“Students are primarily the people that are affected the most by educational issues,” said Samuel Getachew, a junior at Oakland Tech, who helped organize the march. “I think too often our power and our voice is disregarded, and we're not included in the conversations we should be included in.”

In a mass email sent to fellow students earlier this week, student organizers said: “Our goal is to put pressure on the district to meet the teachers’ demands.”

Three weeks ago, teachers from many of the same schools staged a similar event, marching from Oakland Tech to Oakland Unified School District's downtown headquarters, stopping traffic along the way.

OUSD teachers, who have been working without a contract since 2017, are demanding a 12 percent raise over three years, reduced class sizes and more school counselors and nurses. Following months of failed negotiations with the district, the Oakland Education Association, the union representing teachers, on Monday announced that the roughly 2,300 teachers it represents had voted overwhelmingly in favor of a strike if their demands are not met. If the union and the district don’t agree on the recommendations of a neutral third party, expected by next Friday, the union is likely to call a strike.

The impasse comes as the district scrambles to chip away at a massive budget deficit of up to $30 million. Among other measures, it recently proposed closing up to 24 under-enrolled schools, a plan the union staunchly opposes.

Lauren Kahn, an Oakland Tech senior who helped organize the rally, said her teachers were very supportive of the unsanctioned walkout.

“We emailed over 200 teachers, telling them of our plans and we got very positive responses back, encouraging us and thanking us for our work,” Kahn said.