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An Oakland education activist was physically removed by a bodyguard from a San Francisco press conference called by State Superintendent of Instruction Jack O’Connell Monday morning when he tried to deliver a letter asking the Superintendent to meet with Oakland residents over the operation of the Oakland Unified School District. 

Michael Siegel, one of six persons arrested last week in the OUSD administrative offices in Oakland, said that he was “grabbed from behind by [O’Connell’s] personal security guard and wrestled from the room.” 

The confrontation took place at the City Arts and Tech Charter High School in San Francisco where O’Connell was announcing a state grant of $14 million in facility funds to the school. Siegel was released by the security guard outside the room where the press conference took place, and was not arrested. He was accompanied by Oakland District 2 Council candidate Pamela Drake, who was also arrested in last week’s demonstration. 

The Oakland Unified School District was seized by the State of California two years ago after teacher pay raises shot the district well over its budget. O’Connell now runs the district through an appointed state administrator, Randolph Ward. 

O’Connell press secretary Hilary McLean confirmed that Siegel was removed from the press conference, stating the action was taken “because he disrupted the event.” 

McLean also disputed a contention of last week’s OUSD office sit-in demonstrators that O’Connell has refused to come to Oakland to meet with concerned parents. 

“The superintendent is a public official and, of course, is always willing to meet with citizens,” McLean said. “I think their actions are designed to get press attention which is fine and well, if that’s the tactic they want to use.”