Schools face low enrollment and teacher consolidations

Over a month into the new school year, Kaiser Elementary teacher Douglas Feague found himself in his principal’s office at lunch, digesting some difficult news: His position was being “consolidated.” In other words, the school could no longer afford an eleventh full-time teacher, and Feague, the least senior staff member, would need to relocate to a different school.

Two arrests, no reports of vandalism, graffiti after Occupy march

Apart from patches of dusty, multicolored chalk art on the sidewalks—a remnant of Chalkupy—little evidence of last night’s march and gathering commemorating the first police raid on an Occupy Oakland encampment remained Friday morning. Despite declarations that the group would hold an all-night vigil, and rumors that they might attempt to set up a new encampment, the only people at Frank Ogawa Plaza this morning were security guards, commuters and City of Oakland maintenance workers.

School board candidates sound off on district challenges

This November, four seats on the Oakland Unified School District board are up for election. In three of the district races, incumbents face new opponents, while in District 5, candidates are vying for the seat being vacated by longtime board member Noel Gallo. Gallo, who has represented Glenview and Fruitvale since 1992, is currently running for the Oakland City Council. Click on the photos of the candidates above to read brief profiles and listen to their responses to three questions…

School board hears parents’ objections to consolidation plans

Parents, teachers and students wearing green Kaiser Elementary t-shirts and holding colorful banners gathered outside the Paul Robeson building before the Oakland school board meeting Wednesday evening, in protest against the combining of the school’s kindergarten and first grade classes.

Elementary students walk, roll to school

Wednesday marked International Walk and Roll to School day. Alameda County’s Safe Routes to School program coordinator Nora Cody said the event was being celebrated by 99 schools county-wide. Peralta Elementary was one of 22 Oakland schools participating.

Freedom House musical performance explores social issues in Oakland

Freedom House: Dancing in the Flatlands is a new performance work by Claudine Naganuma. The piece will be shown three times at East Oakland’s EastSide Cultural Center this weekend, starting with an 8 p.m. performance Friday night. Naganuma is the director of Danspace, a dance studio in Rockridge, and the founder of the dance company dNaga, which will be performing the piece.

Alameda County promotes walking, biking to local schools

“I like how this plant feels,” said Devynn Meleg, 7, as she paused to investigate a silver bush during her morning walk. “It feels so weird!” Her mother Brett, watching with a smile, wore a bright yellow vest with reflective strips and a “Safe Routes to School” logo printed on its front. Along their walk, they pointed out spiders spinning webs, a cat sitting in a window and a yard where chickens used to live. The two had set off…

Oakland schools celebrate the new year with a festival for students and parents

On Saturday morning parents, students, volunteers and school district staff held hands as they danced to the beat of a drum in the gymnasium of Fruitvale’s United Academy for Success as part the Oakland Unified School District’s first Back to School Festival. They formed a circle, led by members of the Medicine Warriors, a Native American dance troupe. “This dance signifies friendship and unity,” George Galvis of the Native American community center Intertribal Friendship House said to the crowd.

Lakeview campus is now OUSD administrative building

Tuesday marked two weeks since the former campus of Lakeview Elementary School became an Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) administrative hub. The campus is now home to OUSD’s Family, Schools, and Community Partnerships (FSCP) department, which was previously scattered among four locations.