even the state?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Jana Kadah \u003c/strong>[00:09:57] Yeah, I mean it’s expensive to live here and the cost of living has increased far more than salaries have increased. This represents a larger issue. We were seeing this across the state, but it seems like the Bay Area is feeling it more. And it’s I think it’s just because it’s so expensive.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra \u003c/strong>[00:10:18] Well, Jana, thank you so so much for stepping aside for a little bit. I know you’ve had a really, really busy morning, so thank you so much for your time.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"baycurious": {
"id": "baycurious",
"title": "Bay Curious",
"tagline": "Exploring the Bay Area, one question at a time",
"info": "KQED’s new podcast, Bay Curious, gets to the bottom of the mysteries — both profound and peculiar — that give the Bay Area its unique identity. And we’ll do it with your help! You ask the questions. You decide what Bay Curious investigates. And you join us on the journey to find the answers.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 3
},
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"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious",
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}
},
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"info": "The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/bbc-world-service",
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"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/",
"rss": "https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"
}
},
"californiareport": {
"id": "californiareport",
"title": "The California Report",
"tagline": "California, day by day",
"info": "KQED’s statewide radio news program providing daily coverage of issues, trends and public policy decisions.",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-California-Report-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareport",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 8
},
"link": "/californiareport",
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}
},
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"title": "The California Report Magazine",
"tagline": "Your state, your stories",
"info": "Every week, The California Report Magazine takes you on a road trip for the ears: to visit the places and meet the people who make California unique. The in-depth storytelling podcast from the California Report.",
"airtime": "FRI 4:30pm-5pm, 6:30pm-7pm, 11pm-11:30pm",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/californiareportmagazine",
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"order": 10
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM3NjkwNjk1OTAz",
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},
"city-arts": {
"id": "city-arts",
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"info": "A one-hour radio program to hear celebrated writers, artists and thinkers address contemporary ideas and values, often discussing the creative process. Please note: tapes or transcripts are not available",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/05/cityartsandlecture-300x300.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.cityarts.net/",
"airtime": "SUN 1pm-2pm, TUE 10pm, WED 1am",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "City Arts & Lectures"
},
"link": "https://www.cityarts.net",
"subscribe": {
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/radio/City-Arts-and-Lectures-p692/",
"rss": "https://www.cityarts.net/feed/"
}
},
"closealltabs": {
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"info": "Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/closealltabs",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 1
},
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"info": "\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />",
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"meta": {
"site": "radio",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit",
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"id": "commonwealth-club",
"title": "Commonwealth Club of California Podcast",
"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
"airtime": "THU 10pm, FRI 1am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Commonwealth-Club-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "Commonwealth Club of California"
},
"link": "/radio/program/commonwealth-club",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/commonwealth-club-of-california-podcast/id976334034?mt=2",
"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5jb21tb253ZWFsdGhjbHViLm9yZy9hdWRpby9wb2RjYXN0L3dlZWtseS54bWw",
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"id": "forum",
"title": "Forum",
"tagline": "The conversation starts here",
"info": "KQED’s live call-in program discussing local, state, national and international issues, as well as in-depth interviews.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 9am-11am, 10pm-11pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Forum-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED Forum with Mina Kim and Alexis Madrigal",
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"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 9
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM5NTU3MzgxNjMz",
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"freakonomics-radio": {
"id": "freakonomics-radio",
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"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/news/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2018/05/freakonomicsRadio.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://freakonomics.com/",
"airtime": "SUN 1am-2am, SAT 3pm-4pm",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WNYC"
},
"link": "/radio/program/freakonomics-radio",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freakonomics-radio/id354668519",
"tuneIn": "https://tunein.com/podcasts/WNYC-Podcasts/Freakonomics-Radio-p272293/",
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},
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=214089682&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"info": "A live production of NPR and WBUR Boston, in collaboration with stations across the country, Here & Now reflects the fluid world of news as it's happening in the middle of the day, with timely, in-depth news, interviews and conversation. Hosted by Robin Young, Jeremy Hobson and Tonya Mosley.",
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"hidden-brain": {
"id": "hidden-brain",
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"info": "Shankar Vedantam uses science and storytelling to reveal the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, shape our choices and direct our relationships.",
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"airtime": "SUN 7pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "NPR"
},
"link": "/radio/program/hidden-brain",
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"how-i-built-this": {
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"title": "How I Built This with Guy Raz",
"info": "Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510313/how-i-built-this",
"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
"meta": {
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/how-i-built-this",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?mt=2",
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},
"hyphenacion": {
"id": "hyphenacion",
"title": "Hyphenación",
"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Hyphenacion_FinalAssets_PodcastTile.png",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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"order": 15
},
"link": "/podcasts/hyphenacion",
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},
"jerrybrown": {
"id": "jerrybrown",
"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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"order": 18
},
"link": "/podcasts/jerrybrown",
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}
},
"latino-usa": {
"id": "latino-usa",
"title": "Latino USA",
"airtime": "MON 1am-2am, SUN 6pm-7pm",
"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/latinoUsa.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "http://latinousa.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/latino-usa",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?s=143441&mt=2&id=79681317&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory",
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"rss": "https://feeds.npr.org/510016/podcast.xml"
}
},
"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Marketplace-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.marketplace.org/",
"meta": {
"site": "news",
"source": "American Public Media"
},
"link": "/radio/program/marketplace",
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"rss": "https://feeds.publicradio.org/public_feeds/marketplace-pm/rss/rss"
}
},
"masters-of-scale": {
"id": "masters-of-scale",
"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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"officialWebsiteLink": "https://mastersofscale.com/",
"meta": {
"site": "radio",
"source": "WaitWhat"
},
"link": "/radio/program/masters-of-scale",
"subscribe": {
"apple": "http://mastersofscale.app.link/",
"rss": "https://rss.art19.com/masters-of-scale"
}
},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Mindshift-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
"imageAlt": "KQED MindShift: How We Will Learn",
"officialWebsiteLink": "/mindshift/",
"meta": {
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 12
},
"link": "/podcasts/mindshift",
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
"npr": "https://www.npr.org/podcasts/464615685/mind-shift-podcast",
"stitcher": "https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/stories-teachers-share",
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}
},
"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
"title": "Morning Edition",
"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 3am-9am",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Morning-Edition-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.npr.org/programs/morning-edition/",
"meta": {
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},
"link": "/radio/program/morning-edition"
},
"onourwatch": {
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