Overall an excellent interview. However you reinforce the FALSE stereotype that Oakland & OUSD is made up of Flatland & Hills schools. This is wrong on at least two levels:

–There are many Foothills areas made up almost entirely of the Middle Class;

–There are many Flatland residents who are in fact members of the Middle Class.

Many of both go to Flatland & Foothills schools. Our Foothills schools are some of the MOST diverse in the City, State, & even Country.

Please don’t continue to ignore them or the Middle Class (of any color). Please don’t continue to spread this false stereotype of Oakland being only haves vs. have nots.

Like so many non-profits and Politicians already do.

This has only led to a large flight from Oakland (NOT just white), as many members of the Middle Class & Working Class (black, white, asian, latino, etc.) flee Oakland thereby undermining our tax base, education, businesses, jobs, social programs, etc. From the entire City.

1. Ms. Gorham says there was not a conversation around school closures, when there was a LOT of conversation. How much more do you deem acceptable? Kaiser was saved in part because both OUSD & the Board listened.

It seems Ms. Gorham does not want to close schools or address the financials created by too many schools for too few students (generated by declining enrollment in OUSD).

The financial problems are one of the root reasons OUSD got taken over by the State. Don’t do it & OUSD will a) continue to be run by the State; b) equal drastic cuts for students, classrooms & teachers;

2. I agree with Ms. Gorham’s concerns about Charters. However the state of many OUSD schools, especially Middle Schools, leave many parents feeling Charters are one of their only options (before abandoning OUSD & even Oakland entirely). How do we solve this dilemma?
(I want specific answers, not generalities like “spend the resources on the traditional schools”…we don’t have many resources + it hasn’t worked for decades);

3. I agree with Ms. Gorham about the surplus of funding Downtown. This is a big area Dr. Smith & the Board NEED to look at & it’s their achilles heal.

Is that a fair question?

just asking.

They left just as quickly as the Gates Foundation. & most of their projects appear to be short-term, in & out.

This appears to be a weakness of well-funded corporate non-profits. Another is where they locate their offices: not in communities in need, but in highest-rent corporate locations close to their donors.

Meanwhile the smaller non-profits that lack corporate connections and are located IN communities in need continue to go underfunded…