At Wednesday’s school board meeting it was clear that next year’s budget cuts are going to be huge, real and brutal. Board members faced a proposal to cut the equivalent of 87 full time salaries at the central office in an attempt to scour $39 million from next year’s budget.
At Sankofa Academy in North Oakland, the students have a message: “R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Respect is all I really need!”
Ninety-five cameras have been installed on Oakland Tech’s campus as part of a new school safety project that will eventually have all twenty-six district middle and high schools in the city wired.
The talent and energy in “Hamlet: Blood in the Brain” is a testament to the hard work of the students and teachers of OakTechRep, Oakland Technical High School’s student theater company.
Cox Academy, World Academy, North Oakland Community Charter and Lighthouse Academy presented their cases to the Oakland Board of Education.
The Oakland School Board is considering supporting a ballot initiative that would raise taxes to pay higher teacher salaries. But the proposal has encountered an obstacle on the question of charter schools.
Enraged teachers rallied before the OUSD school board meeting last night demanding just contracts. At the meeting the board addressed a $14 million district shortfall and the potential closure of Tilden Elementary School, BEST High School, Paul Robeson School of Visual and Performing Arts, and Explore Middle School.
This weekend, the school district published recommendations for “focus schools” that have been singled out for their struggles with low enrollment, low academic performance, or both. The possibilities for all the schools on this list included closure, restructuring or conversion to charter.
The lunchroom at Hoover Elementary School has a long metal counter built into the wall between the lunchroom and the kitchen. There’s an industrial-looking sliding metal door that can be opened for serving food directly from the kitchen, but this serving arrangement is no longer used. In terms of food preparation devices, the kitchen now boasts only a refrigerator and an “oven” that is not equipped to do anything old-fashioned, like bake; it only reheats trays of already-cooked meals. Despite the fact that there is no cooking at Hoover, there are still 325 mouths to feed at breakfast and lunch every day.
“We’re not sure what happened. We still need to interview one of the victims and are trying to speak with some witnesses,” said Anthony Toribio, Patrol Division Captain for Area 1, responsible for North and West Oakland.
There was a shooting in North Oakland yesterday afternoon. Two young men were shot in the 5800 block of Shattuck Avenue according to the report in the Trib. Oakland North’s Becky Palmstrom was on the scene this morning and will have a story up asap. Today is World AIDS Day and a number of events, including free testing are taking place in North Oakland. Among the many events, at 4pm, the Beebe Memorial Church (3900 Telegraph Ave.) is hosting free…
An all-day sit-in at U.C. Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall ended peacefully this evening, as protesters who had occupied the second floor of the central campus building were escorted out by police officers and faculty observers.
The sit-in at UC Berkeley’s Wheeler Hall ended peacefully this evening, as protesters who had occupied the campus building were seen leaving in small groups to join cheering crowds of supporters outside.
The line to get into the Department of Motor Vehicles on Claremont Avenue trailed out of the front doors and down the front of the building on Wednesday morning at 9 am. It was sunny but chilly, and people huddled in their coats or rubbed their arms to keep warm. Dolores Jones got in line forty minutes before the DMV opened its doors. She knew it would be a long wait, but was surprised to still be standing outside at…
At last night’s meeting, board members heard a pitch for what would become the district’s 33rd charter school–as well as learning that nearly half the city’s school-age children are now in charter schools, independent schools, or home-schooling.
Students from across the globe create illustrated stories that document their lives at Oakland International High School. See interactive feature.