Kyla Johnson-Trammell, who has led California’s Oakland Unified School District since 2017, has won a three-year contract renewal.

The new contract “allows for continued stability in the system to see through the critical work of the strategic plan and fiscal vitality plan,” board president Sam Davis stated in a district news release.

Notable initiatives credited to Johnson-Trammell include development of the Community Schools model, an internet access initiative during the Covid-19 crisis, early literacy tutoring, and recruitment and retention of educators of color.

Johnson-Trammell was born and raised in East Oakland and has spent most of her career in the school system. She has held positions as an elementary school teacher, middle school assistant principal, elementary school principal, director of talent development, network superintendent, and interim deputy superintendent.  

According to the district, she is “already the longest serving superintendent for OUSD in more than half a century.”

Her lengthy tenure “bucks the data and trends for urban superintendent tenures in California and the nation,” Davis noted.