The crowd filled every seat and spilled out into the hallway and up to the overflow room on the fourth floor where they watched the meeting on a simulcast screen.  Some of the groups in attendance: Freemont High School football fans, students, teachers and parents from schools placed on the low-performing list by the California State Board of Education, more students, teachers and parents from two charter schools up for a charter renewal decision, a group of students from Oakland High School’s Environmental Science Academy and AFCSME union members.

Three Cox Academy students hold a sign in support of their school.

The issue that proved most contentious was the charter renewal decision.  World Academy and Cox Academy, two East Oakland elementary charter schools whose leadership appeared before the board in January to petition for the renewal of their charters were back to hear the charter office’s recommendation and use the public comment time to sway the board’s decision.

The charter renewal for World Academy, a K-3 school, was quickly approved despite the comments of Jim Mordacai, Ben Visnick and Tania Kaptner, teachers who speak out against the creation or renewal of any charter school in Oakland.

Cox Academy — though parents, students and teachers filled the seats at the meeting — faced a tougher review.  The school board’s Teaching and Learning Committee had referred the charter decision to the board without making a recommendation, which is unusual.  The K-5 school’s performance since being converted to a charter school four years ago has been poor, but the school is under new leadership who have galvanized the support of their students’ parents and the larger community.  The district’s charter school office made a recommendation that the charter be renewed for two years instead of the normal five and that the school be required to show significant growth in two years under its new leadership team of principal Enikia Ford-Morthel and assistant principal Julia Newlin.

“I come to you begging tonight to let us try,” Karole Brown, the mother of a first grader at Cox Academy, said to the board when public speakers were called to comment.  “Give us that chance.  If you take that away from us we don’t have any other options in the neighborhood.”

Every board member joined in the ensuing lengthy discussion, as well as Jaqueline Minor, the school district’s lawyer, who said that if the charter was denied by OUSD, Cox Academy’s leaders could appeal the decision to the county and then to the state.  Some board members asked David Montes de Oca, head of the charter school office, to clarify his office’s position since the conditional two-year renewal he proposed is unusual.  Montes de Oca said that though he was “uneasy” about the school’s current standing, he felt good about the current leadership and that Cox “might need the consistency of staying as is in order to achieve gains.”

“Your children are still failing,” school board member Alice Spearman told the crowd when it was her turn to speak.  “Just cause you have a principal you like and you feel good—your children are still failing!”

“Where we gonna send them that they don’t fail?” Brown shot back from the audience.

The majority of the Cox Academy supporters had to leave the meeting before the discussion ended because the bus that had been hired to get them there was departing, so it was in front of a nearly empty room that the board took its final vote on the school’s charter.  With Noel Gallo and Jumoke Hodge dissenting, the Cox Academy charter was denied.

“It’s disheartening,” Newlin said after the decision had been handed down, “but we’re not even close to giving up.”  Newlin said the group planned to appeal to the county immediately.  If the county or the state approves their charter, the Oakland school board will no longer have any power over the school, according to Minor, even though it will still serve city children.

The other issue that drew large crowds was the recent release this week of California’s lowest-performing schools list.  Schools are judged to be persistently low performing if their average standardized test scores are below a certain bar and have not risen in compliance with the adequate yearly progress (AYP) standards set by the state.  The list is currently still just a draft but the State Board of Education will vote tonight to make it final.  If the Oakland schools on the list—there were five small middle schools from East Oakland listed—remain on the list they face the possibility of major restructuring for the 2010-2011 year.

Teachers and parents from Alliance Academy held signs in support of their school which has just been added to the statewide lowest-performing schools list.

Explore Middle School, which is already slated to close in June, is one of the schools on the list but there were no representatives from the school in attendance last night. Representatives from the four other Oakland middle schools that made the list—Roots Academy, Alliance Academy, Elmhurst Prep, and United For Success — spoke during the public comments time at the beginning of the meeting.  Teachers, parents and students from these schools were irate about having been listed.

“We’re very surprised, shocked and disappointed that we are on a list as one of the lowest performing schools in California,” Christina Villarreal, a teacher at Elmhurst Prep, said.  “We are not and we have the data to prove it.”

The data they offered, which was repeated much later in the meeting by the district’s chief academic officer, Brad Stam, showed that over the course of five years their school has improved students’ average standardized test scores on the California State Test by 120 points, from 527 to 647.  A score of 647 on California’s 1,000 point scale is still far below the 800 point score the State Board of Education deems “proficient,” but Elmhurst teachers maintain that there has been such a turnaround at their school in the last three years that they could continue to dramatically improve scores.  By the same measure Alliance Academy improved scores by 102 points and the other two schools also exceeded the 50 point improvement requirement, Stam said.

Elmhurst Prep was founded in 2006 along with the other three middle schools represented last night.  All of them are a part of the Oakland small schools network and were all converted from larger schools that were performing far below proficiency standards according to test score data.  When a school is created it is given a new state-issued identifier number that is used to track the school’s performance, Brad Stam, the school district’s chief academic officer said.

One of the criteria for being placed on the lowest-performing schools list is for a school’s average test scores to have gained less than 50 points in the last five years.  But since these schools have only been tracked since 2006, only three years of testing data could have been considered, Stam said. Stam said he would be asking the State Board to remove from the list any schools that have been in existence for less than five years because such a measurement was not equitable.

“We acknowledge that there is work to do,” at these schools, Stam said, “but the designation of persistently low-achieving does not appreciate the fact that they were new.  They were judged on five years [of data], when they have only been in existence for only 3 years.”

Victor Romero, a father whose oldest daughter just graduated from Elmhurst and whose younger daughter is in 7^th grade there, was more focused on the school climate than on the numbers.  “The students before didn’t have no intention to learn,” Romero said.  “My daughter just graduated from Elmhurst and she’s at a higher level [than the other students at her high school] now.  Elmhurst is one of the best.”

The board later turned its attention to its budget.  Now that all of the numbers are in for both the restricted and unrestricted budget OUSD chief financial officer Vernon Hal said that the district is facing an $85.5 million shortfall due to loss of funding from state cuts, declining enrollment and the exhaustion of last year’s federal stimulus money.

Hal said that $65 million of this cut would be in personnel costs but he would not commit to a number of school site employees who may lose their jobs in addition to the 87 district office jobs that have already been slated for cutting.  Smith reiterated his position that the state cuts were “beyond immoral — it’s illegal.”

“Moving numbers around doesn’t just have a budget effect,” said Smith, “It has a material effect on families and on the social fabric of the city.”

Lavaka Maile, 15, a Fremont High football player says he wants to go to school to be an engineer after he graduates.

In other business, the board recognized the Fremont High football team for winning the 2009 Lou Jones Silver Bowl.  “I tell my players to just overcome what’s in front of us,” head coach Taniela Falevai said, referring to the lack of a field to practice on and other challenges the winning team has faced.  Each player shook the Superintendent’s hand and board member Jumoke Hodge asked all of them what their post-college plans were.  Answers ranged from playing at a Division 1 university— Sione Tupouata has already signed a letter of intent with Utah—to “opening a string of barber shops.”

Fifteen year-old Lavaka Maile flashed a big grin when it was his turn to talk.  “I’m a sophomore and I’m hoping to be an engineer,” he said confidently.

A planned presentation by AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, was pushed back to a later date.

It looks as though efforts to complete the new East span of the Bay Bridge are stepping up, as new sections of the bridge were put into place yesterday.

Police are searching for an Oakland man they believe responsible for three stabbings that occurred in Hayward yesterday over the price of a used car.

A pregnant woman accused of suffocating her 2-year-old daughter on Tuesday had already been facing abuse charges. Tiffany Lopez, 19, had previously been charged with a misdemeanor, child endangerment,  in San Mateo county.

Five Oakland schools are on the state education department’s list of “persistently lowest-achieving schools.” The education department will name the schools today.

It rains in Phoenix? The Oakland A’s, and about 50 members of the Japanese media can attest that it does.

A couple hours later, that scene was repeated. This time, it was chants of “Cas-tle, Cas-tle,” as the Castlemont High boys team celebrated its 67-65 win over Oakland High.

The Tech girls played their best game of the season when it mattered most – playing hard and unselfishly in beating a Skyline team that won the regular-season OAL title and had beaten Tech twice before. Now the Bulldogs may get a home game for their Northern California playoff opener on Tuesday.

“This is great for these kids,” said Valerie Hartsfield, in her first year as head coach of the Bulldogs. “Now their focus is in it. At the beginning of the season, I didn’t know where they were at.”

Tech forward Marquetta Stokes, who led all scorers with 16 points, said she and her teammates were upset that she was the only Tech player selected to the All-City first team, the league all-star team that is picked by the league coaches and was announced at halftime Saturday.

“We wanted to show everyone who the really good players are,” she said, “and that’s what we did.”

The Oakland High-Castlemont boys final, before an estimated crowd of 1,500, was a showcase for some of the top players in Northern California. On Saturday, two stood above the rest – Castle’s John Green and Oakland High’s Jabari Brown.

Brown, a supremely talented guard who is considered to be among the top juniors in the country, helped bring Oakland back from a nine-point halftime deficit to tie the game late. But the Warriors couldn’t stop Green, the Knights’ gifted, athletic and emotional forward.

Green hit four clutch free throws down the stretch, capping a 25-point performance, as the Knights held on. After the final buzzer, Green pranced around the gym, mugging and yelling, before running into the stands to hug some supporters.

Green was also motivated by an All-City slight – he thought he should have been league MVP, when the award went to Oakland High’s dynamic point guard TJ Taylor. He doesn’t forget easily, either – Green said he’s been a good free-throw shooter since his dad beat him in a game when he was in the 6^th grade.

“I didn’t get it, and that’s OK,” Green said. “I know in my heart, and everybody else knows that I deserved to be MVP.”

Now he and his teammates can enjoy the win before they find out where they play next. All four teams that played Saturday advance to the Northern California playoffs and next play Tuesday, with the winners receiving higher seeds and games that are either at home or nearby.

Green said the Knights are looking forward to seeing how they match up with the other top teams in the state.

“There’s a lot of excitement,” he said. “This is our dream.”

The Oakland PD had unwritten rules when it came to avoiding confrontation with members of Your Black Muslim Bakery, a retired officer testified in the trial of Richard Lewis. The Chauncey Bailey Project has the story.

The Oakland Tech girls basketball team and the Castlemont boys each pulled upsets yesterday to bring home Oakland Athletic League titles. Check Oakland North later today for a slideshow of the games.

The massive fundraiser has raised more than $15 million for the Oakland Museum since the sale began in 1959. The board’s 1,200 volunteers begin to prepare for the sale in May, taking donations throughout the year. In January, they hold a pre-sale for die-hard fans, antique collectors and dealers, but the general public floods the warehouse on a March weekend hoping to score treasures on the cheap.

Nurmi Karen, who has been coming to the sale for at least 30 years, was the first person in line at 3 a.m. It took her two hours to reach the warehouse from her home in Forrestville, north of Santa Rosa. Karen was hoping to add to her collection of over 2,000 Breyer horses, but had already made several purchases at the preview sale in January.

“I’m just coming here for the pure enjoyment of it,” Karen said. “I work for the state, so I have to put it in my vacation planning.” She was also hoping to pick up some audio tapes to entertain her during the two hour trip home.

Jean Dixon, who was number three in line this year, has gotten to know Karen in the 37 years they have both been coming to the sale.

“Nurmi has been first as long as Ive been coming,” she said. “Except one time, I beat her and was first in line.”

Evelyn Hairston, number two in line, arrived at 3:20 a.m., and planned to peruse the vintage clothes, handbags, and Bibles. Hairston was so excited about the sale, she said she never went to bed.

Josie Arroyo and her mother Peggy Flores, who were fourth and fifth in line, have been coming to the sale for ten years. “I like to collect stuff, but I collect to keep it, not to sell. Or maybe that’s called hoarding,” Arroyo said, laughing.

The pair was looking for shoes, or “whatever treasures we might find,” Arroyo said.

The early arrivals spent the morning in folding chairs they had brought with them to the sale.

By 10 a.m., right before the doors opened, volunteers sporting red vests and white coats inside the 96,000-foot warehouse took to their stations and lined up, ready to clap as shoppers rushed in. An announcer started a countdown over the loudspeaker, and once the gate was lifted, shoppers hurried up the ramp to get to the wares.

A volunteer looking down on the sale from an office above the warehouse floor was amazed by the site of hundreds of shoppers combing through the merchandise. “I have never seen it from up here before,” said Oona Johnson. “It looks like ants.”

On offer inside the cavernous warehouse: everything from dining tables and chairs to bikes, a kayak and sailboat, an antique wheel chair, costumes, rare books, and strands of pearls, real or fake. One shopper walked out with a bow and arrow, while others picked up old suitcases, antique trunks, lingerie, and even a Dianne von Furstenberg jumpsuit. One woman had even donated an entire collection of crocheted dolls that she had made of every single First Lady, not to mention Tricia Nixon’s entire wedding party.

Volunteer Joan Propp, who works in the household section, has seen some of the sale’s more interesting sales items. She is in charge of barwear, and gets a lot of genitalia-themed donations. “When we get something that’s a little shady, for some reason I always get the risqué box,” she said. “I have no idea how I became the porn queen of the White Elephant sale. It’s a great distinction.” The most interesting item she says she’s seen in thirty years of volunteering? A teddy bear with a secret compartment inside to conceal a flask of liquor.

Donations for the sale are collected throughout the year, and by January, Propp was working on the sale five days a week. “My husband is a CPA, and he’s unavailable until after April 15, so it’s a good time to keep busy,” she said. “The man hours are terrific—you get more out of volunteers than paid employees.”

The total income from the sale won’t be announced for another two weeks, when the Women’s Board will host a party for the volunteers, but the preview sale in January brought in $350,000, a record high, as well an uptick in early shoppers. “It’s the best we’ve ever done in preview,” said Joan Upshaw, a volunteer and cashier. “We had 1,000 more people.”

Last year’s sale—the group’s fiftieth—brought in $1.3 million for the museum. The four most lucrative departments were art, which raked in $110,000, books, photos and music, which made $124,000, jewelry, which brought in $145,000 and furniture $166,000. The total was the second-highest in the sale’s history, and volunteers are hoping to break the $1 million mark again this year. “We keep worrying with the economy, but they keep coming,” Johnson said.

The White Elephant sale continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 333 Lancaster Street in Oakland.

Brie Pleasants and Naima Wye collaborate on a sketch.

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, a handful of teenage girls trickled through the door of Rock Paper Scissors Art Collective in downtown Oakland. It looked like a typical after-school powwow: The girls chatted, dropping book bags and grabbing homemade sandwiches, waving hello to a teenage boy quietly sewing in the corner. They all exchanged conversations with a slender, brunette woman sitting at a desk in the center of all the activity.

The brunette, Kristi Holohan, is the director of The Street Style/Dream Seam School of Fashion, an after-school program that fosters creativity and entrepreneurship in high school students interested in the fashion business.  The course, which runs from October to May, meets at three different locations each week so students can sketch, design, hone sewing skills and be around other artists. Students come to sessions at Rock Paper Scissors, MetWest High School near Lake Merritt or at Tassafraonga Recreation Center in East Oakland where fabric, sewing machines and, of course, sandwiches are provided for them.

Holohan, 31, has been sewing since she was 7 years old and is a design artist working in Oakland. Her co-teacher Kenny Mau, 25, is a stylist at BCBG in San Francisco. Their goal, Holohan says, is to let their students enter “a world of art and fashion and creativity.”

As the two-hour class gets underway, someone puts on their iPod, which seamlessly shifts between Motown classics and indie rock, and the students start in on their projects without any direction. Francisco Ziminay, 15, works on hand-sewing a pair of pants. Brie Pleasants, 18, sketches a dress she plans to enter into a contest sponsored by Jo-Ann Fabrics. Liliana Herrera, 16, leans over Pleasants and suggests an easier way to draw in pleats.

Milan Williams, 17, and Holohan are both hunched over a sewing machine working on the beginnings of a bright blue gingham scarf. Williams, who attends Berkeley High, is a newcomer to the class. She loves fashion, she says, but never had any of the technical skills.  “It takes hours to learn how to sew, it takes a lot of focus,” said Williams. “ But, I like that I get to create and be creative and express myself,” she said of the program.

“Kristi is always supportive, with her anything goes,” Williams added.

“I allow them to do whatever they want,” says Holohan about the students’ freedom to pursue creative projects: Some sew, others design hats, and some screen-print and design t-shirts or knit.

Despite the diversity of creative pursuits, Holohan is tuned into what her students like to do and where they excel.  “Francisco sews everything by hand,” she said, gesturing towards the corner Ziminay occupied. “Brie here is our P.R. goddess and Naima is an amazing sketch artist.”  Naima Wye, a 16-year-old Berkeley High student was engrossed in the stuffed animal she was sewing, looked up and said,  “I love fashion and street style,” she said. “I have to draw. I get consumed like a zombie.”

Pleasants, a student at Oakland Senior High School, is grateful for Holohan’s individual attention. “I’ve learned about myself. Kristi always tells me how well-spoken and patient I am,” she said.

The Street Style School has been running for three years but Holohan, with the help of co-teacher Mau, has been working to take it in a different direction, one that is more focused on being a professional artist and understanding the industry, she said.  In addition to holding resume writing workshops and mock interviews and providing students with their own business cards, Holohan teaches her students about the negative aspects of the fashion world.  She tries to combat the stereotypes of beauty by showing ads that feature real women, like Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty,” or providing offbeat magazines in addition to more mainstream catalogs and periodicals. Industry specialists such as milliners and t-shirt designers have paid visits to the class. She also invites her students to other art events she hosts to help establish the young artists in the community.

The students have come together to show their work at Oakland Public Library and the Oakland Museum of Children’s Art where they made dresses out of newspaper for an exhibition.  The students have executed photo shoots at the Oakland Public Library as well, organizing everything from the models’ hair and makeup to designing the clothes. They’ve also been setting up a table at the monthly First Friday Art Murmur events in Oakland, selling their homemade jewelry, knit items and hats. They pulled in $100 from their first booth back in February, and used the proceeds to fund more design projects.

For several of the students, like Williams who knits both by hand and on an industrial knitting machine, the designs they produce with the Street Style program will be used in portfolios for art schools and for internships. Herrera, a photographer and painter, works for an Oakland based muralist, has had work exhibited at SFMOMA, the Oakland Museum, Hood Games and Graffiti Jam, an impressive list about which Herrera responds with a shrug — “I’m an artist,” she says.

As part of the day’s lesson, Holohan is teaching the students how to write a press release about the Street Style Program.  Herrera and Wye are in charge of writing it out, and struggle for a moment with the wording.

“Well, what are you trying to say?”  Holohan asked Herrera.

“Just that we’re youth from Oakland,” the student replied, “trying to make a difference and prove that Oakland has hella talent.”