Oakland (Special to ZennieReport.com) – Zennie62Media note: Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) District 4 Director Mike Hutchinson sent this post he wrote and gave Zennie62Media CEO Zennie Abraham permission to publish it. We went a step beyond that and gave Mike his own space to write at ZennieReport.com. Welcome, Mike.
Brief Timeline Of What Happened To OUSD’s Superintendent
Through a series of out of order closed session votes, in eight consecutive meetings over two months, that likely all violated the Brown Act, the school board majority, led by President Brouhard and VP Bachelor, forced out our Superintendent Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, one year into her three year contract extension, and are now poised to go outside of the current OUSD leadership to hire Denise Saddler, who is currently a substitute principal, as the interim superintendent for one year for $357,000 plus leave and benefits.
3/26/25 – regular meeting closed session –The school board met in closed session to discuss Superintendent Johnson-Trammell‘s transition plan contained in her contract. Out of the blue, school board leadership suggested hiring an interim superintendent for the 2025–26 school year. The superintendent informed the board that if they did this, it would violate her contract and the board would then need to find a new superintendent by July 1 and that her lawyer would be in contact to negotiate a payout (separation agreement). The board leadership responded by calling for a vote on whether to violate the superintendent’s contract and replace her. The vote was 3-3 with one abstention. Nothing, including the vote, was reported out publicly. The superintendent left the meeting after closed session ended and has not attended another school board meeting since.
In the the days following the meeting, it became clear that there were four votes on the school board to violate the Superintendent’s contract and force her out at the end of the school year and because of that the Superintendent’s lawyer sent the school board her demands for a separation agreement (payout).
4/9/25 – regular meeting closed session –The school board voted 4-1 with one abstention and one absence to begin the search for a new superintendent and to make a counter offer to the settlement agreement the Superintendent’s lawyer had sent to the board. President Brouhard inaccurately reported out publicly that “no reportable action was taken”.
On May 1 2025 the ACLU sent a letter to the school board warning of the Brown Act violations surrounding this specific vote.
2025.05.01 – Ltr re Brown Act to OUSD.pdf
4/23/25 – regular meeting closed session –The board voted 4-3 to approve a separation agreement and payout settlement of nearly $500,000 with Superintendent Johnson-Trammell, ending her contract after the first year of a three year extension, and making June 30, 2025 her last day as Superintendent.
4/29/25 – special meeting closed session –The board voted to hire an Interim Superintendent to begin on July 1, to only consider internal candidates (current OUSD employees), to post the job listing for seven days, and to set the salary at $357,000 plus leave and benefits.
5/2/25 –Interim Superintendent Job is posted for internal candidates.
5/8/25 –President Brouhard scheduled a board study session on asset management focused on using OUSD property for “workforce housing”.
5/9/25 –Deadline for applications for the internal posting for Interim Superintendent. As of the deadline no applications were received.
5/13/25 –Denise Saddler submits an application for Interim Superintendent. This is the first application received, but it came 4 days past the deadline, and since she is currently a substitute principal, she does not meet the intended minimum requirements.
5//14/25 – regular meeting closed session –The board voted to backfill extending the job posting for an Interim Superintendent for internal candidates to 5/16/25, five days after the job listing had expired.
5/15/25 –Dr. Sondra Aguilera, currently 2nd in charge and the OUSD Chief Academic Officer, who spent three months as Interim Superintendent when Dr. Johnson-Trammell went on sabbatical, submitted an application for Interim Superintendent.
5/21/25 –President Brouhard scheduled a special meeting where the board voted to repeal her alternative budget adjustments.
5/28/25 – regular meeting closed session –Even though it wasn’t posted on the agenda, on less than 24 hours notice, board leadership informed the school board that there would be interviews for two candidates, Dr. Sondra Aguilera and Dr. Denise Saddler for the position of Interim Superintendent. After the interviews, the board voted to consider looking for external candidates, but the vote failed 4 to 3.
5/30/25 – retreat canceled, special meeting closed session –With a little over 24 hours notice President Brouhard canceled the school board retreat and scheduled a special school board meeting in its place to hold a closed session vote on hiring an Interim Superintendent. The meeting was not accurately noticed, there was no video, no zoom, and because of that multiple community members who wanted to make comments were unable. The board voted six to one to hire Denise Saddler for Interim Superintendent.
Even with the vote, Denise Saddler will not be officially hired until the school board approves an employment contract in open session at a regular school board meeting.
6/4/25 – regular meeting closed session –The school board voted six to one to have President Brouhard and the outside council negotiate an employment contract with Denise Saddler for Interim Superintendent.
6/11/25 –On the closed session agenda there is an item on the employment of the Superintendent, but there is still not a vote nor even a discussion on the agenda for open session.
Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell should not have been forced out as Superintendent. Denise Saddler should not have been chosen over Dr. Sondra Aguilera to be the Interim Superintendent. Denise Saddler can’t be hired like this and she hasn’t even been vetted.
None of the closed sessions were properly noticed and none of the votes were properly reported out.
This has all been inappropriate, illegal, and entirely destructive to OUSD.
Why has the school board failed to publicly disclose what’s been happening and why have they chosen not to engage with the community?