The Abridged version:
- Teachers in Twin Rivers Unified have been on strike since last Thursday, picketing on campuses across the North Sacramento school district. But Del Paso Heights residents say they feel there has been too much focus on their neighborhood school, Grant Union High, the site of some made-for-media union demonstrations.
- Leaders in the community also said they are frustrated by ongoing negotiations, impacts on students and compensation demands that do not match the surrounding area.
- Union leaders have said their fight is not only about compensation, but also better classroom conditions for students in all Twin Rivers schools.
As teachers in Twin Rivers Unified School District finished a fifth day of striking, neighbors in Del Paso Heights said they are frustrated with the educators.
Community members said they have felt as if their predominantly Hispanic and African American neighborhood and its historic Grant Union High School are “a stage prop” in the union’s ongoing battle with the school district.
“It seems every protest, every rally is strategically directed in our neighborhood,” Mervin Brookins, founder of a youth mentoring organization based in Del Paso Heights, said during a school board meeting.
“Why is the focus in Del Paso Heights?” he asked.
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Teachers have formed picket lines each day of the strike in front of their respective schools, from Strauch Elementary in North Sacramento to Joyce TK-8 School in North Highlands. Media were invited to cover the gathering at Grant Union High School, specifically on day one.
“Everyone has the right to voice their opinions, their concerns,” said Drucilla Ramirez, a Twin Rivers teacher and member of the union bargaining team. “At this point, we are here to do the work that’s necessary so that our students within every school in this district have the resources and the supports that are needed.”
‘Antics were coming into question’
Well-known community activist Derrell Roberts said the strike is not the issue.
“I think the strike antics were coming into question,” he told Abridged.
Roberts noted reports of educators picketing around the house of Christine Jefferson, the president and only Black member of the school board. Union leaders disputed this, saying they were demonstrating nearby but not outside her home.
Grant becomes ‘focal point’
Shuntae Campbell, a parent, was one in a string of public speakers during Tuesday’s school board meeting taking issue with the union’s presence at Sacramento’s third-oldest school.
“Grant is not just a place to point to in order to push a narrative,” Campbell said. “Grant in the community represents generation of families, pride and resiliency.” Del Paso Heights was once its own school district, before merging with three other smaller districts in 2008 to form Twin Rivers Unified.
Campbell, who works with the Roberts Family Development Center and youth from Grant, told trustees he is worried about the stress that instability may cause students.
“When Grant becomes the focal point of a larger conflict, we have to remember that the people most affected are the scholars walking those halls and the kids and families that walk those streets in the community of Del Paso Heights,” Campbell said.
Salary and health care demands higher than area average
Teachers at the bargaining table have asked for pay increases between 4.5% and 6% this and next school year, along with 100% district-funded health care in perpetuity. Higher salaries and better benefits are needed, they argue, to stop colleagues from fleeing to neighboring districts.
Salaries for a full-time teacher in Twin Rivers range from $63,947 to $124,659, depending on experience and credentials, according to the district salary schedule. The average salary in the district in 2024-25 was $98,027, according to the California Department of Education.
The average household income in the Twin Rivers Unified area is $67,936, according to Census data.
Roberts said many neighbors are also bracing for federal health care cuts under the Trump administration. The timing of teachers’ demonstrations, he said, “just didn’t feel correct to the community.”
Frustrations grow as negotiations continue
Union representatives say their fight includes more than teacher compensation. They are pushing for improved classroom conditions, such as smaller class sizes and fewer outside contractors in place of full-time teachers.
Yet their fight has still rubbed some in the Del Paso Heights community the wrong way.
“It’s all to me a bunch of selfishness,” said Kelli Cooper. “I would never bring kids to an adult fight like this.”
Cooper, 48, has lived in the North Sacramento neighborhood for most of her life. Two of her nieces now attend high schools in Twin Rivers. Cooper said they tell her about long days with no lessons.
“They’re falling behind every day that you don’t show up to work,” Cooper said.
Bargaining resumed this week with meetings Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, had asked both sides to step up negotiations. Krell attended both sessions.
Savannah Kuchar is a reporter covering education. She came to Sacramento to be a part of the Abridged team and contribute to a crucial local news source.